CASE WESTERN RESERVE VP debate host site welcomes exposure

The university hopes to expand its reputation with the debate.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Case Western Reserve University, trying to shed its geeky science reputation and attract more liberal-arts students coast-to-coast, will get a chance to shine when it hosts Tuesday night's vice-presidential debate.
"It's a really exciting event for Case," Halley Briglia, 19, a sophomore from Erie, Pa., said while studying on the campus grass. "We're going to be recognized even more."
Case administrators certainly hope so. With 9,423 students and a $1.5 billion endowment, the private school's science- and engineering-heavy reputation may be better known among graduate-level researchers than 12th-graders applying to college.
"Just a small percentage of students across the United States have ever heard of Case," said Michael Ruffner, associate vice president for marketing and communications.
As the only university in Ohio ranked by U.S. News & amp; World Report among the top 50 national universities, Case hopes its day in the limelight leads to more applicants and a world-class reputation.
"We think when we fix that visibility problem, we'll have a lot more opportunities to attract students from across the country and move this into a truly national university, the same as Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Harvard and MIT," Ruffner said.
Marketing opportunity
Case is doing its part to maximize the marketing opportunity as national media outlets swarm campus for the debate between Republican Vice President Dick Cheney and Democratic Sen. John Edwards.
The university has spent $4.1 million so far on the host fee and upgrades to the debate site in its handsome Veale athletic center -- including upgraded ventilation required by the sponsoring debate commission to keep out chlorine fumes from the pool next door.
Centre College, a school of 1,070 students in Danville, Ky., hosted the 2000 vice-presidential debate between Cheney and Sen. Joseph Lieberman and got a nice boost in both applicants and contributions.
"In some ways Case is like us, on a different scale, a little bit of a hidden jewel," said Clarence Wyatt, a Centre history professor who helped arrange that debate.
A weeklong series of campus activities and guest speakers are tied to the debate, all dovetailing nicely with a $2 million national advertising campaign on teen-heavy cable outlets and Internet media.
President's efforts
The marketing effort is the pet project of university President Edward M. Hundert, who took office two years ago and promised to take Case to the top ranks of the nation's higher education establishment. He has shaken up the administration, pushed for a more liberal arts-friendly environment and urged students, faculty and alumni to think big.
The debate will be good for Cleveland, too, Hundert said. Restaurants are going to be busy and hotels are booked, he pointed out.
"We also want to tell the world about the great things going on at Case Western Reserve University and we're unabashed about the fact that it's an exciting opportunity to do so," Hundert said.
Case's last time in the national news was tragic: a gunman killed Youngstown native Norman Wallace and wounded two others in a seven-hour standoff May 9, 2003, in a campus building. A disgruntled former graduate student is awaiting trial.
Bethany Craig, 19, a sophomore studying chemistry and psychology, agreed Case's reputation hadn't kept pace with its achievements. The school wasn't even well-known in her hometown of Chardon 20 miles away.
Most students will have to settle for watching the debate on television. More than 2,000 students have applied for a ticket lottery, but Case doesn't expect more than a few dozen student tickets and won't know the number until Tuesday morning.
Difficult task
Michael Donahue, director of admissions at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, said quantifying the value of a high-profile event or campus advertising can be difficult.
"These things are very hard to measure in the world of university admissions," said Donahue, past president of the Indiana Association for College Admission Counseling. "But good publicity never hurts. It puts the name of an institution in a positive light."
Freshman Ryan Berkheimer, 18, also from Chardon, isn't so sure. He said his buddies at Ohio State University and Ohio University belittle Case's grasp for publicity.
"They think a vice-presidential debate is pretty far down the totem pole," he said.