The community will have the opportunity to hear from candidates running for local, state and federal offices during the Lander University political candidate forum on Thursday, Nov. 1 from 6 to 8 p.m.
Co-sponsored by Lander and the Index-Journal, the forum will take place in Lander's Josephine B. Abney Cultural Center Auditorium and is free and open to the public.
This event is funded in part by S.C. Humanities, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The "Democracy and the Informed Citizen" project is spearheaded by the national Federation of State Humanities Councils, of which S.C. Humanities is a member.
The forum is part of Lander's "Achieving the Promise: Democracy and the Informed Citizen" grant that will provide events throughout the 2018-2019 academic year, building upon the university's legacy of civic engagement by giving a distinct set of opportunities and experiences for its campus community and the citizens within the Lakelands region.
Lander's political candidate forum is an opportunity to empower students and community members to be informed citizens and to model good political dialogue in a contentious political environment.
Dr. Lucas McMillan, dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, and Richard Whiting, editor of the Index-Journal, will serve as moderators. Those invited to participate on Nov. 1 are:
Candidates for each race will provide a brief personal statement, followed by a timed question-and-answer session. The public and members of the campus community have an opportunity to provide questions to candidates in each race in two ways:
1) submitting a question using the online form, www.lander.edu/atp by noon on Oct. 26; or
2) asking a question of candidates for mayor or school board, all non-partisan and local-level races, during the forum.
Submissions using the online form will assist the moderators in the questions asked of candidates for each office. During the forum, the moderators will provide guidelines for those interested in posing questions to the candidates.
For more information, contact Lander's College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at 864-388-8733.
Voters will head to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
SC Humanities
The mission of South Carolina Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. This not-for-profit organization presents and/or supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos and humanities-based experiences that reach more than 250,000 citizens annually. South Carolina Humanities receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as corporate, foundation and individual donors. It is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state.