All three Student Government campaigns will sit side by side at 6:30 p.m. tonight in the Journalism Building’s Holliday Forum for the annual SG debate.
The tickets will respond to questions posed by a panel of six campus leaders. Tiger TV reporter Mitch Rabalais is the moderator and will handle the majority of follow-up questions. Other panelists include SG president Clay Tufts, Daily Reveille Editor-in-Chief Chandler Rome, President of the Residence Hall Association Hope Roberts, Vice President of the National Pan-Hellenic Council Darnell Theriot and Greek Board of Directors Vice-President of Administration Caroline Broussard.
Rabalais said the panel will ask about big campus issues and each campaign’s initiatives.
“We of course are going to talk about the budget cuts that are facing the University,” Rabalais said. “We’ve looked thoroughly through all the initiatives of the candidates and we will definitely bring up some questions about the initiatives — try to get specifics.”
Andrew Mahtook and Hannah Knight of the “Here & Now” campaign said they think, with the right audience, the debate is a channel to get their messages out.
“If we have a good audience base and it’s shot out through a bunch of channels, I think it would be very important,” Mahtook said. “Because at the debate, they’re going to ask the most serious questions students have that they want the answers for the most. Things like budget cuts and plus/minus grading — those are the things we feel that students want answers for.”
Along with attempts to make a Quizlet set to prepare for the debate, Mahtook and Knight took more serious measures to prepare for Thursday.
“We have some people on our staff that are helping us out and quizzing us. Just going over hot topics and what’s all important right now, making sure we’re informed,” Knight said.
Although Mahtook said he thinks this debate will be different from past years, he said they are eager and ready.
“It’s not just going to be a Q&A session. So we’re excited for it. I think we’re prepared,” Mahtook said.
Moe Ahsan of the “More for LSU” campaign said he thinks the debate is an important tool students should utilize to better understand each campaign’s ideas.
“They see the passion, they see the whole campaign’s experience about it and it’s a really good thing,” Ahsan said. “It’s definitely needed.”
The “Make It Matter” campaign has been preparing since October for the debate, vice-presidential candidate Wesley Davis said. With their pre-campaign, Davis said he and presidential candidate Helen Frink have been learning as they go.
“We have a lot of answers to a lot of questions,” Davis said.
Davis also said he thinks the debate will be different from previous years’ debates because of the difference in the tickets.
“I’m really excited for it this year because there are three tickets,” Davis said. “The dynamic is so different this year. Every year, people say it’s the same candidates at the debate. That it’s not even really a debate. But this year, I think it really will surprise a lot of people because the tickets are so different.”