The six presidential and vice presidential candidates for Undergraduate Student Government have one last opportunity to formally address their constituents tonight during the formal candidates’ debate.

The candidates will debate in front of a 50-person audience, made up of representatives from a diverse selection of student organizations, as well as randomly selected students. Each audience member was directly invited by USG.

The rest of the student body will be able to watch the debate live on BUCK-iTV which airs on UNITS, channel 19. This is the first year the debate is televised. 

“This debate is going to revolutionize USG presidential debates,” said Sarah Topy, USG chief of staff.

USG officials hope by airing the debate on TV, student involvement in the election will increase.

“One of the things that happens in the debates is that the only people who come are the campaign teams,” Topy said. “Basically we are going to take them out of the debates.”

Only one member of each presidential campaign team will be allowed to attend the debate. Each of the teams will be assigned a residence hall where the non-participating candidate will watch the debate as a means to encourage students to participate.

The debate will consist of three rounds. The first round will be for administrators to ask the candidates questions. In the second round the presidential teams will ask each other questions, and the final round will be a question-and-answer period for the audience.

Students will be able to e-mail questions to [email protected] that will be asked on-air by the program moderator and Election Governance Board Director Allison Gideon. These questions, along with those from the immediate audience will dictate the discussion topics.

“There will be more time for rebuttal and responses,” Gideon said. “More time to oppose and to attack answers.”

While there are no set rules that prevent candidates from mudslinging, candidates are highly advised to stay away from character attacks.

“They run the risk of hurting themselves,” Gideon said.

USG President Eddie Pauline learned the best way to deal with character attacks is to move on.

“Take the high road,” he said. “The key to it all is to bring the attention back to yourself.”

Pauline hopes the new president will have new and fresh ideas but does not feel any one team stands out.

“You really need to sell yourself,” Pauline said. “Separate yourself from other candidates and capitalize on that.”

The closed debate is at 8 p.m. in the Drake Union.