Pugh Hall became a forum for political discussion Wednesday night as former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, R-WY., spoke to a crowd of about 150 students and community members.
Former Gov. Bob Graham, D-FL., interviewed Simpson about immigration, campaign finance and youth engagement in the political system.
Simpson said there needs to be a path for immigrants to get legal status.
"You can’t deport 11 (million) or 12 million people," he said.
He said the Republican Party doesn’t want to do anything about immigration.
"You can’t just build a wall," he said.
Nick Natale, 21, attended the talk with his brother Kris Natale, 23.
Nick Natale, a UF mechanical engineering senior, asked Simpson if he thought there should be more job diversity among elected officials.
"I’ve noticed it’s mostly lawyers," Nick Natale said.
He said he wondered what would happen if there were more people from science, technology, engineering or math backgrounds in office.
Simpson said voting is a privilege. In Wyoming, he’s tried to start mobilizing youths to vote.
"I told the young people to get involved in the game because these old people are going to clean out the treasury," he said, laughing.
Contact Caitlin Ostroff at costroff@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @ceostroff
