ASUWT’s debate watch party encourages bipartisanship on campus

The student government of UW Tacoma recently provided a space for free thinkers and healthy discussion in a heated political climate to watch the Presidential Debate.  

There’s been a heated political climate for a long time in our country. We all have things that are important to us. We also have those things which we believe this country should represent. This of course includes what we feel and know our leaders should represent. 

What’s truly difficult to shake, however, is the feeling of not having a safe space to express those beliefs or even think out loud while working through ideas. With a second assassination attempt on Former President Donald Trump’s life on September 15, we can see how complicated the political spectrum has become.  

That is why, on Tuesday the 10 of September, I went to the presidential debate watch party held in UWT’s Dawg House by ASUWT to see what the atmosphere was like. 

“My idea was making a judgment-free zone,” said Director of Outreach Merriah Kubista, “approaching it in a non-partisan way so that it’s more educational so people can form their own opinions.” 

That’s the point of democracy. It doesn’t make sense to walk on eggshells with issues and ideas depending upon who you’re around. 

Yes, there will be heated debate sometimes. Yet we understand what politics is all about. All of us want what’s best for our country in the end. 

As I was sitting in the Dawg House, every time Trump would speak, I noticed an irritability in some people and more than likely he has earned that in one way or another, but I did not notice that same scrutiny when it came to Vice President Kamala Harris’ turn to speak. 

The moderators didn’t fact check Harris when she commented about there being no American troops in combat zones, when there are troops stationed in many countries considered to be combat zones, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. But when Trump commented on reports of Haitian migrants in Springfield, OH eating people’s pets, they responded by saying the City Manager told them there were no credible reports. This is how the debate went, thus, none of the issues facing our country were really explored in a way the American people deserve. 

When we’re in the public arena and my ideas clash with another person’s ideas, then discourse should begin. This idea of rallying behind a person to bully the other side into submission, humiliation and shame isn’t beneficial to anyone. 

I was able to catch up with some students after the watch party and get their take on not only the debate but how people seem to respond to politics, and they gave me hope that maybe it’s just our leaders who are behaving like children. 

“It doesn’t really make me feel unwelcome that there’s people with different perspectives,” said Wyatt Hegg, UWT student. “Ultimately, I want to know why they have that perspective.”  

For us to think we have everything figured out by voting Republican or Democrat and that every solution is going to be perfect for everybody is naive. We are deceiving ourselves if we think change comes without some sort of pain or resistance or feelings of discomfort. 

“It’s fun having your peers around, watch with you and give you insights of how others are feeling,” Hegg said. 

To me America is the greatest country in the world, not because it doesn’t have issues. It’s because it represents a melting pot of free thinking, and everyone can come and be themselves amid everyone else. 

The message that ASUWT wants to share with the student body, is to not be shy and let what you feel inside be known. They expressed to The Ledger the importance of hearing all perspectives and having good discussions.     

“It would be cool to have more of these events,” said UWT Student Samual Peña-Rojas. “A lot of the systems at the top are very polarized, their isolated with their own sides and it’s not very bipartisan.” 

All the students I spoke with agreed that having these types of events would be constructive. Students also mentioned some ideas of having UWT professors join these events as a resource for fact checking and for the sake of having deeper conversations to understand everything being presented by candidates.   

What started out as a sliver of hope has turned into belief. Belief that the people in the United States are free thinking people. Those who aren’t convinced just by any argument anyone can make, but instead research and work it out for themselves to see if the argument is true, worth pursuing and voting for.    

The next debate watch party ASWUT will be hosting is October 1 for the Vice President debate at the Dawg House. For updates on times for the Vice President debate watch party or dates for similar events refer to ASUWT’s Instagram profile.