Students debate the issues
Student Senate sponsors political face-off in Davies
Jacob McCormick
Issue date: 10/16/08 Section: News
While the book on the 2008 presidential debates closed Wednesday night, UW-Eau Claire hosted a debate of its own Tuesday night.
Minus the actual candidates, Student Senate sponsored a debate featuring students representing Democrats, Republicans and Independents.
Each party outlined and explained party and personal stances on a variety of issues, including the economy, government regulation, the Iraq War and foreign policy issues throughout the Middle East; education and other domestic issues and energy policy initiatives, with political science professor Steve Majstorovic serving as the moderator.
Junior Jacob Miller said he thought each side skipped around a bit, but that each of the issues is too difficult to solve through one channel.
"Nobody had really solid answers on anything," he said, "but I learned that in a sense of being a smaller microcosm of world issues as a whole, these are real difficult issues to solve and good debate is needed."
Beginning with the economy, Independent representative and senior Abou Amara, said the $750 billion bailout mostly affects Wall Street, while Main Street businesses also deserve some help. He added that a 90-day moratorium should be set in place so people trying to pay for mortgages are allowed some time.
"We need to give people at home the ability to try to pay for these homes," Amara said. "Set up a 90-day moratorium so you can't take people out of their homes while they're trying to get back on their feet."
Junior Adam Sorelle, also representing Independents, said the Treasury Secretary should use powers guaranteed in the bailout bill to re-negotiate rates at fixed prices so people are able to pay them off instead of resorting to sub-priming.
In light of the loss of 760,000 jobs over the past year, Democratic representative junior Jake Johnson said the best way to help the economy would be to look at ways to produce jobs through government work.
"Small businesses take projects and large businesses can also help fund them," Johnson said. "The every day person trying to work to pay that mortgage off or that student loan off - they can find that job in construction that's going to be there and it's going to pay very well."
Minus the actual candidates, Student Senate sponsored a debate featuring students representing Democrats, Republicans and Independents.
Each party outlined and explained party and personal stances on a variety of issues, including the economy, government regulation, the Iraq War and foreign policy issues throughout the Middle East; education and other domestic issues and energy policy initiatives, with political science professor Steve Majstorovic serving as the moderator.
Junior Jacob Miller said he thought each side skipped around a bit, but that each of the issues is too difficult to solve through one channel.
"Nobody had really solid answers on anything," he said, "but I learned that in a sense of being a smaller microcosm of world issues as a whole, these are real difficult issues to solve and good debate is needed."
Beginning with the economy, Independent representative and senior Abou Amara, said the $750 billion bailout mostly affects Wall Street, while Main Street businesses also deserve some help. He added that a 90-day moratorium should be set in place so people trying to pay for mortgages are allowed some time.
"We need to give people at home the ability to try to pay for these homes," Amara said. "Set up a 90-day moratorium so you can't take people out of their homes while they're trying to get back on their feet."
Junior Adam Sorelle, also representing Independents, said the Treasury Secretary should use powers guaranteed in the bailout bill to re-negotiate rates at fixed prices so people are able to pay them off instead of resorting to sub-priming.
In light of the loss of 760,000 jobs over the past year, Democratic representative junior Jake Johnson said the best way to help the economy would be to look at ways to produce jobs through government work.
"Small businesses take projects and large businesses can also help fund them," Johnson said. "The every day person trying to work to pay that mortgage off or that student loan off - they can find that job in construction that's going to be there and it's going to pay very well."
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