Students will have the opportunity to decide between “The Lesser of Two Evils” as the college Democrats and Republicans debate the issues presidential candidates are facing in the upcoming election.

The Black Student Union, NIU Forensics, the Department of Political Science and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People are sponsoring the debate, held at 7 p.m. tonight in the Holmes Student Center’s Regency Room.

The debate will pit up to five representatives from each party against each other and will be moderated by Daniel Kempton, chair of the political science department.

Issues such as the war in Iraq, healthcare and education and issues affecting minorities will be debated.

The idea for the debate came about before the semester began, said Danielle Andrews, director of programming for the BSU.

“A lot of people don’t know why they are voting for the parties they are voting for,” Andrews said. “Some people I talked to said they vote this way because they don’t want that person in office or because their parents vote that way. I thought that was a sad reason to vote.”

Both the college Republicans and Democrats received a list of topics that will be focused on during the debate, but additional questions from the BSU, NAACP and debate attendees will also be fielded by the two groups. Forensics reviewed a list of questions that will be asked at the debate for any biases in advance, Andrews said.

“There will be opportunity throughout the event for the audience to speak up and ask questions,” Andrews said.

The debate will be historic in nature because it will be the first time the two college groups have debated, said Mike Celis, a college Republicans debate panelist.