Like the rest of the country, the Monmouth College community is unsure about what the next winning presidential ticket will be, but steps are being taken on campus to make sure that students are part of the process. For the vast majority, the 2008 election is the first time they will be eligible to vote for the nation’s leader.

"Rock the Vote!" registration sessions will be held on campus on four dates next month – Oct. 2-3 and Oct. 6-7. On each of those days, students can register to vote in the Stockdale Center lobby from 8 to 10 a.m. and from 5 to 6:30 p.m. They can also register from 10 a.m. to noon on the first floor of Wallace Hall.

The sessions are sponsored by the Association for Student Activity Programming, the Alpha Lambda Delta freshman honorary society and students in Caroline Porter’s "American Politics" class.

"College students registering to vote is the first important step in their participation as citizens in our electoral process, which is basic and critical to our representative democracy," said Porter, who joined Monmouth’s political science faculty this fall. "It’s the beginning of a lifetime of interest and involvement."

Porter should know. She has served 12 years on the Knox County Board and ran for state representative in 1996.

Once students are registered, they will want to make informed decisions, and the college is hosting public screenings of the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate and the Oct. 7 and Oct. 15 presidential debates. Each event will begin at 7:45 p.m. in the Dahl Chapel and Auditorium. Brief commentary will be provided prior to the start of the debates, and those in attendance are encouraged to remain afterward for additional discussion.

Monmouth College faculty members Steve Buban, Lee McGaan and Ira Smolensky will host the Oct. 2 event. Tobias Gibson will host the two presidential debates, joined by Joe Angotti and Robin Johnson on Oct. 7 and by Ken McMillan on Oct. 15.

"The presidential debates are an important opportunity for many potential voters to learn about the issues, and the candidates’ stances on the matters of most importance to the voters," said Gibson, who also teaches in the political science department. "Debates mark some of the few opportunities in which presidential and vice presidential candidates share the stage and offer competing answers to the same question. This year’s presidential debates, in particular, may be more free-wheeling than those in past years, as both candidates have agreed to extended periods to answer the questions, in some cases those posed by audience members and potential voters."