Students Share Variety Of Political Opinions During SXU Debate Party

CHICAGO, IL - More than 100 students at Saint Xavier University watched Monday night’s presidential debate on the big screen at McGuire Hall, making good on their duty to be informed ahead of what many have called the most important election in a lifetime.

Students from a variety of different backgrounds and political ideologies attended the event, all offering a different viewpoint on what has unfolded in the 2016 presidential race.

But all seemed to agree on one thing. That Donald Trump would not be good for America.

“The whole time, Trump was just trying to make her (Hillary Clinton) look bad,” said Christina Alvarez, a freshman at SXU in international studies. “Hillary is proposing a number of different things and has put a focus on being politically active.”

“Trump didn’t answer any of the questions tonight,” added Kristopher Littleton, a freshman studying accounting.

“It was a joke,” he said after the first half-hour of the debate.

The mood at McGuire Hall as the debate began did feel more like what would be expected at a viewing of a hit comedy movie than a debate on the future of the country.

When Hillary Clinton began the night by stating, “Donald, it’s good to be here with you,” the crowd laughed.
They either laughed or groaned nearly every time it was Trump’s turn to talk. Clinton herself couldn’t help but laugh herself at times, which was witnessed by millions of viewers across the nation.

“I know you live in your own reality,” was one of Clinton’s comments that generated the most positive reaction from the crowd.

Students identified a wide range of issues as the most important to them ahead of the election. Education was big, for others it was foreign policy and climate change.

For Nick Henderson, a junior communications student from Country Club Hills, it is the ongoing civil rights movement. Especially when it comes to tensions between police and the African-American community.
The answer to that problem is not Trump, he said. But it could be Clinton.

“As of now, I side with Hillary,” he said. “She has been very consistent with answers and not avoiding questions like Trump.”

Henderson says Clinton has found a way to “stand up for the black community” that Trump has not.

“With him, it’s all about stressing ‘law and order,’ but he isn’t coming up with any solutions. You can’t just stop and frisk any African American you see on the street. It’s not going to get rid of the guns. It isn’t that simple.”

While students as a whole strongly supported Clinton over Trump, not all were on board with the Democratic candidate.

Samer Alhato, a junior at SXU and a community activist, says he has major concerns with both leading candidates and will use his right to vote on Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate who is polling fourth nationally behind Clinton, Trump and Libertarian Gary Johnson.

“I thought it was important for me to come out and support my school and the community for holding this event. It is important, but I am not voting for either candidate,” said Alhato, who supported Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary and is now a backer of Stein.

His main grief with Clinton is with her history of foreign policy decisions.

“I’m a social activist, and a lot of what she has done is troubling,” he said. “Her record shows that she loves bombing the Middle East. She voted a lot for that. She’s a neoliberal, and nowadays, that really means she is a conservative.”

A Trump presidency, however, would be “catastrophic,” according to Alhato.

“Trump is a complete fool and unqualified to be president. His rhetoric is deeply harmful and toxic.”

Alhato said a recent poll shows that as low as 32 percent of Millennials back Clinton, and that many of his friends who also supported Sanders are split between backing Clinton and Stein.

“The two-party system is what left us stuck with these two, and people tell me that because I’m voting for a third party that I’m helping Trump...But I won’t throw my vote away out of fear. My right to vote is important, and I’m going to vote for someone I believe in.”

Alhato had a similar response during a question and answer session that preceded the debate when a woman criticized Sanders supporters for refusing to support Clinton.

Denise Du Vernay, assistant director of corporate government and foundation relations at SXU, is also going to vote for someone she believes in. And that’s Hillary Clinton.

“I think she’s a good candidate and will make a great president,” Du Vernay said. “She handedly won the debate.”

Du Vernay is also an adjunct professor at SXU and incorporated the debate party into her Monday night class.

“One of the things I ask my class to do often is to look at current events, and this was the perfect opportunity to do that,” she said.

The topic of the 2016 presidential election has come up in her class before. But if any of Du Vernay’s students are Trump supporters, they aren’t vocal about it.

“There are some students who haven’t been vocal about who they are supporting, but no one has been outspoken for Trump,” she said, adding that during the debate party many of her students were “pretty appalled at what he had to say.”

Prior to the debate, students and community residents conversed briefly in a forum headed by 19th Ward Ald. Matt O’Shea.

“I heard some wonderful sentiments from all walks of life tonight,” O’Shea said. “To those of you who are frustrated with where we are at and the choices we have, spend these next few weeks researching the candidates, talk about this and come up with an informed decision.”

“This is the most important election of your life and we only have a few short weeks left. Get educated on it, don’t just take the spin you see tonight. Go out there and learn for yourselves.”

SXU History Professor Graham Peck agreed with O’Shea’s assertion on the importance of the election this year. He urged students to address all the issues involved in the process, not just the ones that they feel are the most important to them.

“When considering the presidential race...all the plays are going to be called by one of these candidates,” Peck said. “Every election is a forking point, and all issues matter. If you are an American, all issues will affect you even if they do not seem direct.”