Contact CU Independent News Staff Writer Ryan Ellis at ryan.ellis@colorado.edu.
It’s the debate before the debate. In spite of the petitions, the resolutions and the open letters, the Republican presidential debate is a week away, and no more than 100 University of Colorado students have tickets. But for those of us who don’t, all is certainly not lost. In reaction to feelings of political exclusion circulating around campus, the CU Student Government has started a social media campaign using the hashtag #BeHeardCU. CUSG’s goal in launching the campaign is to create a platform for public discussion, and help students to feel included in the debate.
The chance to engage in the public discussions that will take place on campus and online before, during and afterward is perhaps more exciting than watching the debate firsthand, depending on one’s perspective. Beyond simply cheering or booing a candidate’s argument, online discussions offer the chance to make and argue articulate points.
“The objection to the lack of seating was because students thought, ‘We want to have a voice,’” said Katey Haas, CUSG’s director of multimedia and technology. Not only will the #BeHeardCU campaign help students to share their voices, CUSG hopes that it will shift the discussion.
“There’s been a lot of negativity around the debate,” Haas said. “We think that’s the wrong direction for people to be taking, and we want to turn students in a more positive direction.”
Haas is correct in saying that the public discussion surrounding the debate has been distracted by the seating issue. Until about a week ago, much of the media coverage relating to the debate was focused on seating. As a result, little had been said about the actual candidates and their policies.
“We want to keep it positive and polite,” Haas said, talking again about the negativity that has surrounded the debate thus far. In addition to guiding student discussion toward issues that matter, Haas hopes that the campaign will put students in the right frame of mind for political discussions.
Surrounding the campaign, a myriad of events will take place in ballrooms, on campus fields and around Boulder. Events open to students will include a talk hosted by the American Enterprise Institute on Oct. 27, the night before the debate, a gathering hosted by independent organization Student Voices Count on the day of the debate, and an official watch party in the Glenn Miller Ballroom, hosted by CUSG. At the official watch party, a select panel of professors from CU’s Political Science Department will hold a post-debate discussion analyzing the arguments of each candidate.
