Gubernatorial candidate Fred DuVal held a political discussion with students Thursday evening.
The UA Young Democrats hosted DuVal at their first meeting of the semester Thursday evening at the Agave room in the Student Union Memorial Center.
Nicholas Mahon, philosophy, politics, economics and law junior and the club’s president, said the event was a great way to keep students politically engaged in time for next year’s governor elections.
“At the start of the year it’s always exciting to see new freshmen come in who want to get involved,” Mahon said. “We want to engage students and the community in any way we can, but the most effective way to do that is to get involved in elections.”
A former member of the Arizona Board of Regents, DuVal said he was one of the few officials openly against tuition increases during his term. DuVal spoke about his upcoming election platforms and his current opinions on the state of education.
“The big issues will be education reform and how we create long term investments,” DuVal said, “both in K-12 and in the university.”
Elaine Mills, public management and policy senior and president of the Young Democrats of Arizona, raised concerns on the tuition rates.
“Some people don’t know that Arizona’s constitution states that higher education should be as close to free as possible,” Mills said. “$10,000 a year for in-state students is not as close
to free as possible. I wanted to know what kinds of ideas are there on making it more affordable.”
Morgan Abraham, president of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona, also raised questions about funding for student organizations on campus.
“There’s so much that affects students that the governor and the legislature deal with,” Abraham said. “Our whole entire tuition is directly impacted by the budget that the governor actually proposes. Knowing who you’re voting for based on how they affect tuition is probably the whole ball game.”
Although there weren’t any national elections this year, Mahon aimed to raise awareness on the importance of local elections, hoping to keep the momentum going for next year’s elections.
“It was a great turnout,” Mahon said. “I was really happy DuVal could come and kick off our semester. I think he spoke on a lot of issues student’s care about.”