Hastings College students taking the Argumentation and Debate class this semester are hosting a public Debate Watch for the Wednesday, Oct. 19 Presidential Debate. Debate Watch is a national voter education program conducted by the Commission on Presidential Debates.
The Debate Watch will be held on campus in Hazelrigg Student Union rooms A/B. Doors will open at 7:00 p.m., with a brief explanation of the discussion at 7:45 p.m. before the debate begins at 8:00 p.m. A discussion among attendees will follow the debate.
The event is free and open to the public, and county political parties and local high school debate students were invited to attend.
Snacks, drinks and debate bingo, which features words and phrases candidates may use, will be available for attendees, and pre-and post-debate surveys will be conducted to see if the debate and discussion swayed opinions.
Because the debate is in Las Vegas, students have set a “Don’t gamble on your future: Know your candidates” theme for the evening.
Debate Watch was launched in 1996 after research indicated that citizens learned as much from discussions that were held after debates as they did from watching the debates themselves.
Hastings College is a private, four-year institution located in Hastings, Nebraska, that focuses on student academic and extracurricular achievement. With 64 majors and 15 pre-professional programs, Hastings College has been named among “Great Schools, Great Prices” by U.S. News & World Report and a “Best in the Midwest” by The Princeton Review. For more, go to hastings.edu.
