By Callie Smith, Staff Writer

On Thursday, Oct. 8, Armstrong will host Savannah’s mayoral debate. Associate professor Dr. Ned Rinalducci is responsible for the setup of this political event. Due to both the city council races and the mayoral races receiving more attention, Rinalducci saw a perfect opportunity for the university.

“We are doing a service to the city and the people of Savannah [by hosting the event],” Rinalducci said.

The debate will begin at 7 p.m. in the Armstrong Center auditorium and will feature the mayoral candidates Eddie DeLoach, Murray Silver and the incumbent, Mayor Edna Jackson. WSAV News 3 anchor Tina Tyus­Shaw will serve as moderator. The debate is scheduled to last 90 minutes. The event’s questions will be posed by Tyus­Shaw.

Answers and rebuttals will be timed. Multiple elements of preparation are needed for the event to function. These preparations include getting commitments from candidates, a commitment from a moderator, securing the venue space, advertising for the event, soliciting, and creating questions for the candidates to address.

Rinalducci believes that hosting this event will be an exciting accomplishment for Armstrong as a university.

“It demonstrates that we are engaged with the larger community,” he says of Armstrong hosting the event. Such an accomplishment may even open up further opportunities of this nature in the future.

For those interested in submitting questions for the debate, email Rinalducci at ned.rinalducci@armstrong.edu. Once questions have been submitted, a committee of faculty and media will choose the questions they believe best suite the debate.