This week, Duke has launched a year-long digital media project that highlights the university community’s conversations about the 2016 presidential election, as well as about important Congressional, state and local contests.
The foundation of the project, called Campaign Stop 2016, is a website that will provide a forum for faculty, student and alumni voices right up until Election Day Nov. 8, 2016. New content will be added to the site each weekday. In addition, campaign Stop 2016 will include podcasts, video, social media and events on campus and at Duke’s Washington, D.C., center.
“Duke faculty have unique and compelling perspectives on many of the important issues sure to arise during the campaign -- think climate change, immigration, health care, voting rights and any number of other topics,” said Michael Schoenfeld, Duke’s vice president for public affairs and government relations. “Our community can make an important contribution to public understanding and civic discourse through this project.”
A recurring feature on the site will be “Foreign Exchange,” a video debate between foreign policy scholars Bruce Jentleson and Peter Feaver concerning America’s global role. In their initial debate, Feaver and Jentleson discuss how the United States should respond to Russia’s involvement in Syria.
One feature that should distinguish Campaign Stop 2016 from other political sites is the prominence of student voices, said Kristen Brown, Duke’s associate vice president for news and communications, whose office is heading up the project. To date, nearly 40 students -- representing a wide cross-section of Duke’s undergraduate and graduate population -- have signed up to author posts for the site.
“Duke enrolls 15,000 smart and engaged undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, and we invited them to play a significant role within Campaign Stop 2016 because we want the project to explore issues that concern younger voters,” Brown said. “We are excited that so many have contributed already and that more are coming on board each week.”
Campaign Stop 2016 will use a variety of media -- including podcasts, social media, blogs, video, news clips, op-eds and faculty experts list -- to engage a wide audience, including state, national and international reporters covering the 2016 election, government officials and congressional staffers as well as the extended Duke community and the general public.
Regular features on the page will include “Office Hours,” where a faculty expert takes part in a live video Google Hangout to answer questions about a hot topic of the day. Another weekly feature will be “Glad You Asked,” an audio podcast where professors from a variety of disciplines discuss topics they wish the candidates would address. In the initial podcast episode, Fuqua adjunct professor Dorie Clark argues that more attention should be paid to how we treat animals on large factory farms.
To contact the Office of News and Communications about Campaign Stop 2016, email keith.lawrence@duke.edu or steve.hartsoe@duke.edu.