Cats Den hosts mayoral forum with Twitter twist
March 30, 2010
UK students will have the opportunity to use their Twitter accounts for something other than status updates Tuesday night.
The Cats Den and Student Government are hosting a forum featuring the four mayoral candidates — Mayor Jim Newberry, Vice Mayor Jim Gray, former mayor Teresa Isaac and Skip Horine — and the audience will respond to their debate responses via Twitter. A screen will broadcast the Twitter comment feed and questions as the candidates speak.
“Students need to realize this is an interactive debate. As long as they have a Twitter account they can be part of this,” said James Davidson, public relations and special events coordinator for the Cats Den. “If they agree or disagree with something that is being said (they can) post a comment or send in a question.”
Four questions have been prepared for the candidates. Two were given to them ahead of time, and two will be on-spot. Additional questions will be from the Twitter feed.
“I expect the debate to focus on the issues that are most pertinent to UK students, and how the Lexington community can co-exist with UK should be discussed,” Davidson said. “UK is a main artery of Lexington and should be treated as such, it has been said there is a disconnect between Lexington and UK.”
Expected topics include the clean coal debate on UK’s campus, the student housing resolution and connectivity between UK and surrounding communities.
The forum will be Tuesday at 7 p.m., and students can join the Twitter feed by using the hash tag #lexmayor. Laptops will be located in the Cats Den for students to post comments.
