Students come to hear policy

More than 1,000 people packed into the IU Auditorium on Tuesday night to hear former Sen. John Edwards speak – despite the controversy surrounding his personal life.

The lecture was the first time the former Democratic vice-presidential nominee spoke out since admitting in August to having an extramarital affair. At 1,072 people, the lecture was one of the largest recent turnouts for the Union Board, said Nathan Click, Union Board public relations director.

Sophomore Mariela Colindres said she thought Edwards had some good points but also disagreed with Edwards’ ideas to raise the standard of living.

Colindres said she recently learned in her economics class that raising the minimum wage would only increase the number of laborers.

Colindres said she doesn’t identify herself as either Democrat or Republican. But she said Edwards did the right thing by not addressing personal problems.

“I don’t think he should have addressed (the affair),” Colindres said. “Nothing he could have said to make it better.”

Colindres said the information about Edwards’ personal life discredits him as a person, but it did not affect how she felt about the speech.

Graduate student Kortnee Warner said she thought the speech was “inspirational.”

Warner said the speech provided her with information on Edwards’ stance on health care, which is something she wished would have come out more during his campaign.

Warner said she was glad Edwards did not address any of his personal problems.

“I heard about some of those issues,” Warner said. “It happens more than you realize it. I didn’t make any character judgments.”

Andrew Dahlen, lectures director for the Union Board, said the speech was “terrific.”

Dahlen said he and a political science professor selected the questions for the question-and-answer session. Audience members wrote down questions before Edwards spoke, and Dahlen read selected questions aloud.

He did not ask Edwards any questions about his extramarital affair.

“We really went off the majority of the questions that were submitted and tried to gauge what the audiences concerns were,” Dahlen said. “The audience was more concerned about the political and economic future of America.”

Junior Pat Buschman, new external vice-chair of IU’s College Republicans, said the speech was interesting.

Buschman said the lecture offered a unique experience for students. He said he knew he would not agree with Edwards on issues but was willing to listen.

Buschman said he would have liked Edwards to address the three Supreme Court justices that are on the verge of retiring.

Overall, he said he thought the selection of speaker was inappropriate because of Edwards’ personal life and wants to see a conservative speaker for the next Union Board lecture to balance out opinions.

“I think that for $35,000 you could have gotten a better speaker with all the stuff coming out of him,” Buschman said. “During the question-and-answer session, I think Edwards might have been a little nervous.”