On Monday April 11, Campus Activates Board (CAB) put on a political debate between the College Democrats member Cristòbal Reyes, College Republicans member Mathew Parks, and the Young Americans for Liberties member Layne Garrett.
“We (CAB) put on this event because there’s often the accusation that millennial and the younger generation do not care about politics and election year issues. We came here tonight to prove that is certainly not the truth,” Speaker Director of CAB Stanley Swindling said.
The debate was filled with popular topics of today from legalization of marijuana to immigration reform.
During the Debate the three speakers were able to find some common ground on a plethora of topics such as the war on drugs, prison reform, and reducing military spending. Each speaker agreed that these areas need change; they just differed on how to go about it and to what extent.
However with every agreement there were plenty of differences. From gun control to climate change each speaker made clear distinctions of their opinions and stood up for their beliefs.
“Even though their were lots of disagreements, it always makes me happy to see students getting involved and coming together to discuss the important issues that are going on,” President of the College Democrats Nikki Mariutto said.
“I’d rather have a debate like this over people sitting around saying they don’t care about politics,” Mariutto continued.
Speaker Director Swindling echoed Mariutto saying, “We certainly expected some disagreements and partisanship. But at the end of the day the take away is these people of differing beliefs and values were able to come together civilly and respectively.”
After the debate Knights for Hillary President Jesse Rubens weighed in on the event and said, “While it is clear that none of the three speakers were remotely knowledgeable on the issues of guns and Israel, I found the form illuminating. It was a pleasure to hear the voices and ideas of my fellow students discussing the issues voters care about.”
Campus Activities Board will be putting on more political forums revolving around the issues students care about. At 7 p.m. on April 20, CAB will be putting on a marijuana legalization forum.
Be sure to check back with Knight News for coverage on future CAB events.
