UMaine Students, Others Plan VP/Presidential Debate Activities

Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571

ORONO —  The University of Maine will participate in DebateWatch, a national program that fosters discussion related to presidential and vice-presidential debates, beginning with Thursday’s debate between Sen. Joseph Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin.

Members of the UMaine community are invited to join UMaine Dept. of Communication and Journalism students on Thursday in Room 105 or Room 115 of UMaine’s Donald P. Corbett Business Building to watch the vice-presidential debate, which begins at 9 p.m.  Those participating will watch the coverage as broadcast on C-SPAN.

“The idea behind DebateWatch is to watch the debate without the spin before or after,” says Prof. Sandra Berkowitz of the UMaine Dept. of Communication and Journalism faculty.  “The participants then participate in a discussion. Based on our past experiences with similar events, I expect that the students will be engaged and thoughtful. This is exactly the civic engagement that we work to promote with our students.”

Similar events are planned for the upcoming presidential debates, scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 7 and Wednesday, Oct. 15.  

The UMaine/UVote program, which works to raise voter awareness among UMaine students, faculty members and staff members, is helping to organize these forums.