DURHAM, N.C. — With the recent explosion of social media, it’s no surprise that many of the biggest issues of the 2012 presidential campaign have been raised and examined through that medium. This has been especially true of the presidential debates, when, within seconds, phrases like #FireBigBird, #BindersOfWomen and #HorsesAndBayonets instantly became household phrases and dominated news cycles.
Like millions of others, North Carolina Central University’s Stefan Weathers has been paying very close attention to the debates between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. The Charlotte, N.C., native said he has definitely noticed a significant amount of political discussion in his own online social network.
“My Twitter timeline has been flooded with people tweeting about the issues,” he said. “You will see #Debate2012 tweets and things like that.”
Noticing the trend, Weathers decided not only to be a spectator in the discussion, but he also decided to drive it. He organized a group of students and faculty members from five Historically Black Colleges and Universities in North Carolina to participate in a pre-debate discussion prior to the third and final debate of the 2012 presidential election season.
Student leaders from NCCU, Elizabeth City State University, Fayetteville State University, North Carolina A&T State University and Winston-Salem State University met virtually, using telepresence video conferencing technology at each campus and virtually interacted via Twitter using the hashtag #HBCUDebateChat.
NCCU spokeswoman Ayana Hernandez said the goal of connecting with other HBCUs in the area was to help give a more well-rounded political thought process to the students involved.
“We thought about our students, how they could engage in a dialogue not only on this campus, but virtually with their peers at other HBCUs on such an important issue,” she said.
