Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Colorado Mesa University President Tim Foster shared the stage Friday morning at CMU’s Robinson Theatre fielding questions and moderating the crowd for the senator’s Grand Junction town hall.
As Gardner answered questions from frustrated attendees ranging from health care, North Korea and President Donald Trump’s impeachment possibilities, Foster watched the crowd with a tense gaze. The university president on multiple occasions cautioned some members of the crowd to allow the senator to answer the questions without interruption.
“I wish you all could come up here and watch yourselves,” Foster said after the town hall, expressing what he was thinking during some of the previous verbal bouts. Foster said he was frustrated with how some of the attendees were acting, not allowing the senator to respond.
Most of the shouting was brought on by those in disagreement of the senator’s response, or by members of the crowd who felt the senator was dodging their root question. This feeling was mirrored by CMU student Sloan Tucker.
CMU students were in the minority of the senator’s town hall on the university’s campus, but those who did attend had strong opinions on the senator.
Tucker, a political science student in her junior year, attended the town hall not to hear what the senator had to say, but rather to watch the crowd.
“I kinda wanted to see how the people reacted to it,” Tucker said.
Tucker also expressed disappointment in the senator’s response to a climate change question wherein Gardner responded that the economy needs to take precedence over regulation.
Not all CMU students present at the town hall were opponents of Gardner, rather, eager to hear the senator’s thoughts.
“I was super thankful that Sen. Cory Gardner could come to our campus, and I think that it was a great learning opportunity for a lot of students,” CMU student Shania Belden said. “I wish we saw more of their faces in attendance.”
The town hall concluded with two final questions from Associated Student Government Vice President Gabby Gile and President Ben Linzey concerning bipartisanship and net neutrality, respectively.
While Linzey and Gile were present, the majority of attendees in Robinson were of the older generation of Grand Junction and opponents of Gardner, or opponents of issues supported by the Republican party. Gardner joked about this towards the end of the hour-and-a-half-long town hall.
“I think we have to accept that some people voted for Hillary Clinton,” Gardner said. “I think most people here voted for Hillary Clinton.”
Linzey and Gile did express disappointment in the student turnout but attributed the absence due to class time, the late notice of the event and the larger issue of apathetic youth.
“I think it is very characteristic of how the world of politics works. Where the older generations are often times the ones who are more invested and I think that is a challenge as a generation we have to compete with,” Linzey said.
