By Erin Furman

An update on the status of lottery tickets to the 2008 presidential debate that will be made available to students.

The Educate ’08 Debate committee will announce instructions on how University students can sign up for the debate ticket lottery on Monday, Sept. 22. Originally, instructions were supposed to be released yesterday, but for unknown reasons they were delayed.

Only currently enrolled students with a minimum of six credits will be eligible to participate in the ticket lottery, which will be open from Sept. 22 to Oct. 3.

Virtually all tickets allotted to the University will be given to students. Faculty members and other University employees will not have access to the debate hall; however, there will be several screening areas on campus where those without tickets can view the debate as it is broadcasted.

The exact number of available tickets could be anywhere from 150-300, and it is likely that the Commission on Presidential Debates will not hand them over to the University until the final days before the debate. At that time, University officials will randomly assign the tickets to students who participated in the lottery.

This debate, the third and final 2008 presidential debate, is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, Oct. 15 in the University’s own Arena, a part of the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex on North Campus.