USC political organizations hold student debate
Students discussed the current political and economic crisis in Venezuela, climate change and homelessness, among other topics at a political debate Tuesday hosted by Unruh Associates and the Political Student Assembly at Ground Zero Performance Café.
Nearly 20 students attended the debate, which featured USC GOP, Trojan Advocates for Political Progress, USC College Democrats and Trojans for Liberty.
Political Student Assembly Director Briana Miles and Unruh Associates Vice President José Guillermo Gutiérrez moderated the debate after organizers scrambled to find a new debate moderator. Symone Sanders, a Center for Political Future fellow and former national press secretary for 2016 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, canceled at the last minute.
Representatives from each group presented on the topics, beginning with a discussion about the United States’ involvement in the current political crisis in Venezuela. They spoke briefly about their doubt over the United States’ intervention techniques in other countries. All agreed that non-intervention was the ideal solution.
“I definitely thought this was going to be a lot more contentious,” said Guillermo Gutiérrez, a junior majoring in political science.
Audience members were allowed to pose their own questions to debaters. When asked how citizens can influence lawmakers to avoid intervention in Venezuela, USC GOP expressed disinterest in social action, while the other student groups voiced encouragement for social actions like protests.
“I [do not] think it’s a big enough partisan issue to gain support to actually do anything to persuade lawmakers,” said USC GOP representative John Scavo, a sophomore majoring in political economy. “They’re going to do what they want.”
TAPP, College Democrats and Trojans for Liberty switched out their debaters for the second topic of the night: climate change. Representatives addressed whether implementing the carbon tax would prove beneficial for climate change, which split the debaters into two groups. TAPP and College Dems supported the tax.
“By 2050, we can reduce up to 80 percent of the net greenhouse gases we emit with the carbon tax that was just recently proposed by a bipartisan group of members of Congress and supported largely by Democrats,” said College Dems representative Andrew Binder, a freshman majoring in philosophy, politics and law.
The debate ended with a discussion on homelessness in the country. Student representatives examined the government’s responsibility to address the homelessness crisis.
“Preventative measures, I think, is the best way the state can provide help [to homelessness],” Scavo said. “Mental health facilities, transportation, that sort of thing, is really important … I don’t know how effective providing affordable housing is when helping homeless populations because it’s not a supply issue, it’s a demand issue.”
While the representatives expressed contention over finer points of homelessness like zoning restrictions, they agreed homelessness is a complex issue. No one presented a singular solution to address the crisis but instead discussed contributing factors like addiction and mental health issues.
“I feel like people had different varying degrees of [political] expertise, and sometimes, certain political groups were clearly more educated on certain topics than others,” said Josh Masters, a senior majoring in animation and digital arts. “And to me, it wasn’t always a fair debate … I would want someone who disagrees with me to be well-prepared.”
Students also commented on Sanders’ last-minute cancellation.
“I thought maybe the moderators could’ve been, you know, a little more prepared, but it sounded like they had been subbed in last minute by somebody who canceled, so I can’t blame them too much for that,” said Reed Barnes, a junior majoring in computer science.