Published: September 29, 2008 11:18 pm      

OUS class to analyze upcoming debates

IRONTON — Students in communications courses at Ohio University Southern will watch and analyze the upcoming presidential and vice-presidential debates as an exercise in weighing rhetorical techniques.

The sessions, which will be open to the public, will be in Bowman Auditorium in the Collins Center and will kick off Thursday with the vice presidential debate between Republican Sarah Palin and Democrat Joe Biden.

The second session will cover the second presidential debate Oct. 7.

The sessions are intended as thoughtful academic exercises, not partisan rallies, so students and the public alike are discouraged from bringing banners, signs, buttons or apparel displaying party or candidate preference, said communications professor David Lucas.

Chanting, cheering and sloganeering also will be discouraged, Lucas said. “We want people to engage and think about ideas ... we’re going to be dissecting the messages, looking at the rhetoric.”

Students also will be using hand-held electronic clickers to register their reactions during the debate. For instance, students may be asked which candidate appears to be making the most effective presentation, Lucas said.

If there are clickers left over after distribution to students, some may be handed out to the public participants, he said.

Data gathered by the clickers will be used in later classes.

The sessions will start at 8:30 p.m. and the debates will be shown on the giant-screen television in the auditorium.

During the second debate, which is to be in a town-hall format, audience members both at the debate and on the internet will suggest issues.

OUS students will bring laptops and submit their own questions.

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2652.