The Penn State College Democrats and Penn State College Republicans will face off in the first of two debates 8 p.m. today in 111 Wartik Lab.

A five-member debate team from each group will participate in the hour-long debate. During the first 40 minutes, the teams will answer questions from the moderator. In the last 20 minutes they will respond to questions from the audience.

For each question asked, a team will have 30 seconds to confer among partners and two minutes to answer. The opposing team will have two minutes to respond, and the first team will have a one-minute rebuttal.

The captains of each team will make opening and closing statements. Five issues will be debated tonight: gun control, foreign policy, health care, education and the environment.

The second debate will be Nov. 2, in 111 Wartik, where five new issues will be debated.