Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, who is vying for Sen. Barbara Boxer’s (D-Calif.) U.S. Senate seat, held a roundtable discussion with students from USC and several other California universities Wednesday, stressing her dedication to creating jobs and lowering the federal deficit. The event was also met with a small protest from members of USC College Democrats.

Campaign · Senatorial candidate Carly Fiorina spoke to students Wednesday in Doheny Library. - Sunil Murali | Daily Trojan

Fiorina, who is running against former California Congressman Tom Campbell and California State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore in the Republican primary, recently launched 17 campaign coalitions, including Students for Carly, the group that sponsored Wednesday’s event.

At the roundtable, Fiorina criticized Sen. Boxer’s record, calling her a “uniquely failed senator” and emphasized the high unemployment rate in California.

“What’s going on in California demonstrates that we can kill the American Dream,” she said.

California, Fiorina said, used to be a place for innovation, but it is now plagued by unemployment and a large deficit.

Though Fiorina lacks political experience, she argued that her background prepares her for Washington the same as a background in politics.

“Our founding fathers intended this to be a citizen government,” Fiorina said. “I am a citizen who understands how jobs are created.”

Fiorina said she would focus on allowing small businesses to grow.

“I come from a very different point of view than Barbara Boxer or President Obama,” she said. “I think they believe that government is the answer. I don’t think it is. The way you create jobs is not through government. The way you create jobs is to make it easier for those people who actually create the jobs — innovators, entrepreneurs and small businesses.”

She also voiced her support for strict limits on federal spending, saying she would move to force government agencies to reduce spending by 5 percent.

Addressing health care reform, Fiorina only said that there are many other issues to be discussed before such a sweeping reform bill should be considered.

Fiorina said she has focused on the employment issue because of the impact it could have on young voters.

“Young people are very influential, but also a lot of the problems we’re trying to solve are going to impact young people the most if we don’t solve them,” she said.

Students at the event responded well to Fiorina’s points.

“It was thought-provoking,” said Rob McCarty, a sophomore majoring in business administration who said he has not decided whom he is voting for yet. “I especially liked her firm stance with the Wall Street banks, even though it may not be as copacetic with other conservatives. I felt that she has the ambition, she has the charisma to be able to bring about some sort of change.”

Dylan Steinman, a sophomore majoring in economics and political science who describes himself as a swing voter, said he is now planning to vote for Fiorina.

“I really am confident in her,” he said. “I think that she’s pretty bipartisan. I think that she’s really trying to get something done and that she won’t necessarily just vote along party lines.”

Alexa Ekman and Lauren Korbatov, co-chairs of the newly founded USC Students for Carly, said they were excited by the turnout and the response from students.

“So far the excitement has been really overwhelming because students see how the economic issues are going to affect them,” Korbatov said.

Ekman said the group will continue to recruit members and “to shine a light on exactly what she said today and Barbara Boxer’s failed record and inefficiency, just to prove to Californians and students that we need a new candidate in D.C.”

Students on the other side of the aisle are less sold on Fiorina’s promises, however.

“She’s a failed CEO who was fired at HP for being mean and incompetent,” said Bob Mulholland, senior adviser to the California Democratic Party, who helped USC College Democrats organize the protest. “Now she’s acting as if she’s God’s gift to California.”

Though the protest only attracted six people, Micah Scheindlin, a junior majoring in American studies and the political director for USC College Democrats, said he was pleased with the result, given that they had little notice of the event. He said the group wanted to provide an opposing view point in light of Fiorina’s appearance.

“Carly Fiorina is not a good candidate for California — that’s how we feel, that’s how the state party feels, and we wanted to make our voices heard,” he said.