2008 Woodie Awards
College Democrats hold forum without opponents to debate
By Shane Madden
Issue date: 12/3/07 Section: News
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The College Democrats held an informational forum for students on Wednesday night at the Philips Autograph Library instead of a debate that was supposed to take place with the College Republicans of West Chester University.
Members of the College Democrats remained tight-lipped about why the debate fell through although it was mentioned that it was with very short notice prior to the scheduled date. Sara Mendicino, president of the College Democrats, said that there were some disagreements between the two groups about advertising for the event and how much draw the debate would have among students.
"It was still a success," Medicino said. "We plan on holding a debate next semester on more current issues."
Laura Ness, parliamentarian of the Student Government Association and the College Democrats, who organized the event said that she was still pleased with the turnout despite the lack of a debate. Ness said that more than 50 people were in attendance.
Debate aside, the forum consisted of four student panelists who presented the Democratic Party's view on different issues as well as some of their personal opinions. Each panelist walked the party line but also fielded questions from students who were in attendance.
The panelists provided liberal arguments on the issues of United States relations with Iran, immigration, same-sex marriage and the troop surge in Iraq. Andrew Gelston, a second-year student majoring in political science, began the forum with the topic of Iran.
"The Bush Administration has decided to put their foreign policy in front of our domestic needs," Gelston said.
He said that the Democratic party believed that there should be no military interaction with Iran unless there was viable proof that Iran intended and had the ability to harm the United States. The definition of viable proof is hazy at best, however, after the weapons of mass destruction debacle in the invasion of Iraq.
Gelston was followed by Nikkie Schultz, a second-year political science major, who covered the topic of immigration and border control. Schultz asserted that the current border policy established by the Bush Administration was not decisive because of the difficulty of dealing with the 14 to 16 million immigrants currently in the United States.
Members of the College Democrats remained tight-lipped about why the debate fell through although it was mentioned that it was with very short notice prior to the scheduled date. Sara Mendicino, president of the College Democrats, said that there were some disagreements between the two groups about advertising for the event and how much draw the debate would have among students.
"It was still a success," Medicino said. "We plan on holding a debate next semester on more current issues."
Laura Ness, parliamentarian of the Student Government Association and the College Democrats, who organized the event said that she was still pleased with the turnout despite the lack of a debate. Ness said that more than 50 people were in attendance.
Debate aside, the forum consisted of four student panelists who presented the Democratic Party's view on different issues as well as some of their personal opinions. Each panelist walked the party line but also fielded questions from students who were in attendance.
The panelists provided liberal arguments on the issues of United States relations with Iran, immigration, same-sex marriage and the troop surge in Iraq. Andrew Gelston, a second-year student majoring in political science, began the forum with the topic of Iran.
"The Bush Administration has decided to put their foreign policy in front of our domestic needs," Gelston said.
He said that the Democratic party believed that there should be no military interaction with Iran unless there was viable proof that Iran intended and had the ability to harm the United States. The definition of viable proof is hazy at best, however, after the weapons of mass destruction debacle in the invasion of Iraq.
Gelston was followed by Nikkie Schultz, a second-year political science major, who covered the topic of immigration and border control. Schultz asserted that the current border policy established by the Bush Administration was not decisive because of the difficulty of dealing with the 14 to 16 million immigrants currently in the United States.
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