SGA to host formal debate

Candidates in this year's Student Government Association presidential campaigns will present differences between their tickets by going head-to-head in a formal debate in the Student Union on Monday at 7 p.m.

The debate will be held in the Cape Florida Ballroom. Both candidates, Nicholas Gurney and Matthew McCann, and elections commissioners will be formally dressed.

Remarks from an elections commissioner will kick off the event, followed by the candidates presenting their platforms in five minutes or less.

The moderator will be Shane Meckler, the supervisor of elections for SGA.

Candidates will be asked to speak in alphabetical order, and similar to the informal debate held March 17, they will be given time to interact with students once the event has concluded.

William Lusk, an SGA Elections Commissioner, said that he welcomes the candidates to stay after the event and interact with the crowd.

"I'm very insistent upon personal connections," Lusk said.

Both tickets have confirmed that they will stay after the event ends to speak with students in a face-to-face environment.

Lusk said that the elections commissioners would be compiling questions to be presented to the candidates about their platforms and ideas for UCF.

The Future will also be submitting questions composed by its editorial staff as well as questions collected from students.

Students will be asked to write down questions on notecards before the event, but they will only be presented to the candidates if time permits.

Questions submitted to the Future by students may be read at the debate.

Candidates will be given two minutes to answer each question and responses will also be two minutes. Rebuttals will be limited to one minute.

Lusk said that he hopes for an interesting debate that answers many of the commissioner's questions.

"I hope that we have great discussion," Lusk said. "I also hope that we'll be able to highlight the differences between the two tickets."

Both tickets have long prepared for the event, which is the only formal debate that will be held during the course of SGA elections.

Gurney, who is running on a ticket with Fernando Gonzales, said he is excited for the debate and the formal atmosphere it will bring.

"[The students] are able to really see the nuances and the differences between the candidates," Gurney said. "This is the perfect forum for them to see that."

Gurney also said that he wanted to avoid trying to sell his platform and instead speak on the issues more so than anything else.

Candidates will not see or know what the questions are before of the event.

McCann, the presidential candidate for the McCann / Adam Brock ticket, said that he had faith in the election commission's ability to ask questions that are indicative of UCF's needs.

"It seems as though the big issues of the past year were that SGA was not transparent enough and also that student leaders were not approachable enough," McCann said. "We want to mend and rectify those issues."

McCann also said that he and Brock enjoyed the informal atmosphere of the town hall forum, but that they look forward to the formal debate and its preparation.

"It's not something that you can cram for the night before," McCann said. "It's something that we've been educating ourselves on."

The event, according to Lusk, is expected to last about an hour. Music will be played and small snacks and beverages will be provided during the time provided for candidates to interact with students.

A second town hall forum will also take place on Wednesday in the Zeta Tau Alpha house at 8 p.m.

Students may submit questions to the Future for consideration in the debate can email them to CFF.editor@gmail.com.