C-SPAN to air student debate

College Democrats and College Republicans to debate Thursday A debate between the University's College Democrats and College Republicans will air in its entirety on the Cable Satellite Public Affairs network. C-SPAN plans to televise the debate as part of its First Vote series that focuses on the election as it relates to young people and college students in particular, according to Social Planning and Events Committee Treasurer and Wharton senior Gil Beverly. The debate -- part of the MTV Choose or Loose voter registration effort -- will take place on Thursday Sept. 26 from 8 to 9 p.m. in the UTV-13 studio, UTV's vice president of Production Programming and College senior Lisa Raphaeli said. C-SPAN contacted University spokesperson Sandy Smith to discuss the possibility of covering a political event at the University, Beverly said. Raphaeli said she was surprised C-SPAN chose to cover the event and speculated that the station was attracted by the involvement of students at the University in Choose or Loose and other political projects. According to Beverly, the debate will begin with a short segment on the MTV Choose or Loose voter registration effort. During the debate, four members of College Democrats will represent Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton while four members of College Republicans will represent Bob Dole, the Republican nominee, Raphaeli said. There will be two students from each club acting as journalists and asking prepared questions to the debaters, according to Wharton senior Tony Andreoli, chairman of College Republicans. Members of the audience will also be able to ask questions, he added. Raphaeli noted any of the four students representing each candidate will be able to respond to the questions. Andreoli said he wants questions to focus on the major issues in the campaign, such as balancing the budget, taxes, and crime. "We will hopefully demonstrate that students are not as apathetic as people believe by coming off as intelligent students who are aware of the issues in the campaign," Andreoli said. A moderator has not been chosen for the debate, however Beverly speculated that it will probably be an administrator or a UTV anchor. Depending on the level of student interest in the debate, there may be a lottery for tickets because the UTV studio can only seat approximately 50 people. However, Raphaeli said that about 50 additional students can fit into the lounge area outside the UTV studio. "I hope the fact that C-SPAN sees our debate fit to cover will get people excited about the election," Beverly said. The main objective of the debate is to make people aware of the major campaign issues and to spur students to register, according to Beverly. "It's great that C-SPAN is trying to get more young people involved in the election," Raphaeli said. "Hopefully the strong interest at our campus will spread to other campuses," he added.