Security Tightens Ahead of Presidential Debate

Hofstra University was open for business Monday but security was tight one day before the second presidential debate. Tuesday will be a different story as a sitting president and his challenger – as well as two national campaigns and a large media contingent – will descend upon the Hempstead campus.

The entire northern campus will be off-limits to anyone without media credentials or student ID for the dormitories. Concrete barriers were placed around much of the campus as well as many of the auxiliary entranceways to the campus.

Students were also ordered to move their cars away from many of the parking lots which have been designated for media trucks and vans. Classes have also been cancelled for Tuesday.

There are also massive changes to roadways and mass transit.

The public will be allowed on the south campus to watch the debate between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney at the Monroe Center. A separate viewing location is in the Hofstra Playhouse, but is only open to AARP members who had preregistered.

The good news is that all this is temporary and once the campaigns move on Tuesday night, the university anticipates that sometime Wednesday morning life will be back to normal.

This story was written by Geoff Walter