With the presidential candidate debates in swing, what do you think is the most important issue to be addressed?
James Holland, Network Engineering Major
“Honestly I think it is education reform. The way that education in this country is currently run is not sustainable for our country in the long term. We are educating and training children to the same standards we did 100 years ago—for factory jobs that no longer exist in this country. We need to place special emphasis on STEM—that’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math education—if we want to have any chance whatsoever of succeeding in the global economy in the coming years.”
Taylor Poliquin, Biology Major
“I think they need to address things on how to better us. They all say they want to change things and make the nation better, that’s what Trump says. But I think trying to come up with new ideas isn’t always the best thing because we can see in other countries like Finland and Poland and a lot of Europe that they’ve already been successful—like one of them is the happiest country on Earth. I don’t understand why we don’t want to try to follow in someone else’s footsteps, instead of trying to be our own number one country. Definitely money [should be handled differently] because… I think we need to put it toward education and healthcare, as the top two. Every idea has already been made up, and if something has been successful for somebody, so maybe we could just take a look at somebody else’s policies, and either do the exact same thing or branch off of it.”
Elyssa Kerlin, Occupational Therapy Assistant Major
“Truthfully for me the most important issue would be the LGBT rights and advocacy because I myself am pansexual and I am rather tired of being treated as a second class citizen. Also I think student financial aid is very important, which is the majority of the reason why I’m going to vote for Bernie Sanders. Insurance coverage [for LGBT citizens] is definitely something I would like to see improved, housing loans, different things like being able to put a partner on your lease, because sometimes you can’t technically do that, and they can deny you housing. I think that financial aid needs to be first of all available to everybody. I think that it shouldn’t matter what social class you come from, everybody should have the ability to go to school, and if they don’t have the money right now, they should have the ability to get loans.”
Lisa Lewis, Occupational Therapy Assistant Major
“I think the first and foremost is healthcare. I think that healthcare should be equal among everyone, so everyone gets the same kind of healthcare. I myself had to file bankruptcy, because back when I spent one night in the hospital, I racked up 10,000 dollars overnight. I had health insurance at the time through my job, but they decided not to pay, so I was stuck with the bills, and in the process, I wasn’t able to refinance the loans on my house. I believe that healthcare should be equal for everyone. I think that’s where they really need to focus, I think that’s one of the areas. I’m not really sure how to go about it, but everybody needs to contribute in some kind of way. Maybe according to the income bracket of what you make. If Canada can figure it out, the United States can figure it out. They just pay higher taxes. It’s just a money-making business.”
Anas Mustafa, Automation Control Technology (ACT) Major
“Donald Trump. I’m not against him at all, but the way he’s talking about different races and different religions, he is making enemies for the United States and that’s wrong. I’m from overseas, from Jordan, and I have a Green Card, I’m a U.S citizen, so I don’t have a problem with the United States, I love this country. Freedom of speech is in the United States, but you can’t talk about other people as an enemy, you can’t insult them, that’s the only problem I have with Donald Trump. The other candidates, I don’t have any problems with them. I can’t vote, but I would vote for Hillary Clinton or Bernie. Other countries, they have smart people, so why don’t we give them some scholarships, offer them a better life to come here and make our economy better, why not? That’s the only thing that we should do to make the United States better.”
Zoe Mornhinweg, Behavioral Psychology Major
“There are issues with college education and there’s been a lot of talk about, and this debate about the working class. Bernie Sanders talks about [how] people shouldn’t have to work 40 hours a week and still be in poverty. My mom says the same thing. It’s the people like Donald Trump, they’re so far removed that they don’t understand that people are in poverty, that they don’t make enough money to survive. Some people work three or four jobs and they still don’t make enough money to take care of themselves. The debate is about how it’s not their fault… maybe they should raise minimum wage. We’ve been kicked out of our house before, we’ve been split up, even though my mom’s working full time, she couldn’t afford to keep everything on. I know that hurts her pride, but it’s true. People who say you can live on 40 hours a week and minimum wage is livable—Minimum wage is not livable. You either need to raise minimum wage or lower the price of everything else. It’s ridiculous. There’s no easy fix.”