Following the lead of Green Party members across the country, the College's Campus Greens, a new campus organization, demonstrated against the 2000 presidential debates, which excluded third-party presidential candidates on Tuesday.

Members of the Campus Greens, a group of College students who support presidential candidate Ralph Nader, congregated Tuesday outside of the University Center, distributing information about the Green Party to passerbys.

"I think it went great," Green Party campus coordinator Jarret MacDonald, a senior, said. "We gave out tons of flyers. People were pretty receptive, even if they weren't voting for the Green Party."

He said the Campus Greens wanted to inform students about the Green Party, as well as encourage voting in general.

Junior Peter Maybarduk, one of the founding members of the Campus Greens, said the purpose of the demonstration was to inform students that when they vote for the president next month they don't have to choose between Vice President Al Gore and Governor George W. Bush.

"We wanted to let people know there was a third option," he said.

MacDonald said that Nader's ideas on the environment, consumerism and international issues attracted him to the party.

"I think in general Ralph Nader represents idealism that is actually tangible," he said. "I think he can actually bring about reform."

Maybarduk noted the importance of Green Party supporters voting for Nader even if they know he will not win. He said that a party receives matching funds if it receives at least five percent of the vote in the general election.

The desire to inform students about third party options not only drove Green Party College students to hold Tuesday's demonstration, but also to form the Campus Greens, Maybarduk said. The group is currently in the process of becoming an official College organization. It has submitted a constitution to the Office of Student Activities and is waiting approval.

The chances of approval are high, according to Director of Student Activities Mark Constantine.

"We're pretty liberal in allowing students to create organizations that suit their needs," Constantine said.

As of now the group has no formal meeting, but students interested in joining it can contact MacDonald.

In order to spread their message, members of the Campus Greens plan to hold several other events, which include participating in debates with members of Young Democrats and College Republicans.

The group also plans to travel to Wake Forest University in North Carolina next week to participate in the presidential debate demonstrations.

Thousands of people convened in Boston this week to protest the presidential debate, which was at the University of Massachusetts.

The Commission on Presidential Debates, which has sponsored all of the presidential debates in the past three general elections, barred third party candidates from the debates because they did not meet all of the commission's qualifications. In order to participate in the debates, candidates must be constitutionally eligible to run for president, must qualify to have their names appear on enough state ballots to have a mathematical chance of securing an Electoral College majority and have support from at least 15 percent of the national electorate.

Nader has been receiving about five percent of the vote in recent polls. He called an end to the commission on Wednesday, after being barred from even attending the debate.

Maybarduk believes that the commission's requirements are biased against third parties because they can't get the necessary support needed to get in the debates without the exposure that the debates provide. About 46.6 million people tuned in to Tuesday's debate.

"It's kind of self-fulfilling prophecy," Maybarduk said about the commission's rules. "Ralph Nader was locked out of the debates because the debate commission is made up entirely of Republicans and Democrats."