STORY BY JESSICA LYNK
As the sun faded in Kern Commons in Cartwright Hall, students, faculty and community members gathered on chairs and turned couches to face a podium adorned with a “Rick 2016” poster.
Flyers urging viewers to “get engaged” and “join me now in taking back America for working families” were set across the room.
About a hundred people chattered, waiting for presidential candidate Rick Santorum to take his place at the front.
At 4:50 p.m., the presidential candidate strolled in wearing jeans and a blazer.
“Thank you all for coming today and respectful participating in this market place of ideas,” said Logan Murray, a member of Drake Law Republicans, introducing Santorum. “Living in Iowa, we are given the rare opportunity to be actively involved in the vetting process of the next president of the United States thanks to our first in the nation caucus.”
Santorum, the 2012 Republican caucus winner, gave a bit of background, including his nerves about being back in a law school after earning a J.D. from Dickinson School of Law. Then, he went straight to answering questions in this town hall style meeting.
The event, sponsored by Drake Law Republicans and Drake University College Republicans, occurred Monday as a part of Drake’s commitment to open political conversation.
First-year Josh Hughes kicked off the conversation by expressing his concern with incarceration rates and police brutality leading to protests through a question.
“As president, how would you hold bad law enforcement accountable if they are brutalizing victims and how would you address the racial imbalanced levels of incarcerated people in this country?” Hughes said.
“The level of accountability for men and women in uniforms is I think as high as it has ever been in the history of our country,” Santorum responded.
Santorum then went on to indicate that he doesn’t think the president has made any progress regarding “racial reconciliation.”
“As a new president, you focus in on the fundamental problem, which I think is causing all of this, which is that there are no dads in those communities,” Santorum said.
“The basic problem in this society comes down to the breakdown of the traditional family. It is family, not race. The chances of kids coming from families that I talk about (single-family homes) being in this very room are very slim and that is just not right.”
Another student questioned why student loans are higher than other types of loans. Santorum explained that students and parents aren’t paying their loans back, so there is a bubble created that hinders others, especially those who aren’t going to college.
“ The more money you pump into students, the more colleges and universities jack up the prices,” Santorum said.
“The benefits of a college education are still very strong, but we are now at a tipping point where they not quite what they are used to be. We have to start looking at education a little differently.”
First year Ryan Skotzke asked a question centered around Kim Davis and the issue of how religious liberties fit in with court decisions.
Santorum referred to this event as an “assault on religious liberty.”
“There’s nothing in the Constitution that says the court can do what it did. Nothing,” Santorum said. “The final say should always be in you and you have no recourse to the courts, except indirectly through the president and only through the president because they are appointed only when there is a vacancy.”
Santorum ended his visit by asking for support.
“I know you all have a lot of money, so if you want to donate, you can do that too.”
