After the debate between the UNH College Democrats and Republicans in the Memorial Union Building’s (MUB) Strafford Room on Wednesday night, student attendees shared some of their post-event reactions. With the upcoming presidential Election Day on Nov. 8, many students said they came to gain exposure to different perspectives, and some even learned something new.
Senior environmental resource economics major was one of those students who was curious to hear an alternative point of view to his own. He said that during the debate he learned that some of his fellow students are not very informed about the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAP) issue, which he said is partially the media’s fault for not covering it more thoroughly. This was in reaction to a question fielded to the UNH Republicans about the DAP, which was met with silence as they clearly did not know what it was.
Junior English teaching major Sarah Slack was likewise concerned with the Republicans’ lack of response to the DAP question.
Slack said she attended Wednesday’s debate because she “was interested in how the political parties on UNH’s campus would have been influence by their candidates.”
Occupational therapy graduate student Molly Ohman said that she came to the debate already knowing she is going to vote for Hillary Clinton and the rest of the Democratic ticket. “I think that’s definitely been solidified in my mind,” she said.
Ohman expressed that her biggest concern is student debt, which is driving her decision to support Democratic candidates.
Moderating the event was senior economics major and UNH Student Body President Jonathan Dean, along with senior political science and justice studies major Ricky Aiello.
Dean said that he thought the event was beneficial to everyone in the audience, and that he learned “Republicans and Democrats can get along sometimes.”
Hosting the debate, which was sponsored by the New York Times, was senior English/journalism major, The New Hampshire Executive Editor and New York Times Collegiate Representative Allison Bellucci.
Bellucci agreed with Dean that the event was a success. She said that the biggest thing she learned was the “difference between the College Republican and Democrat views.”
Like Sinclair-Wingate and Slack, Bellucci also said she was surprised by the UNH Republicans’ lack of an answer to the DAP question.
A more critical outlook came from senior English/journalism major and The New Hampshire Staff Writer Mark Kobzik, who was covering the debate for the Thursday, Nov. 3 issue.
“I was interested to see what the two sides had to say about their respective candidates and the issues to see if they know what’s going on,” Kobzik said. “A lot of them had a lot of good things to say, but in terms of specifics I would have liked to hear more.”
Kobzik said that what he learned from interviewing four of the six people on the stage Wednesday night, was that “there seems to be more social progression among the Republicans,” and “there seems to be more of a sense of compromise.”
Though he said that seeing the UNH Democrats and Republicans sharing common views, he also said that he thought the Democrats “could have pushed back a little bit more,” because there is “a lot of material to sort of debunk and criticize when it comes to the Republican platform.”
Also covering the event for The New Hampshire was Design Editor and sophomore English/journalism major Alycia Wilson, who was live-tweeting. Wilson said that she has “always had an interest in politics.”
Having paid close attention to the student debaters’ responses, Wilson expressed approval of how the UNH Republicans clarified some of their personal opinions and positions, particularly when it came to abortion.
The general consensus of students’ takeaways seemed to be one of hope. Audience members were able to see an example of members of the two different parties engaging in a productive, educated conversation, even coming to agreement on some issues that have been polarizing on the national scale.
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