Emporia State students and faculty are teaming up to give Sunday night’s second U.S. presidential debate context for viewers.
ESU Debate and the Public Affairs Club student organization are sponsoring a watch party for the debate followed by analysis and questions and answers with faculty members who will speak from their own expertise — political science from Michael Smith and debate and communications from Christopher Loghry.
“Public Affairs Club sponsored a small watch party for the first debate last month,” said Smith, professor and chair of Social Sciences as well as a monthly contributor to the Insight Kansas group, which provides academic insight into Kansas politics. “At this second debate, I anticipate bringing some historical perspective to the process as well as insight into platform strategies the candidates may employ.”
Loghry, ESU director of debate, anticipates looking at how candidates Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump use the debate format, rhetoric, and argumentative strategy to advance their messages.
“ESU Debate talked about sponsoring a watch party for the third debate when this opportunity to offer analysis presented itself,” Loghry said. “The presidential debates present a wonderful learning opportunity, not only about the individual candidates to decide how to vote but about the process, which can influence individual decisions.”
Both Smith and Loghry hope members of both the ESU and Emporia communities choose to attend.
The watch party and analysis will begin at 8 p.m. Sunday in the PKP Room of the Memorial Union. PKP is on the lower level at the west end of the building.
The 90-minute debate between Clinton and Trump will be aired live from Washington University in St. Louis. After its conclusion at 9:30, Loghry and Smith will set up for their analysis, which will be aired on the Emporia State Livestream channel — https://livestream.com/emporiastate.
After sharing their individual perspectives, both Loghry and Smith will take questions from the audience.