One of the last remaining issues standing in the way of a Sean Hannity-Rocky Anderson debate has been resolved.

Brian Burton, programming adviser for the Associated Students of the University of Utah, said Wednesday that the school will host the May 4 debate on campus at Kingsbury Hall. Anderson and Hannity will discuss the war in Iraq and calls for impeachment of President Bush.

Earlier discussions surrounding plans for a face-off between the liberal Salt Lake City mayor and the conservative Fox News Channel talk-show pundit left uncertain the availability of any campus venues to host the event, because the university's commencement ceremonies are being held the same day.

"Commencement is the biggest deal here on campus, and we didn't want to interfere with that," Burton said. But the last commencement event planned at Kingsbury Hall will be at 3 p.m., and the building will be available at 6 p.m. The debate is planned for 8:30 p.m.

Burton said the only commencement event he knows of that will be happening on campus the evening of May 4 is the College of Humanities graduation ceremony, which will be held on the other side of campus at the Huntsman Center.

That means there should be plenty of parking for the debate. Parking for Kingsbury Hall events is usually offered at the Rice-Eccles Stadium lot, with a shuttle service available. Burton said he expects that to be the case for the debate.

Also settled is the question of ticket sales. Burton said 900 tickets will be available to current U. students for $5 each. Tickets for the general public will cost $20. Kingsbury Hall has a capacity of about 1,900. That means the debate could bring in nearly $25,000.

Tickets will likely be available sometime in the middle of next week through the Kingsbury Hall box office and through kingsburyhall.org.

Ticket revenue will be split three ways, with a third going to the Guadalupe Schools in Anderson's name, a third to Primary Children's Medical Center in Hannity's name and a third going to the university for an unspecified scholarship.

"We really are looking at this as a unique opportunity to hold this event on campus and to put that money to the charities," Burton said.

One thing left to be worked out is the identity of a moderator for the debate. Anderson wants to avoid using someone from the media because he doesn't want to give one media outlet the upper hand. Hannity has said he is suspicious of anyone Anderson supports as moderator.

The two recently agreed on KSL-Newsradio's Doug Wright Show to allow professional pollster and U. professor Dan Jones to select the moderator. However, Jones said Wednesday that he had not been asked by any of the people involved in the planning.

Representatives from Anderson's and Hannity's offices could not be reached Wednesday.

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E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com