Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders spoke directly to a core constituency of his campaign Wednesday night: college students.

About 70 Syracuse University students tuned in to the live feed of Sanders speaking from an auditorium at George Mason University in Virginia. An independent senator from Vermont, Sanders is currently seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2016 presidential election.

Spearheaded at SU by Jason Ashley, a senior citizenship and civic engagement major, the conference lasted just under two hours in Huntington Beard Crouse Hall’s Gifford Auditorium. The event was broadcast to more than 300 colleges and universities across the U.S.

In particular, Sanders stressed issues regarding the American economy, the current prison system and the role of money in politics.

“It is beyond my comprehension why today in America hundreds of thousands of bright and qualified young people are unable to go to college for one reason: their families lack the money. That is wrong, and we are going to change that,” Sanders said, stressing the effect of economic hardship on young Americans.

Sanders expressed disapproval of the current American criminal justice system as well.

“America has more people in jail than any other country on Earth. … Disproportionately, those folks are black and Latino … I will not be the president of a country that has more people in jail than any other country,” Sanders said.

He also spoke on current issues in race relations in America, making reference to divisive cases like the shooting of Mike Brown and the recent video of a police officer dragging a student from her desk in South Carolina.

Emphasizing his desire to witness the decriminalization of marijuana, Sanders discussed the relationship between marijuana-related arrests and high prison populations, citing a statistic that in 2014 that there were about 620,000 marijuana-related arrests in the U.S.

“It is time to end the arrests of so many people and the destruction of so many lives for possessing marijuana,” he said.

Arguing that the current system allows the wealthiest families and corporations in the nation to invest large amounts of money in particular candidates who serve their interests, he characterized campaign finance programs like Super PACs as degrading the integrity of the political system.

“We have an economic system that is rigged,” Sanders said. “Almost all of the income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. I will be the president of a country with an economy that works for all of us, and not just for the billionaires.”

He also mentioned his desire, if elected president, to campaign for the national minimum wage to be steadily raised to $15 per hour.

Sanders’ speech was followed by a question-and-answer period, during which he answered questions both from people in the immediate audience and those asking on Twitter via the hashtag #studentsforbernie.

Questions ranged from his policies to combating human trafficking to his advocacy of disability groups.

In particular, he stressed his desire to see young people involved and engaged in the political sphere.

Published on October 29, 2015 at 12:04 am

Contact Bridget: blmcalli@syr.edu