Students trickled into Lerner Hall’s East Ramp Lounge throughout Tuesday afternoon, Columbia University ID cards in hand, to claim the coveted blue slips of paper that several referred to as “golden tickets.”
Of the more than 15,000 students who entered the lottery held last weekend for the ServiceNation Presidential Candidates Forum with Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.), only 100 gained admission—meaning the odds of winning were less than seven-tenths of one percent. An additional 200 students were placed on a waitlist.
So who are these 100 phenomenally lucky students? They span a variety of class years and schools, from first-years to graduate students, and could barely contain their excitement as they retrieved their prizes.
“I’m pretty excited. I’ve almost never won any lottery in my life,” said Graduate School of Journalism student Amir Bibawy, who was eager to see McCain and Obama share a stage without knocking heads.
Fletcher Beaudoin, a School of International and Public Affairs first-year, volunteered for the Obama campaign in Oregon over the summer and is now working on his master’s degree in public policy and environmental science. He said he hopes to learn more about McCain’s position on renewable energy and other environmental issues.
“I already know Obama’s position on it, but I haven’t heard much on McCain,” Beaudoin said. “I want to hear how he’s going to solve some of these big problems related to our lack of energy independence.”
All the winners interviewed recognized that the forum is intended to be nonpartisan, and said that they expect the candidates’ speeches to focus on public service, as has been advertised by ServiceNation. But Beaudoin was not the only one who hoped they would address other issues as well.
“I’ll be interested in hearing their proposals for expanding national service during peacetime—public service not related to war,” Zach Brill, CC ’12, said. “That’s something this country really needs.”
And Alana Leviton, GS ’10, echoed Beaudoin’s desire for some discussion of environmental issues.
“That’s something they’ve both kind of flip-flopped on,” she said.
But the predominant sentiment among the winners was pure shock at their luck.
“I was actually really surprised,” Leviton said. “I definitely didn’t think I had a shot, but it worked out.”
“Honestly, when I first got the e-mail, I was just completely shocked and amazed and overjoyed,” Brill said. “It still hasn’t really hit me yet.”
According to the staffers distributing the tickets, no bags, purses, computers, cameras, or even cell phones will be allowed into Roone Arledge Auditorium, and the rules will be “strictly enforced” for security reasons.
The staffers also urged students to arrive at the event by 4 p.m., three hours in advance of the scheduled start time. At least three students asked whether their ticket guaranteed them a seat, and were told that while officials were “pretty confident” that there would be enough space, there would be no guarantee. Seats would be given on a first-come, first-served basis.
But even these statements could not dampen the thrill for those lucky few.
“I felt like the winner of a golden ticket from Willy Wonka,” Madeline Langlieb, BC ’10, said with a grin. “It’s very cool.”
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