After 11 months of inviting speakers to the University, holding Educate ’08 events and all the new construction, the University is making the final preparations to get ready to host the third and final presidential debate.

New flowers have been planted around the Mack Sports Complex and the Physical Fitness Center (PFC), wooden structures and fencing have gone up and buildings have been re-decorated. Parking lots have started closing to students and faculty and soon parts of Hempstead Turnpike will be shutdown.

On top of that, the University is covered in so many Debate ’08 banners that you would have to have lived under a rock for the past few weeks to not know we are hosting the debate.

All University athletes have been kicked out of the PFC and the Sports Complex and home games scheduled for the month of October are being played at Adelphi University.

These changes are occurring mostly because people from all over the nation and the world will begin arriving at the University as Oct. 15 approaches. We have to look good for everyone, of course. The Chronicle welcomes everyone and is proud to be a part of the Debate coverage as we are currently the University’s only student-run newspaper.

The Chronicle, along with the School of Communication’s online blog, Nassau News, will be live-blogging, live-Twittering and stream casting debate coverage. The Chronicle staff will be up all night on Oct. 15 turning over debate coverage for the next issue, which will come out the day after the debate.

We are very excited to cover the debate and hope to have a great issue with many articles and fantastic pictures. Hopefully, the University will return to its normal state on Thursday, Oct. 16 as planned. Newly built structures for the debate will be torn down, buildings will be reopened to students and faculty and the banners will come down. The recent changes are a bit of a shock and students are surprised with something new every day, but of course it is all for good reason.