The Political Science Association at Western is looking to take advantage of the new presidential administration by holding a series of political debates between club members. The club meets twice per month in Artnzen Hall 419 to discuss a wide range of political topics and is open to all majors. The objective of the club is to attract an intellectually diverse group where many different perspectives can be heard. “Since the election we started to focus a lot more on how people can get out there and be active in a political environment,” political science major and club Treasurer Michael Staight said. Discussion topics during the Tuesday, Feb. 7 meeting focused on current events related to decisions made by President Donald Trump’s administration. Before the election, most conversations were hypothetical. Club meetings focused on what different members thought would happen if either administration won. Since then, the club has discussed the pros and cons of certain policies. During the clubs meeting, the club discussed the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court. The club also talked at length about the policies of President Trump, in a debate that saw competing points of view towards the president’s actions. “I can see they have a lot of interesting conversations and a variety of views present. Hopefully these will continue to be interesting and thoughtful and provocative conversations,” psychology major Matthew McMillan said. The club is planning an upcoming event to be held on Feb. 21 titled, “A New Wave of Right-Wing Politics in Latin America” The discussion will be conducted by a Western political science professor Michael Wolff. The presentation and discussion will address the rise of right-wing politicians in Latin America and how politics has developed in those countries since the start of 2000. None of these topics were discussed during the meeting; instead, current events dominated the conversation. During his first club meeting, McMillan became very involved in the discussion. “I was more involved than I thought I would be,” McMillan said. “Since I’m in psychology I usually hang out with people in the major.”
