During my first semester at Northeastern University in the fall of 2010, I had the privilege of participating in one of the most time-honored of all political traditions: a debate between two opposing parties.
As the 2010 midterm elections drew closer and closer, anticipation mounted and more and more people, even those who did not usually pay attention to politics, became interested in the various issues and races in the news at the time. The obvious thing to do for Northeastern’s two leading political organizations, the NU College Republicans (NUCR) and NU College Democrats (NUCD), was to hold a debate, allowing the viewpoints of the opposing parties to be presented to the campus side by side in a formal setting.
For college students who might have been anticipating exercising their right to vote for the first time, an event such as this, conducted by their peers, could have been a major turning point in their understanding of key issues. For this reason, a debate is truly one of the most noble and constructive endeavors that campus political groups can undertake.
NUCR still feels this way. We believe that political discourse should be encouraged, especially in a formal, academic setting that engages the campus community and gets students thinking about issues that will directly affect them as they make the transition into adult life.
Unfortunately, ours would be the only podium on stage if a debate were to be held tonight. This semester marks the third consecutive semester that NUCR has made good-faith attempts to reach out to NUCD for the purpose of co-organizing and co-sponsoring a debate open to the Northeastern community, and for three consecutive semesters our requests have fallen on deaf ears. As the campus representatives of our respective political parties, NUCR and NUCD are obligated to not only promote our respective ideologies, but to promote political discourse among our peers and the Northeastern community. Any opportunity to do so that we pass up is a lost opportunity to inspire another generation of senators, governors, and presidents to enter the political arena. NUCR would like to call upon our friends across the aisle to uphold their obligation as a college political organization and participate in a debate this semester. To shirk this responsibility again, especially in an election year, would be an unthinkable disservice to the Northeastern community, who do not deserve poor political leadership on any more levels than they are already getting it.
-Patrick O’Neil is external vice president of the Northeastern University College Republicans.
