Candidates for the only contested seat on Pima Community Collegeβs Governing Board will take questions from students and taxpayers at a public forum Thursday, Oct 27.
Two of three hopefuls for the boardβs District 5 seat are due to participate in a student-led forum at El Rio Learning Center, 1390 W. Speedway.
The event runs from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the centerβs Sun/Moon Rooms.
βThe forum will not be a debate, but simply an educational event where student moderators will ask questions that have come directly from students and the community and the audience,β said organizer Samantha Boettcher, of PCCβs Inter-Campus Council, a student group with representatives from across the college district.
The two candidates slated to attend are attorney Martha Durkin, a retired Tucson deputy city manager who was appointed to PCCβs board temporarily last year, and Luis A. Gonzales, a former state senator who spent eight years on the Legislatureβs education committee.
The third contender, Francis Saitta, a former PCC instructor, has indicated he will not attend, organizers said.
Boettcher, a transfer student planning to study business and marketing at the University of Arizona next year, said the student-run council decided to host the event because no one else was doing it and members thought it was important to raise awareness.
"It is very important that the candidates be well known that that their views are known. We are trying to encourage students to get involved because the decisions the board makes affect them.β
The election is Nov. 8.
