The UT president's office announced Wednesday that the Democratic presidential debate between senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will be hosted at the Recreational Sports Center and will not be open to the public.
People will be able to attend on an invitation-only basis, but the size of the venue will limit the audience to an estimated 2,000 people, said UT spokesman Don Hale.
"We are not in control of who gets to come, but there will be seats for students," said President William Powers. "We would not be willing to host the debate here otherwise."
Sam Feist, CNN political director, flew in from New York on Wednesday morning to begin the typically six-month-long planning process for the debate. It will be hosted only 10 days after it was announced Monday, which may be the shortest turnaround in CNN history.
The news network approached the University Democrats last week, asking them to host the only announced Texas debate on campus. The student group does not endorse presidential candidates, and its members will help run the debate on a volunteer basis, said University Democrats President Laura Hernandez.
CNN is organizing the debate with Univision and the Texas Democratic Party. Decisions regarding venue, size and ticket distribution are being made by all involved parties, said Hector Nieto, spokesman for the Texas Democratic Party.
About half the seats will go to the Texas Democratic Party, and the remaining seats will be distributed amongst the campaigns, Univision, CNN and the University.
Allan Henslee, senior engineering student, said he does not understand the debate's size limitations.
"The best reason for candidates to come to campus is to appeal to students, and this doesn't do that," Henslee said. "It would make sense that the more people they can reach personally, the better it would be for the candidate."
Feist said CNN wanted to bring the debate to the state capitol, and UT's Rec Center could accomodate the media and handle the security that is involved in the production of an event like this.
"The venue needs to be conducive to the television audience, so they can see and hear clearly," Feist said. "There will be 8 to 10 million people on the first run seeing this at home around the nation, and even more around the world."
Hernandez said students should not be discouraged by the size of the debate.
"We are students. We make up the heart and soul of this campus," she said. "Because this is a national debate, it has to be on a small scale, but I guarantee they will include students as much as possible."
Feist said that students will be involved at every level of the debate production. Powers said the logistics of what the numbers will be and how the invitations will be distributed is still under discussion. The University wants to have as many students present as possible, he said.
Nick Kimball, spokesman for the Texans for Obama campaign said there will be many other opportunities for students to see Obama between now and March 4 if they do not get to attend the debate, but specific plans have yet to be announced. More than 20,000 people showed up at Auditorium Shores last February, just after Obama announced his bid for presidency.
Clinton campaign spokeswoman Adrienne Elrod said Clinton is planning an event after the debate in order to speak to as many students as possible. More than 12,000 attended her speech at UT-El Paso Tuesday.
Next Thursday's face-off will include a panel of journalists from CNN and Univsion, and the moderator, who will represent CNN, will be announced later this week, Feist said.
"This is history in the making as a critical debate before a critical primary," he said. "The Texas primary has never been this important, and this debate is going to shine the spotlight on your University."
- Additional reporting by Amanda DeBard
Be the first to comment on this article!