Cheers erupted from the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium on Wednesday night when Angela Robinson, host and executive producer of NPR’s “In Contact,” gave her alma mater a quick shout out before introducing the night’s panel.

Morehouse College, a historically African-American institution in downtown Atlanta, hosted Wednesday’s panel called “And the Winner Is….” The event took place at the Bank of America Auditorium on the Morehouse campus, but was broadcast live to Syracuse University students in an interactive simulcast.

The purpose was to provide students and faculty from both institutions an opportunity to hear from professors and political analysts about key issues in the recent presidential election, said Hub Brown, associate dean for research, creativity, international initiatives and diversity at SU who helped coordinate SU’s role in the event.

Panelists included Grant Reeher, professor of political science at SU; Bryan Monroe, editor of CNNpolitics.com; Cynthia Tucker, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and visiting professor of journalism at the University of Georgia; Corey Dade, national correspondent for NPR Digital News; and Hasan Crockett, a professor of political science at Morehouse College.

Robinson, the SU alumna, and Michael Martin, host of NPR’s “Tell Me More,” moderated the panel.

Though the SU broadcast was marred by technical difficulties, the students who persevered through the constant echo and ringing learned about topics including the role of the media in the election, the impact of party conventions, voting laws and the perspectives of African-American voters.

After more than an hour of constant ringing and reverb, the technical difficulties were finally resolved. Brown, who assisted in coordinating the event for SU’s side, said the issues regarding the broadcast were stemming from problems on the Morehouse end.

Prior to the panel, the audience watched a video on the 2012 presidential election, which included clips from the debates, the Democratic and Republican national conventions and Romney’s concession speech in Boston.

An important point of discussion was the role of demographics in the election. Tucker, the University of Georgia professor, noted an increasing generational clash between the two parties, calling one group the “party of young folks and college-educated,” and the other the “party of white men.”

While the panel attempted to remain as bipartisan as possible, many students felt a clear liberal bias resonated through the discussion.

“I found the discussion a little redundant because most of the panel consisted of Democrats,” said prospective student Hannah Pasternak from Tenafly, N.J. “The only devil’s advocate was Grant Reeher. Otherwise, the conversation seemed to revert back to Democratic ideologies.”

When the panelists’ discussion ended, the panel took questions from the audiences at both institutions. Topics included third party legitimacy, Southern secession and the current generation’s effect in future elections.

“I think the technical difficulties have been unfortunate, but the discussion has been enlightening,” said Brendan Welch, a senior television, radio and film major. “I was happy to be able to ask a question about changing political spheres to such an expert panel.”

Published on November 15, 2012 at 1:10 am

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