Hofstra hosts its second Presidential Debate
The main issues concerning students on Hofstra University’s Campus were woman’s rights and immigration.
In the days leading up to the event, there were many programs being held on campus; two of the most prominent, Cornel West and the program held by Hofstra Organization for Latino Americans (H.O.L.A). The event hosted by HOLA dealt with immigration, the DREAM Act, and what it meant to be Latino during this election year. All of these key issues were addressed during the debate.
Obama stance on immigration was pretty much straight forward. He said that “[America] is a nation of immigration.” “We are not far from Ellis Island.” The President then proceeded to say: “Talent from all over the world wants to come here and build on their dreams and the dreams of their children.” Obama then discussed his three steps for improving the process of immigration. The first one is to reduce the back log and streamline immigration, which is good for economic growth. This will create jobs and start new businesses. The second is border control, which is at its lowest than it has been in four years. The third is to go after immigrants in a time efficient matter and to do it smartly by going after criminals who are hurting the communities, not students who have been here for decades who understand themselves as being American students. These students in fact should be eligible for citizenship. Obama realizes that Immigrants supply energy and innovation. He plans to make the legal system better, but in order to do that he stressed the importance of bipartisan support, support from the republicans and democrats together to get serious on the issues of immigration. Obama also stressed that the Arizona policy is exactly what Romney wants, supports, and plans to implement.
Governor Romney’s stance on immigration is to veto the DREAM Act. He encourages self-deportation and supports the Arizona immigrant law. In fact, he wants part of the law to be implemented for the entire nation to follow. This law is racial profiling. Governor Romney wants to fix the system in a comprehensive way. How he plans to do this specifically is still unknown. However Romney did agree with President Obama on not spending time trying to deport students but by deporting hard-core criminals who are ruining communities.
On the issues of women’s rights and equalities, many women on Hofstra’s campus were concerned about what it meant to be a women and how important their right is to choose whether they can reproduce or not. On a college campus, different from many, but alike in raging hormones and increased sexual libidos, it is very important for women to be able to have access to affordable and healthy birth control.
Obama spoke about women’s healthcare and that governors should not be able to make choices for women. Birth control should be covered in health insurance because it is a major factor. Furthermore, Obama also mentioned gender inequality and how women should never be discriminated against meaning “Equal pay for equal work.” Governor Romney on the other hand is against contraceptives care and wants to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood.
