On March 29, Ashland University’s Young Democrats and College Republicans met to debate some of the big issues facing candidates in the 2016 presidential election.

The two-hour debate was moderated by Professor of Political Science Jeff Sikkenga and covered both political and economic issues including trade, minimum wage, poverty and education. He was impressed by the turn out which included both AU students and members of the community.

“That kind of civic discussion, and it was a very good discussion, shows you what politics can be at its best,” said Sikkenga. “It shows you that Republican self-government is actually possible. That people can be reasonable and even when they disagree they can argue in a civil way and work through these issues.”

According to Sikkenga, this is the first time in recent years that students planned and participated in a debate like this

“The tendency is to see young people as either apathetic or just protesting rather than being engaged [in politics] in a serious, sustained way,” said Sikkenga. “I think what we saw last night is that a lot of young people are engaged in exactly that way.”

President of College Republicans, Ivan Larson, explained that he and senior James Coyne, who debated from the Republican side, prepared by following the news and doing extra research to find facts and examples they needed to make their points.

“It’s important, especially at a college age where your beliefs are being formed, to be exposed to views from the other side as well as views to your own side to get an sense of the best argument for what you believe and to decide if those arguments make sense to you,” said Larson.

Sophomore Nathan Klainer, the president of Young Democrats and freshman Rachael Wyant represented the democratic side. Klainer explained that his interest in politics began with Obama’s 2012 campaign. He along with a few other students decided to restart the Young Democrats group last fall to give liberal students a place on a primarily conservative campus.

“There was a study by Cal University that said young people are more involved in politics than they’ve been since 1970 when Vietnam protests were very popular and happening across college campuses,” said Klainer. “I think we have had many people become interested in politics because of Barack Obama and now even more because of Bernie Sanders.”

According to Sikkenga, both groups have discussed the possibility of a future debate to discuss issues that were not covered in this debate.