Marco Rubio, Republican senator from Florida and presidential candidate, is coming to campus for a town hall on Thursday, August 27. The event is sponsored by Student Government, and 00is a positive learning opportunity for students on campus.
Rubio is a leading candidate for the nomination, polling consistently within the top five Republicans in the field and ranked highly by most analysts. Since South Carolina is an early state and most students on campus can vote in the primary elections, having a chance to question candidates is good for both them and the democratic process. We hope that the event proves to be reasonably interactive in terms of audience questions taken. Pressing the senator on major issues would also be beneficial. In an age of Internet videos and extensive online reporting, having him give a simple stump speech and answer a few trivial questions would provide students with little information a simple YouTube or Google search wouldn't provide.
Engaging students now is also crucial for democracy. Only slightly more than half of young people in South Carolina cast votes in the 2012 election. A similar proportion of college-age voters don’t self-identify with either party. As such, it is extremely important to present students with their options and give them a chance to ask the candidates questions.
Student Government has invited other candidates from both major parties to come to campus. We hope that they take up the offer to better make their case to the student body and open themselves up to questioning. In the meantime, we encourage students to attend to the event and ask questions to become better informed citizens.