Staff Report
New Mexico Public Interest Research Group is sponsoring a public debate today at noon between members of the College Democrats and College Republicans to get students involved in the electoral process.
Katryn Fraher, director of the NMPIRG's student chapter, said she is excited about the event.
"Hopefully it gets really heated," she said. "I highly doubt it'll be a shouting match, because we spoke with both of them and made sure they know this isn't your negative campaign about each other."
The debate will be in the SUB Atrium. It will feature five questions known in advance by the participants and a public forum for students to ask questions about the parties, Fraher said.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
It will be moderated by Joseph Garcia, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Association.
Garcia said the debate will be good for students because they will get a chance to see opposing positions on issues that affect their lives.
"The thing I'd like to do is stick to the issues that are really important to students, such as loans, financial aid, a living wage, benefits (and) their future in terms of how marketable are their degrees," he said.
Fraher said students will get more from the debate than a plug for the candidates.
"They can expect to get not only information on these issues but how it affects them," she said. "More than just what are these parties going to do, but how are these issues going to impact our University."
Garcia said students aren't apathetic toward politics.
"I think students do care," he said. "It's just in the society we live in, people are pulled in so many directions - family, school, work - so that the situation has been created that people don't have time to take care of what is truly important."
The debate will help students get involved and be informed on issues before the general election on Nov. 7, he said.
Fraher said the election between Attorney General Patricia Madrid and Rep. Heather Wilson is important, and she wants the debate to help students realize they need to vote.
"A lot of people, especially in our age, are failing to see the importance of this election," she said. "It's one of the most watched in the nation."
Fraher said students should get involved in the election because voting gives them a voice, even if their candidate loses.
"People are watching not so much who's going to win, but who's voting," she said. "That'll determine what issues will be addressed."
