The Show Went On.... Kinda

Rick Puig, one of the College Democrats debaters,
fields questions from the audience.

The debate that was supposed to happen between the Mizzou College Democrats and Republicans didn't go as planned. Mark Buhrmester, President of the Mizzou College Democrats, made an opening speech in which he had "bad news" for the audience of a shade more than 100. In its place, they would host an open forum on the Democratic Party in which audience members could ask any question they want.

“Last night, at about 6 p.m., the vice president of the College Republicans called me and told me that College Republicans would not be coming tonight,” Buhrmester said, adding that that was pretty short notice of an event that had been planned two weeks prior.

Marcus Bowen, the Vice President of the Mizzou College Republicans, said that “the College Democrats thought that if they publicized enough, they could bully us into going against our principles,” Bowen said. “We never gave them any reason to put together this debate.”

But Buhrmester said he believes that the College Democrats and College Republicans have an obligation to the campus community to provide an open discussion of ideas and issues.

You can check out the full story in The Maneater here.