Home  About  In the News  Publications  Blog  Join  Donate  The Public Awareness Campaign in Los Angeles is promoting freedom. Announcements National Expo: July 11th Hyde Park Summit: August 14-17 Essay Winners Announced in The Nation On Campus Iowa Chapter Holds Forum Zach Hindin in the GW Hatchet Coverage of the Johns Hopkins Chapter Launch > More "In a moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing." — Teddy Roosevelt    Campus political organizations debate controversial subjects > Roosevelt Home > In the News > Campus political organizations debate controversial subjects Campus political organizations debate controversial subjects by Nick Warlick 3/30/07 Tensions flared as members from organizations spanning the spectrum of political ideology debated controversial subjects late Thursday. Members of the Young Democrats, Campus Greens, Georgia GuardDawg, Roosevelt Institution and College Republicans participated in a structured debate on a variety of topics. One member from each organization sat on a panel that tackled issues including health care, global warming and the war on terror in front of a crowd of about 50. Emotions played a large part in the discussion of the war in Iraq. Zaid Jilani, founder of the Campus Greens, said the invasion of Iraq was a violation of international law and there should be serious repercussions for those involved. "The people who started this war should be tried as war criminals," he said. The U.S. also should begin withdrawing from the region by the end of this year, he said. Andrew Widener, senior editor of the GuardDawg newspaper, said because Iraq had a history of past aggression and harboring terrorists linked to a number of serious attacks throughout the world, something had to be done. "I couldn't disagree more with what Zaid said," Widener said. Deep Shah, president of the Roosevelt Institution at the University, said the issue of a potential pullout in the war in Iraq is a complex debate. "We need a one to two-year pullout with specific troop intervals," he said. He also said any withdrawal in the region should be accommodated by a neutral third party to deal with oil in the region. Payton Bradford, political director of the Young Democrats, said he hopes to see more events such as this in the future. "They get people thinking and engaged and asking questions. It is also extremely important to raise political awareness on campus." Click here to read the article from The Red and Black's website.   The Roosevelt Institution is a nonpartisan, nonprofit national think tank devoted to bringing students' policy ideas to the policy process. The opinions expressed on this site are exclusively those of its members. DC Headquarters: Roosevelt Institution / 2100 M St NW Suite 610 / Washington, DC 20037 || (202) 833-1359