The Political Science Association at Eastern Illinois hosted another debate that included two additional organizations, Turning-Point USA at EIU and Students for Socialism along with the two major political parties at EIU. 

Maycie Wilson, the president of the Political Science Association, organized the idea of this inclusion and led the debate.  

She stated that her reason for including the two other organizations was because of student interest and the organization’s personal interest in participating.  

“After the last debate the Students for Socialism talked to me and were interested in getting involved,” she said. “Recently with Turning Point USA becoming a chapter here, their organization is all about debating and a lot of students were interested in seeing how they go up against other groups.” 

Wilson said that their participation in the debate was an important contribution to the diversity of our campus.  

“I think it’s important to see the diversity of thoughts we have here on campus. Not everybody in America fits into two boxes. The same thing can be said on college campuses. Alot of people don’t feel represented,” she said.  

However, the direction of questions for this debate was made to be more complex and controversial than the last debate due to public opinion, according to Wilson.  

“These topics are a little harsher than last time, but we should still be able to have a respectful dialogue,” she said. “I think after the last debate there were mixed opinions. One half of the people who came liked how nice it was, and the other half of the people wanted to see harder topics.” 

Megan Fox, President of the EIU Democrats, pointed out that the polarizing questions changed the form of the debate when compared to the previous one.  

“In comparison to the last debate, people were a little more forward and direct, especially in the rebuttals,” she said. “People were a lot more comfortable directly pointing towards someone’s specific point rather than just their general idea, which is helpful.” 

Jason Farias, the president of the Students for Socialism, said that his organization was glad to participate in the debate but, disagreed with some of the ways the debate was structured. 

“One of my issues with the last debate is that there was no space for students or public commentary. At SFS, we felt that the framing of a lot of questions was inadequate,” he said. “I still feel as though some of the questions for this debate were only given two capitalist options, and the questions are framed within the logic of the two-party system.”  

Despite the different opinions, Wilson stated that the goal for these debates is still striving for unity.  

“American politics is hateful right now so a lot of these groups do disagree, maybe even more than the last debate, but seeing how they can still have a respectful conversation is what I’m excited for,” she said.  

Ben Anderson, president of the College Republicans at EIU, went along with the goal that the Political Science Association emphasized during the debate, saying that the groups could agree on nothing politically but still smile at each other and shake hands. 

However, when asked about the possibility of further collaboration with the other organizations, Farias stated that the SFS will not be violating any of their principles for the sake of unity, referring to the different principles the other organizations have in comparison to theirs. 

“These parties and organizations do not have a good track record of supporting Palestinian liberation. So, our collaboration with them would be limited and it would have to be based on some principles,” he said.  

Representatives of Turning Point USA at EIU were unable to comment on the debate as they denied media inquiries due to instructions provided by the larger Turning Point organization.