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Ohio school withdraws from hosting 1st presidential debate

It was scheduled for Monday, September 26 at the Nutter Center and was to be the first presidential debate of the campaign season.

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The Commission on Presidential Debates announced that the September 26 debate will instead be held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY.

Wright State University near Dayton is pulling out of a presidential debate it was scheduled to hold in September. WSU expected to pay $3.5 million, but now the event is expected to cost around $8 million, he said in a news conference. He said the community has been “overwhelmingly supportive” of hosting the debate, but safety and security took precedence. “The expense would be daunting”.

But because WSU is a public university, not a private one, it can not restrict public access to campus, which the school said adds to security challenges. Thomas DiMassimo, a 22-year-old Wright State University student, has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of illegally entering a restricted area.

Longwood University in Virginia will host the vice presidential debate in October.

The Commission on Presidential Debates said Tuesday that the Long Island university “served very successfully as a presidential debate site in 2012”.

“The Commission looks forward to working with Hofstra once again”, the statement added.

Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer said he had not spoken with anyone at Wright State on Tuesday. “We would’ve been able to get the manpower, but fundraising is always an issue”.

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The partnerships that were forged through this effort will be of value in promoting Dayton in the future, she said, and some of the ideas can be applied to future large events. It was not a decision he made lightly, he said. I hate this decision.

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