Want to attend the South Carolina Gubernatorial Debate on campus?

Tickets are available to Furman students, faculty and staff who want to attend the South Carolina gubernatorial debate that will take place on campus Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. in McAlister Auditorium.  The event is CLP, and the tickets are free.

The one-hour debate, which will be televised live statewide, will focus on education and health care.  All five gubernatorial candidates are expected to participate, including Republican incumbent Gov. Nikki Haley, Democrat Vincent Sheheen, Independent Tom Ervin, Libertarian Steve French and United Citizens Party candidate Morgan Bruce Reeves.

Tickets are limited and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis Monday, Oct. 20 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on the ground floor of the Trone Student Center near the bookstore.  The limit is two tickets per person.  Should there be any remaining tickets, they will be available from 2-4 p.m. on Monday in the same location.

The McAlister Auditorium doors will open at 6 p.m. Tuesday.  The audience will need to be seated by 6:45 p.m.

“This is a great opportunity for students to understand more about how they and other citizens can become more involved in and informed about candidates and elections, about education and healthcare issues in the state and how various candidates view them,” said Don Gordon, director of the Riley Institute at Furman.  “For those students participating in the election, it will provide a better understanding of and which candidate they might vote for.”

The gubernatorial debate at Furman is second of two debates held in the state during October.  Charleston Southern University hosted a debate Oct. 14.

The debates are co-sponsored by The Post and Courier newspaper in Charleston, WCIV-TV in Charleston, WACH-TV in Columbia, WPDE-TV in Myrtle Beach and WLOS-TV/WMYA-TV in Greenville. The broadcast stations will televise the debates live, and they also will be streamed on all of the sponsors’ websites.

For more information, contact Judith McKenney in the Riley Institute at Furman, at 864-294-3546 or judith.mckenney@furman.edu.