Ann Arbor mayoral candidate Christopher Kolb, incumbent state Rep. Liz Brater (D-Ann Arbor) and 3rd Ward city councilmember candidate Jean Carlberg met with students in forums to inform them about local issues and stress the importance of voting.
"If you don't vote, then you don't exercise your right that people fought and died for," Brater said.
One important item on the candidates' agenda is local environmental protection.
"When I'm elected mayor, we're going to aggressively clean up our streams that flow into the Huron River," Kolb said. "It is where we get 80 percent of our drinking water. If we don't aggressively prevent that from being polluted, it will affect you and I in our daily lives."
Students questioned candidates about their stance on affirmative action.
"I support affirmative action completely," Brater said. "We still have a long way to go for women and people of color to obtain equality."
Kolb, a lifetime resident of Ann Arbor and an SNRE alum, said student volunteers from different disciplines will be key to his administration if he is elected.
"A lot of you have skills that we could put in place to better our community," Kolb said. "There is no reason that we don't have an intern in the mayor's office researching new public policy to move this community forward."
The candidates also stressed the importance of assuring safety on and off campus.
"We are doing a lot to target police into areas that need them for safety," Carlberg said.
Students said the candidates discussed topics important to their lives.
"They brought up a lot of issues that will affect us directly," said LSA first-year student Jay Augusty.
Some students said they were impressed with the candidates' speeches and responses to their questions.
"(Brater) is well aware about the environment and women's issues," said LSA senior Jennifer Chen. "I had never really thought about the local elections very much before. I focused more on the presidential election."
Campus College Democrats chair Jae Jae Spoon said that although the local Democratic candidates are not receiving as much attention and campaign funding as Clinton and Gore, the whole ticket is affected by the national election.
"People come in to volunteer for Clinton/Gore, and they could be sent out for Lynn Rivers or Liz Brater," Spoon said. "It's all helping to get the ticket re-elected."
JONATHAN SUMMER/Daily
Incumbent state Rep. Liz Brater speaks to students at East Quad yesterday about local issues.