UCSD students were asked to “”Question Authority”” on Oct. 14 at the second annual Campus Connection Forum held by the A.S. Council and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. The event brought local political candidates to campus to interact with students on issues ranging from housing to public transportation to the cost of higher education.

As part of their Get Out the Vote campaign, A.S. Council members encouraged the students in attendance to register to vote; those who did were entered into a drawing to win an X-Box video game console.

The panel of candidates included city council candidates Michael Zucchet (2nd district), Dwayne Crenshaw (4th district) and Charles L. Lewis (4th district), as well as assembly candidates Sarah Lowery (77th district) and Richard J. Senecal (75th district).

The panel gave its opinions on issues concerning college students, a group that event organizers say are underrepresented at the polls.

“”I get the impression that a large part of the student body is lukewarm, politically speaking,”” said Marshall senior Jennifer Lum. “”People tend not to have very strong opinions one way or another regarding important issues.””

That political indifference is what the chamber and A.S. Council are trying to change with this event and others like it.

“”When you look at the student population at UCSD, these are all likely and potential voters,”” said Mitch Mitchell, SDRCC vice president of public policy. “”Getting them involved in the process now will help us as a region in the long run, because these are our future leaders.””

Students were arranged at tables in groups of four or five. Questions A.S. Council members considered relevant to students were posed to both the candidate panel and the audience. Students and others in attendance responded via an electronic audience response device.

The candidates had the opportunity to reveal their answers to the multiple-choice questions before the students’ answer percentages were projected on a large screen behind the panel. This format was designed to let the students and the candidates measure their responses against one another’s.

Thirteen questions were posed. The ones eliciting the most spirited student response concerned raising student fees to counteract the California budget crisis and how to get students to get out and vote. Some 89 percent of the audience responded that it opposed a fee raise, while the candidates were mixed on the issue.

Attending candidates hope that similar events could pique a historically absent interest to vote among students.

“”The reason for lower turnout among students is two-fold,”” Zucchet said. “”First, the politicians don’t speak to their issues, and two, quite frankly, students need to take some initiative and they need to get involved.””

Whether the students and candidates saw eye-to-eye or not, the event opened the lines of communication between the two groups, with student asking additional questions, countering the candidates’ responses and lobbying for causes such as the Go Solar campaign.

“”It provided the students an opportunity to be engaged,”” said Joseph Watson, vice chancellor of student affairs. “”It also informed the candidates what the opinions of the students were.””