A debate among Kansas University student senate candidates scheduled for Monday afternoon was canceled.

Marlesa Roney, vice provost for the Office of Student Success, said that after the university heard an “unsubstantiated rumor” during the weekend, the university decided to place metal detectors at the debate for security reasons.

Roney declined to discuss the nature of the rumor, and said the sponsoring organization made the decision to cancel.

The University Daily Kansan was the debate’s sponsor.

In a story on the newspaper’s Web site, Kansan Editor Brenna Hawley said she went to the auditorium and saw the metal detectors being assembled and called the Office of Student Success.

“I was strongly urged to cancel the debate,” she said in the story. “I would have canceled the debate anyway after I saw the detectors.”