Classes will still be held on Oct. 13, the day of the presidential debate, despite the expected thousands of media, Secret Service, public officials and visitors on campus that day.
More than 2,500 media outlets are anticipated to be on campus covering the debate.
An ASU Steering Committee is preparing the campus for the event by planning staging areas for the media and visitors.
ASU spokeswoman Nancy Neff said a media filing center and media support services center will be built outside of Gammage Auditorium to accommodate as many media as possible.
The Student Recreation Complex will also be designated as the media overflow area, Neff said.
The SRC field will be utilized as a speakers' corner, an area where protesters and others can express themselves, ASU Vice President of Public Affairs Virgil Renzulli said. There will be a stage, a microphone and sound system at the area.
Neff said the SRC field is the largest and most accessible site that is close to Gammage, yet out of what ASU believes will be a secured perimeter.
Several departments and organizations are also hosting activities.
For example, three history professors plan to host a panel discussion on "Presidential Elections and Foreign Policy" at the Tempe Public Library on Sept. 28.
ASU associate history professor Catherine Kaplan, who is one of the panelists, will speak about events in the early 1880s that affected presidential elections, such as the French Revolution.
Kaplan said foreign policy is a key issue in the upcoming elections.
"Our discussion would provide a historical context of how foreign policies have affected presidential elections," Kaplan said. "The war on Iraq, the war on terrorism and other issues will be discussed with relation to the upcoming elections."
ASU professors will also host panel discussions on "Race, Gender and Presidential Elections," "Arizona and Presidential Elections" and "Presidential Election and Domestic Policy" among other topics, that are all connected to the debate and open to the public.
All presidential debate events are posted on the ASU debate Web site at www.asu.edu/debate.
The Commission on Presidential Debates, a nonprofit organization in charge of sponsoring presidential debates, announced last month that CBS News Chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer will be the moderator for the presidential debate held at ASU.
The debate will last 90 minutes.
Reach the reporter at laosamoa.poasa@asu.edu.
