While Republicans and Democrats sat side-by-side at last night's State of the Union Address, College Republicans and University Democrats watched from separate parties at Ball State.
Even though they watched the SOTU separately, Republicans and Democrats still had some priorities in common.
Addressing Congress with new House Speaker John Boehner sitting behind him, President Barack Obama addressed issues concerning college students, job creation and innovation.
Nolan Born, president of University Democrats, said the theme of the night was the future.
"The major concern for college students is if they are going to get a job when they graduate," he said. "We need clean energy to save the environment and also for future jobs. More importantly we need a place to find those jobs and clean energy is the place to do so."
University Democrat member James Simmons said it was nice to be around other students who knew what they were talking about and were genuinely interested in what the president was saying. He was disappointed in the president for not addressing social issues although he did speak about the repeal of ‘Don't Ask Don't Tell.'
Chris Griffith, campus affairs director, said Ball State students will benefit from what Obama was talking about because of the support for incoming teachers.
"Tuition and helping college students out was a big deal, but he spoke on teaching, and that is huge for us here at Ball State," he said. "College students, here right now, can take that large portion of the speech to heart, because he talked about how our teachers are nation builders. Going into innovation, Ball State pushes us to be innovative in all of the fields no matter what college you are in and you have to push yourself to be available to the new jobs that are out there."
But Holly Gillham, public relations chair for College Republicans, said hopes when the president increases graduation rates he doesn't lower standards.
"I think what could really help education is creating an environment more conducive to learning and that is something that wouldn't even really cost money," she said.
Jaye Smith, a sophomore elementary education major at the College Republicans watch party, said being an education major, she doesn't feel like the schools are preparing students for the future.
"What matters more than spending money is learning in the school and we need more teachers," she said.
Tim McMahon, a sophomore finance and economics major, said if more people are getting college degrees it will cause for bigger competition in the job market.
"As a college student, I want everyone to learn," he said. "But as a person who is going to compete for a job, I'd rather my degree not be inflated or deflated because there are more college degrees out there."
Obama hopes to see the innovation spread around the nation.
"If we take these steps – if we raise expectations for every child, and give them the best possible chance at an education, from the day they're born until the last job they take – we will reach the goal I set two years ago: by the end of the decade, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world," he said.
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