Third parties represented in forum
Students fill in for no-shows
Tommy Wright
Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: News
Third-party candidates have fought for years to be included in more public debates. In 2000, Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan sued the Commission on Presidential Debates, a nonprofit corporation that holds debates, to fight for their inclusion. In an event held at SJSU on Tuesday night, third parties were invited and had more representatives than the Democrats or Republicans.
The event titled "A Call to Action" was a forum held in the Umunhum Room of the Student Union. The panel members were asked about their background, party affiliation and changes they would make to the school system. At the end of the discussion, the panel answered questions from the audience of 37 people.
The event was supposed to include representatives from the Green Party, the Socialist and Liberation Party, the American Independent Party, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
Jerry Denim, the American Independent Party representative, didn't show up, and as the event was set up, the Democratic and Republican representatives were nowhere to be found either.
Nick Siekierski, a graduate student in library science, volunteered to represent the Republicans. He was originally there as an audience member, but when he saw that there was no Republican representative, he decided to be the representative.
"I thought since the whole point of the discussion was supposed to be bringing in different political viewpoints, it would be kind of ridiculous not to have someone there,"
Siekierski said. "So although this is the first panel I've ever been on, it was a good experience. I'm glad I could bring some balance to it."
The Democratic Party also had fill-ins from the audience to represent the party. Omar Torres, a senior political science major, stayed for the first couple of questions until he had to leave to attend a meeting. Sarah Bronstein, a sophomore political science major and president of the SJSU Democratic Caucus, was able to sit in for the entire forum.
The event titled "A Call to Action" was a forum held in the Umunhum Room of the Student Union. The panel members were asked about their background, party affiliation and changes they would make to the school system. At the end of the discussion, the panel answered questions from the audience of 37 people.
The event was supposed to include representatives from the Green Party, the Socialist and Liberation Party, the American Independent Party, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
Jerry Denim, the American Independent Party representative, didn't show up, and as the event was set up, the Democratic and Republican representatives were nowhere to be found either.
Nick Siekierski, a graduate student in library science, volunteered to represent the Republicans. He was originally there as an audience member, but when he saw that there was no Republican representative, he decided to be the representative.
"I thought since the whole point of the discussion was supposed to be bringing in different political viewpoints, it would be kind of ridiculous not to have someone there,"
Siekierski said. "So although this is the first panel I've ever been on, it was a good experience. I'm glad I could bring some balance to it."
The Democratic Party also had fill-ins from the audience to represent the party. Omar Torres, a senior political science major, stayed for the first couple of questions until he had to leave to attend a meeting. Sarah Bronstein, a sophomore political science major and president of the SJSU Democratic Caucus, was able to sit in for the entire forum.
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