Southwestern Community College continues debate series on October 8

SYLVA – In September, students in Dr. Bucky Dann’s Social Problems class hosted debates featuring candidates for national and local office.

Following the Sept. 24 event featuring candidates for Jackson County Board of Commissioners, students will now delve into statewide issues in preparation for a debate between Joe Sam Queen (D) and Mike Clampitt (R), candidates for N.C. House of Representatives, Dist. 119. That debate will take place at 7 p.m. on Oct. 8 on Southwestern’s Jackson Campus.

Due to COVID-19 and related statewide restrictions, the public will not be able to physically attend. Instead, SCC will provide live streaming video at https://livestream.com/southwesterncc/nchouse119.

The first debate in the series was a Sept. 9 event featuring the two men contending for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives: Republican Madison Cawthorn and Democrat Moe Davis. The Sept. 24 Jackson Commissioners debate featured Democrat Mark Jones (Dist. 4) and Republicans Tom Stribling (Dist. 3) and Mark Letson (Dist. 4). Also invited but unable to attend was Democrat Susan Bogardus (Dist. 3).

SCC students spend the first few weeks of their class meetings researching and discussing issues of relevance in the various races, and they develop their own questions on a variety of topics with the goal of illustrating the differences in the candidates’ points of view.

The final debate of this campaign season will be at 7 p.m. on Oct. 22 featuring Kevin Corbin (R) and Victoria Fox (D) – candidates for N.C. Senate, District 50.

For updates and replays of past debates from this campaign season, check www.SouthwesternCC.edu and SCC’s official social media pages (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) regularly.

ABOUT SOUTHWESTERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE …

For more than 50 years, Southwestern Community College has served Jackson, Macon, Swain Counties, and the Qualla Boundary by offering a wide range of educational options for residents in all stages of life.  SCC has been ranked No. 1 by Bestcolleges.com in its listing of “The Best Community Colleges & Trade Schools of 2020,” marking the fourth time in the past 15 years Southwestern has ranked among the nation’s Top 10 community colleges. SCC provides a supportive learning environment and more than 40 degree programs in Health Sciences, Arts and Sciences/College Transfer and Career Technologies.  SCC also offers a variety of community resources, including the Small Business Center, Workforce Continuing Education and Career Services.