Sparks are sure to fly when the three major campus political organizations go toe-to-toe in the Third Annual Carolina Clash debate. The College Republicans, College Democrats and College Libertarians will debate Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the Russell House Theater.
This is the third annual Carolina Clash debate. Each organization will have two debaters representing them, and the three mediators will be staffers from The Daily Gamecock.
College Democrats President Mathieu Erramuzpe’s has been involved with the debate since its inception. He talked about how the event was started two years ago.
“It started my sophomore year. I realized that there weren’t any events on campus that all of the political organizations on campus did together,” Erramuzpe said. “It was a wonderful way for all of us to come together and to build on what each other [has], pool resources and do an event together that would appeal to the entire student body and also provide an educational experience for students who wouldn’t necessarily attend our meetings to get them more involved in the political sphere.”
The debate will cover several topics, including immigration policy, race relations in the U.S. and American intervention in the Middle East.
College Libertarians President Ross Abbott talked about the overarching purpose of the debate.
“We call it Carolina Clash because we like this; we like to debate,” Abbott said. "We like to see what makes the parties different and showcase that. It’s also really interesting to see how much we all agree on, especially socially, but there are other areas as well.”
Audience members will be able to verbally ask questions of their own and, new this year, the audience will be able to participate and ask questions through Twitter using #CarolinaClash2015.
Anna Chapman, President of College Republicans said they all hope this debate will be the most exciting one yet.
“We’re gonna try to throw more mud this year,” Chapman said. “Which is so hard to do because we’re all friends, too.”
Entrance to the debate is free. Food and drinks will be made available to those in attendance.