Russell House Theater was filled with discussion Wednesday night at a town hall meeting led by Dr. Cornel West and featuring former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner and intellectual Adolph Reed Jr. The meeting centered on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ policies on college affordability, academic labor and other issues related to his candidacy for the presidency.
A large crowd gathered, including a variety of students, professors and others interested in hearing the panel speak on behalf of the Vermont senator hosted in conjunction with the South Carolina Labor for Bernie Committee and Higher Ed for Bernie.
Some of the students in attendance, including third-year environmental studies student Matthew Duggan, attended the event looking for a greater understanding of what Bernie Sanders is about.
“I hope to learn more about the higher education stuff. I hope to learn more about that and how they feel about that. Gotta see if they align with my views so I can make a judgment about who to vote for later on. This is Bernie’s views,” Duggan said.
The speakers put a great emphasis on the importance of higher education in today’s society and Sen. Sanders' ideas and opinions on the subject.
“When Sen. Bernie Sanders talks about college for all — he’s talking about little girls and little boys like me,” Turner said. “Whether you’re in the rural white poor ... or whether you come from an urban area where you are poor. That everybody's child could dare to dream that they would be able to go to college and not have to graduate with the degree in one hand and college debt in the other."
The former state senator also focused on Sen. Sanders’ morale and how they will help him run this country.
“What Sen. Sanders stands for — he’s unashamed to say [is] that the wealthy in this country can’t have it all,” Turner said. “We can’t have elected folks who care more about their next election instead of the next generation.”
Jabs were made throughout the panel at republican candidate Donald Trump as well as fellow democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and the speakers reiterated how Bernie is different from the candidates and is the “real thing."
“What I love about Bernie Sanders is that he’s a brother of integrity,” West said. “He hasn’t sold his soul to Wall Street. He hasn’t sold his soul to big corporations. He hasn’t sold his soul to adjust to the narrow discourse of corporate media. That’s why they don’t cover him in the way in which he ought to be covered.”
West also elaborated on what a free education at a higher learning institution really means to Sanders.
“Bernie Sanders is not just for free public college and university but what takes place inside of those colleges and universities must be a democratic form of intense dialogue, not just a dispensing of skills so you can gain access to some vanilla suburb and live large and think highly about yourself,” West said.