A gubernatorial forum set to play out on campus Sept. 3 was cancelled Tuesday due to a lack of candidates. The forum was to focus on the problem of out-migration of young people facing the state.
The forum was sponsored by YouthElect, a national nonprofit organization which has a chapter on LSU’s campus.
Out-migration is a problem detailed on the YouthElect Web site as “brain drain,” or Louisiana’s most promising minds and bodies leaving the state for job opportunities elsewhere.
According to YouthElect’s website, the census bureau reported about 111,000 fewer children in Louisiana in 2000 than in 1980.
Entitled the “Leaving Louisiana Forum,” the debate was to allow gubernatorial candidates to address this issue before the gubernatorial primaries on Oct. 4., and was slated to be free and open to the public. YouthElect member and Student Government Vice President Jason Wesley had hoped for a good student turnout.
“I thought it was important to the school because many candidates were running on a higher education platform,” Wesley said. “Many kids our age leave the state for better jobs and educational prospects.”
Wesley said the forum was not only important for YouthElect but for the school as well.
“The forum was to address questions about how to improve our educational process and the process of getting jobs in the state.”
Rhett Morris, executive director of YouthElect, said the forum was a tool to expand YouthElect around campus.
“Candidates have been giving lip-service to the problem of out-migration,” Morris said. “They all just bailed on us.”
According to Mike Hinton, deputy press secretary for the gubernatorial candidate Randy Ewing, said Ewing could not attend the event when initially invited.
“We were sent an invitation, but we had a scheduling conflict,” Hinton said. “Mr. Ewing has a platform for stopping out-migration – it’s a big issue for us.”
Many students saw the rejection by the gubernatorial hopefuls as proof the candidates are not concerned with issues affecting college students.
“It just shows that they don’t care that much about younger people,” said Michael Quinlay, an electrical engineering freshman from Atlanta. “In Georgia, we don’t have this problem.”
Wesley also said from an SG and a YouthElect standpoint, the forum’s cancellation is troubling for leaders on campus.
“This just puts more coals on the fire,” Wesley said. “Young people are trying to get candidates to listen. Look at these candidates that aren’t even paying attention.”
Landscape architecture junior Suzannah Desroches said the candidates pullout was a political move, and the candidates didn’t want to take a stance on the issue, expected Desroches.
Wesley said the cancellation wouldn’t stop YouthElect from succeeding on LSU’s campus, and the forum was just a precursor to their main event, a major conference in October.
YouthElect is planning a conference of college students entitled the “Y-Factor Conference” on Oct. 17 and 18 in the Lod Cook Conference Center. The conference will feature many young politicians and activists as YouthElect tries to expand its organization, Morris said.
YouthElect was founded on LSU’s campus, said Mark Schafer, an associate political science professor and YouthElect’s campus advisor.
“YouthElect is a non-partisan student organization interested in politics and getting students involved in politics,” Schafer said.
YouthElect also plans to publish a book by the same title (“The Y-Factor”). Morris said many publishers have expressed interest in carrying the book.