Students who enjoyed watching this year’s presidential debates can now enjoy the same feeling live on the Mississippi State University campus with a mock presidential debate.
The mock presidential debate, presented by the Student Association and MSU Speech and Debate Council, will take place Wednesday night at Lee Hall in Bettersworth Auditorium. Doors will open at 6 p.m. with the debate beginning at 6:30 p.m. 
Unlike the presidential debates seen on television, the debate will feature students who belong to three of the university’s political student organizations: the College Democrats, College Republicans and Young Americans for Liberty (Libertarian).
The debate will also feature a moderator as in the real presidential debates. Jeffrey Rupp from the College of Business, will serve as moderator and will ask questions drafted by the Speech and Debate Council as well as questions from the audience.
Parker Wiseman, the mayor of Starkville,  will serve as a guest speaker for the event.
The three groups participating in the debate will not know the specific questions asked prior to the debate. The only thing they will know before going into the debate are the topics.
The debate format will feature three rounds: education, economics and a wild card. Each round will feature a different student debating for their respective organizations. The final round, the wild card, will feature all three student organization presidents with the questions drawn from  audience submissions. 
Those wishing to submit questions for consideration can do so at tables outside Bettersworth Auditorium before the debate starts. Representatives for SA and the MSU Speech and Debate Council will then select from the pool of audience submitted questions. As in the previous two rounds, controversial topics will not make the cut.
Cheryl Chambers, faculty advisor and head coach for MSU’s Speech and Debate Council, said everyone on the Speech and Debate Council is excited because an event of this magnitude will not come around for another four years.
“We are a very new organization,” Chambers said. “This is going to be our first time hosting an event like this.”
Chambers said she hopes the debate will attract many students and people within the community. All ages are encouraged to attend.
Starting in 2015, the MSU Speech and Debate Council, Chambers said, is still a young organization on campus with around 30 members. However, only 10 of the 30 students regularly travel with the team for competitions with other universities.
Andrew Word, president of Young Americans for Liberty, said he is glad students will get to see a side missing from this year’s presidential debates: third party candidates.
Word said many students identify with the Libertarian party’s message of fiscal responsibility as well as its stance on social issues. Libertarians, Word said, differ from other political parties because they do not care about imposing their will on social issues. 
“We [libertarians] want freedom on both sides,” Word said. 
The mock debate’s format, Word said, will focus more on issues pertinent to students than in the presidential debates. Education will cover things like college affordability and student loan forgiveness while economics will focus on infrastructure. 
Word said he and his fellow debaters’ (Sam Miller and Trey Goff) preparation leading up to the debate has involved their members asking them questions, which are prepared in advance of meetings for about 30 minutes. 
As a result, Word said he feels ready for the debate on Wednesday night. Word and Goff both have previous experience on debate teams before coming to MSU which Word hopes will help them in the debate.
Colton Robison, president of the College Republicans, said he wants the debate to serve as an educational opportunity for students voting in next Tuesday’s presidential election.
“When they go to the box on November the 8,” Robison said, “they can make a very educated decision and feel confident in making their decision on who they want to vote for the president of the United States.”
Joining Robison on the College Republicans debate panel will be Nikki Reeder and Nolen Hood.
Robison said he does not want the debate to turn into a fight like the televised debates have been. The mock debate will focus more on where the party stands, not the candidate’s individual stance.
Kennedy Moehrs, president of the College Democrats, said she is looking forward to the debate on Wednesday night, and has her team practicing in pre-mock debate beforehand with all possible question scenarios. 
“We’re ready to go,” Moehrs said. “We’re excited to educate people on our party platform and make them [students] more educated before the election on Tuesday.”
Moehrs said she can not wait to see her fellow debaters go up against the other teams.
William Bonduris and Kathleen Poole will join Moehrs on the College Democrats panels.
Until Election Day arrives on Nov. 8 and the polls open in Mississippi, students should come out to the mock debate and celebrate the freedoms they have in the political decision making.