In honor of Super Tuesday’s political primary elections, students from across various departments gathered in the faculty dining room in Bennett Student Center to talk politics.
The event was hosted by political science professors Marc Schwerdt and Susan Haynes.
“I think it’s important that this university is fostering a sense of democratic responsibility within students,” said senior Daniel Delbasto. “At the university level, you have to push for events that give students the chance to voice their positions and debate and then go home and research because they are intrigued.”
Tuesday’s event was entitled “Pizza and Politics,” and as the name suggests, the night provided students with an opportunity to enjoy pizza and political conversation as CBS news channel delivered polling results on a big screen projector.
The election result showed Donald Trump in the lead for the Republican ballot with 221 delegates and Hillary Clinton in the lead for the Democrat ballot with 426 delegates.
“I’m very glad Lipscomb decided to hold this event because I enjoy being around people who share a love for politics, even if we don’t agree on who our favorite candidate is,” said Lipscomb junior Irish Furbush. “It’s just nice to be around people who can bounce ideas off of each other as we see the polling results come in.”
The event not only provided election discussion but also gave the political science professors the chance to get to know students outside the department.
“We want to use events like this as platforms to make students aware that the political science department is a resource here, because the more students we meet who are not in our classes, the more approachable we become,” Schwerdt said. “We see this as part of our mission as political scientists.”