Washington University in St. Louis was a battleground for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, as they fired blow after blow at one another in the second presidential debate. 

“It’s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country.”

“Because you’d be in jail.”

Witnessing this combat were past Homestead alumni, Anna Belle Hoots and Micah Rubin, who currently attend the university. Here are their experiences during the debate on campus.

Anna Belle Hoots, Class of ‘13: “Campus was absolutely crazy on Sunday. It was a beautiful day, so a ton of students were out and about on Danforth campus trying to be a part of all the action. News channels such as Fox, MSNBC and CNN were set up in various locations and really important political figures were spotted not only waltzing around the Athletic Complex, but one of my friends even spotted former president Bill Clinton in Forest Park, a really beautiful park immediately outside of WashU. Overall, everyone was really excited to be a part of such an important day in history, and I definitely think the mood was contagious!”

Micah Rubin, Class of ‘15: “The frat houses were right next to the Athletic Complex, so they had to be blocked off and searched. There were three fences placed around frat row and there were two security checkpoints just to go home. I had to show an ID card and be checked from a list to make sure I actually lived in the frat house. Then I had to go through a metal detector and get all of my stuff searched. The day before the debate, the secret service kicked all of us out of frat row so they could search our houses with dogs. On the day of the debate, a USA Today reporter couldn’t even find one Trump supporter to interview since the campus is so liberal. The highlight of this whole experience for me was getting a picture of a sign my friends and I were holding up instagrammed by actor, Eric André!”