University
of
Michigan
selected
to host
Presidential
Debate
in 2020
ANN
ARBOR—The
University
of
Michigan
will
host a
Presidential
Debate
on Oct.
15,
2020,
the
Commission
on
Presidential
Debates
announced
today.
The
debate,
which
will
take
place in
the
university’s
Crisler
Center,
will be
the
second
in a
series
of three
Presidential
Debates
next
year
prior to
the
November
election.
“This is
a
tremendous
opportunity
for the
university
community
to
contribute
to our
democracy,
while
setting
an
example
of civic
engagement
and
shining
a light
on the
outstanding
academic
strengths
of our
institution,”
said U-M
President
Mark
Schlissel.
“Public
service
and
civic
engagement
are at
the core
of our
great
university
and its
history.”
The
debate
will be
staged
largely
on the
university’s
athletics
campus.
Crisler
Center
is home
to the
men’s
and
women’s
basketball
teams
and the
women’s
gymnastics
team.
Educational
and
outreach
activities
will
take
place in
facilities
near
Crisler
Center
and in
other
parts of
the Ann
Arbor
campus.
The
university
is the
alma
mater of
former
President
Gerald
R. Ford,
whose
legacy
lives on
in the
Ford
School
of
Public
Policy,
which is
helping
to lead
U-M’s
debate
initiative,
and in
his
presidential
library,
which
sits on
the
campus.
Ford was
an
honorary
co-chair
of the
CPD.
U-M
has been
the site
of many
important
events
in U.S.
history,
including
President
Lyndon
B.
Johnson’s
“Great
Society”
speech
and the
clinical
trials
of the
Salk
polio
vaccine.
It was
on the
steps of
the
Michigan
Union
that
presidential
hopeful
John F.
Kennedy
delivered
his
speech
in 1960
announcing
his
vision
of what
would
become
the
Peace
Corps.
“For
generations,
the
University
of
Michigan
has led
the way
in
advancing
understanding
of our
nation’s
most
pressing
issues—and
next
year our
students,
faculty
and
staff
will
have a
novel
opportunity
to
enhance
this
essential
quality
of our
mission
at the
national
level,”
Schlissel
said.
The
university
community
can
anticipate
themes
related
to
democracy,
the
election
and the
debate—from
cybersecurity,
to
voting
rights,
to the
meaning
of
truth—to
be woven
throughout
the
coming
year,
providing
opportunity
to
engage
with the
electoral
process,
through
curricular
and
co-curricular
experiences
and
various
public
events
enhanced
by being
a debate
site.
The
CPD
announced
in
September
that
former
presidents
George
W. Bush
and
Barack
Obama
have
agreed
to
become
honorary
co-chairs
of the
CPD.
Information
on
public
events
and
media
access
will be
announced
in the
months
to come.
Visit:
Debate2020.umich.edu.
Join the
debate
conversation
at
@Debate2020UMich
on
Twitter
and
Instagram.