The Anatol Conference Center was home to a more civilized political discussion Wednesday night as professors and experts led the Vote 2016 forum to a crowd of 50 students and faculty. They discussed foreign policy issues and answered pressing questions.
The topics discussed covered different aspects of foreign policy, from global warming to terrorism.
Dan O’Connor, interim Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, moderated the panel and was joined by international studies professor Richard Marcus and political science professors Charles Mahoney and Barry Steiner.
One issue discussed was how terrorism is funded and how terrorist attacks in Asia are not as widely recognized by news organizations compared to attacks in Europe and the United States.
“Groups that have external [financial] help from other states are extremely difficult to stop,” O’Connor said.
Another topic of the night was the recent Iran nuclear deal and how Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would have handled it.
The deal, settled in January, has undergone scrutiny as it allows Iran to have nuclear facilities. Some U.S. politicians, including many Republicans, disagree with the deal as they say it will allow the country to develop nuclear weapons.
However, the deal restricts Iran’s nuclear capabilities and subjects the facilities to international inspections. The deal also limits Iran’s uranium for 15 years.
“Trump is a businessman and he wants to make a good deal,” O’Connor said. “Perhaps he would try to deal so hard that there would have been no deal.”
O’Connor ended the forum by urging students to have their voices heard by going out and voting. He said they will be responsible for future policies and their generation will have have to vote on major issues such as global warming.
Junior political science student Bianca Salgado said she found the topics interesting and relevant as the first presidential debate was held earlier this week.
“This affects us, millennials, in the long run and it’s something we should all be aware of. It’s going to determine what’s going to happen to us. Who knows what could happen,” Salgado said.
Junior creative writing major Arielle Theobald said she was surprised that the panel wasn’t run by personal opinions. She said that, instead, it looked at the bigger picture.
“I’ve been following this election and the debates and you don’t get to see that from politicians. It’s nice to have people that actually study these things and don’t have any personal gain.”
The next forum will be held on Oct. 12 and the topics discussed will be race, gender, identity and the American presidency. It will be held at the Anatol Conference Center located in the Academic Services building between the library and McIntosh building.