UCLA cancels proposed debate between candidates for US Senate
The University of California lost access to Elsevier, the world’s largest scientific publisher, on Wednesday. The two parties had been working to form an agreement for the past six months. (Daily Bruin file photo)
By Ryan Leou
Sept. 22, 2016 1:40 p.m.
UCLA officially called off a proposed debate between the candidates for the California U.S. Senate seat Thursday.
UCLA Government and Community Relations originally announced its plans Sept. 7 to host a debate between California Attorney General Kamala Harris and Rep. Loretta Sanchez, two Democrats running for California’s first open U.S. Senate seat in 24 years. UCLA would have partnered with KNBC-TV to host the debate in Royce Hall on Oct. 14.
Jonathan Van Dyke, spokesperson for the UCLA Office of Government and Community Relations, said the university extended the deadline for both campaigns to respond multiple times. He added UCLA ultimately decided to cancel the debate, but declined to elaborate on specific reasons.
When the debate was first announced, Harris did not initially accept or reject the invitation, confirming only her attendance at debates in Sacramento and California State University, Los Angeles on Oct. 5.
Sanchez originally agreed to both debates, but backed out of the Sacramento event and called for a total of four debates in the LA area, including the debate at UCLA. The Harris campaign rejected that offer, with campaign representatives saying they would not accept additional debate invitations.
