Colorado Mesa University’s television station, CMU TV, announced that the Associated Student Government presidential and vice-presidential debates will take place on April 9 at 7 p.m.
Live coverage of the debates can be found on their station channel 3.3 or their YouTube channel.
The debates will have a simple structure. First, vice presidential candidates Donovan Harwell and Jeff Vela will be asked four to five questions.
A candidate is allotted three minutes to answer a question, and the other candidate three minutes for a rebuttal. Candidates will take turns answering the questions first.
After a break, presidential candidates Nicole Troester and Beau Flores will be asked a different set of questions, with their debate following the same structure as the vice presidential one.
Debates are expected to last an hour and a half for both parts.
Alec Williams, editor in chief of The Criterion, will be the moderator of the debates.
According to CMU TV Manager Joe Azar, he searched for a moderator that would make the candidates comfortable, but also ask hard questions and push for specific details.
The debates will also have a fact checker. Last year was the first year CMU TV hosted live debates and the first year the live structure required a fact checker.
Azar believed having a fact checker at the debates is critical.
“I think it’s super important to have a fact checker, I do. Obviously, if one of the two candidates starts spewing out stuff that’s completely wrong and they’re in live television and there’s no way to edit that, then there’s no one to correct them [without a fact checker],” Azar said.
CMU TV is still searching for a knowledgeable and experienced member of ASG to take this position.
Azar hopes to add another important component to this year’s debates: student engagement. If time and structure permits, Azar plans to allow students to tweet their questions for the candidates to CMU TV. Azar and other members will read through the questions and select a few of substance to give to the candidates.
Azar encouraged students to be aware of the debates and attend and watch if possible. His station’s goal of broadcasting the debate on two platforms, as well as sharing clips on their Facebook and Twitter pages, is primarily important so that students can be informed.
“I would highly encourage students to turn out. At least from CMU TV’s perspective, the sole reason we are going this is we want to make sure that ASG gets the coverage that it needs because it’s important for the student government to have that spotlight on campus,” Azar said.
“Students don’t necessarily know a lot about the candidates. They don’t know a lot about how student government works. It’s kind of our duty as a TV station, as a journalism institution, to showcase why this debate is show important, why it’s so important to have a good student body president.”
Debate coverage can be found on CMU TV’s YouTube channel ColoradoMesaTV, and video clips and links on their Twitter page ColoradoMesaTV and their Facebook page CMU TV.
“We are going to make sure that if you miss it for some chance, or if you even want to rewatch it, you can go to our YouTube page,” Azar said.
Students interested in attending the debates in person are also welcome in the Escalante TV studio during the event.
