After fielding students' questions at last week's UPUA debate, presidential candidates running in Wednesday's student government elections will ask some questions of their own at tonight's crossfire debate.
The four University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) presidential candidates and their running mates will square off at 5 p.m. in the HUB Auditorium.
Although there will be a moderator present for the debate, the candidates will ask each other questions directly, UPUA Head Elections Commissioner Jon Lozano (senior-political science) said.
Presidential candidate Jordan Cascino (junior-communication arts and sciences) said the debate will give students a better idea of the candidates' characters and plans for Penn State.
Lozano said he expects candidates to raise questions about issues like Penn State's alcohol policy and the recently proposed $200 facilities fee rather than internal issues within UPUA.
"Issues that are important to people that are involved in the student government tend to be slightly different than people who are outside the student government," he said.
Presidential contender Dan Kennedy (junior-history) said he thinks some candidates have proposed goals that don't necessarily fall under the authority of the student government.
"I would like to hear what candidates plan to do if their platform statements and the goals of their platform statements fall outside of their jurisdiction," he said.
Gavin Keirans (sophomore-business administration), also running for president, said he wants to hear more specific goals from the other candidates.
"I am very interested in how they're going to go beyond bullet-point ideas to actual results," he said.
Lozano said this debate could be more intense than last week's debate, held Wednesday night.
"It is starting to wear on people a little bit, the fact that they are starting to run for UPUA president," he said. "I think these candidates take UPUA very seriously."
Presidential candidate Pete Sowa (sophomore-finance and economics) said he plans to "come out swinging."
"Last debate, we were a little more tame, but this debate we're going to be showing no mercy," he said.
