October 12, 2004 == MEDIA ADVISORY
Calvin College's Robert L. Bytwerk Video Theater * located in the school's new DeVos Communication Center * will be the site for a presidential candidate debate viewing party at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, October 13.
The event and the reception following it will be hosted by the Calvin chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, a national political honor's society. See http://www.apsanet.org/~psa/
Calvin's Corwin Smidt says the debate screening is a good fit for the honor's society, which typically sponsors a variety of politically related activities throughout the year.
"We'll watch the debate and see where the candidates stand on the issues. It's the final debate, so it's kind of a wrap-up session," says , says Smidt, director of Calvin's Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics.
The event is intended to raise campus awareness of the presidential campaign and Smidt expects some audience participation.
"There will be voluntary expressions of approval and disapproval," he says. "We have Republicans, Democrats, independents. And we have students from all over the world."
Pi Sigma Alpha will also host an informal reception following the debate.
"There's been a lot of formal (political) discussion on campus this fall. We're just giving students a chance to talk about it amongst themselves," Smidt says.
The debate screening is one of many activities Calvin has scheduled around the campaign.
At 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 14, Smidt, who also holds the Paul Henry Chair in Christianity and Politics, will join sociology professor Paul Freston in the college's Meeter Center to discuss "Christian Involvement in United States Presidential Elections: American and Global Perspectives."
Freston * renowned as an expert on Latin American Christianity * is also Calvin's first holder of the Gary and Henrietta Byker Chair in Christian Perspectives on Political, Social and Economic Thought.
Finally on November 2, Calvin's political science department will host its longstanding election-watching party in the DeVos Communication Center lobby for the first time.
Contact Corwin Smidt at 616-526-6233
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Received on Tue Oct 12 10:17:28 2004
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