With the election of a new Arizona governor rapidly approaching this November, Republican candidate Doug Ducey has confirmed he will not attend the Gubernatorial Forum, and students are upset.
The Associated Students of the University of Arizona is hosting a gubernatorial forum on Sunday as part of its “Your Voice, Your Vote” campaign and has invited all four candidates running for the governor’s seat of Arizona; only three of the four have confirmed.
After sending out formal invitations this past July, confirmed candidates attending are Libertarian Barry Hess, John Mealer for Americans Elect and Democrat Fred DuVal.
Doug Ducey declined the invitation in July due to “scheduling conflicts,” according to Issac Ortega, ASUA president.
His decline has left UA students frustrated and upset that he is not attending.
Sara Mattio, a regional development senior, questioned whether Ducey’s absence at the forum is a way for him to ignore issues of higher education after using higher education issues as a platform for his campaign.
“It’s a good time for him to step up and bring up these issues that surround higher education,” Mattio said. “His absence from this debate says that he doesn’t want to do that.”
Students have tried multiple times to reach Ducey by calling his offices in attempts to get him to attend the forum, but have been unsuccessful.
“Ducey is running his campaign on funding higher education and putting it as a priority,” said Jose Guadalupe Conchas, a political science senior. “Commitment without currency is counterfeit.”
Conchas said that without a Republican party nominee in attendance, the atmosphere of the debate will not be the same.
“If gubernatorial candidate Doug Ducey expects young voters to take his educational plans seriously, then he needs to come to the [UA] and stand in front of students directly to talk about his higher education goals,” said Zachary Brooks, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Council, in an email statement.
With recent tuition increases and university budget cuts, Mattio believes the situation is steadily worsening. Students are eager to ask the candidates questions regarding higher education and have their issues addressed, and the lack of his presence hurts his party.
“This debate is supposed to be a space for all parties to be represented and to create a non-biased environment for the UA, Tucson and Arizona community overall to be informed on the [gubernatorial] candidates,” Conchas said.
If Ducey does not change his mind about attending, students said they will do everything they can to get the Republican gubernatorial nominee there.
Students are setting up a phone bank on Thursday going into Friday evening to call Ducey’s campaign headquarters and request his presence at the forum. They will also send out press releases to all major news networks, newspapers and media outlets throughout Arizona, according to Conchas.
Ortega said that ASUA is excited to host the three candidates that have confirmed and hear them share their opinions on everything from higher education to other state issues.
“It’s unfortunate that Ducey can’t make it,” Ortega said. “It really is unfortunate.”
—Follow Adriana Espinosa @Adrianaespi7
