Kate Koenig, Editor-in-Chief
Dem. Julian Schreibman, who is running for congressional office in the election this Tuesday, visited campus this past Friday to tour the grounds and have the opportunity to meet individually with students. Schreibman has previously visited the SUNY Oneonta campus for a public forum in early September, and the debate that was held between Schreibman and Rep. Chris Gibson on campus on Wednesday, October 24. On Friday, Schreibman took a walking tour of the facilities before setting up a table in Hunt Union to invite conversation with interested students. The State Times had the opportunity to sit down with Schreibman for a brief interview before the start of his tour.
State Times: The election is coming up!
Julian Schreibman: Yes it is, very excited.
ST: What are your goals in touring campus?
JS: We wanted to make sure as we hit the final day, that I’m reaching out especially here to Oneonta students. Students get a bad rap sometimes for not being diligent voters, and we want to make sure that folks realize that even if they’re in a blue state, if they’re supporting the president, that we have a very close congressional race, and we need to give the president a congress that will work with him. So we’re here to rally the troops!
ST: Tell me about your plans for the day.
JS: We’ve been in Delaware and Otsego County today. So, starting in Delhi, visiting businesses on Main Street, saying hello to folks who were out eating lunch. And we’re up here; I was just down at my Oneonta office, making calls to voters. They always like a personal call from the candidates so we surprised a few people with that. Now we’ll just get a good tour of the campus, make sure that I really see the good things going on here. As we talked about a little earlier, when I came through and toured all the SUNY schools, I didn’t really get to see as much of the campus here because we had a great forum with the students instead. I’m looking forward to that, then we’re going to go back to Delhi and do a rally down there in the city green.
ST: Throughout your campaign, you’ve been very active at working on the student vote. Can you elaborate more on that?
JS: Number one, we need [the student vote], number two it’s the right thing to do, because people should be engaged and actively connected. A lot of the students here and at the other SUNY schools are folks who are from the region. They’re from the Hudson Valley and the Catskills, even if they’re not right from around town, they’re from within this region. A lot of folks want to be able to go to school here, get a job here, build their life here and raise families here ultimately, which is what their parents would love them to do, to have that continuity of community. So when we talk about making decisions about the future of this region, folks your age have a very important voice in that.
ST: In running for congressional office, what are your top priorities?
JS: It’s still about small businesses, farmers and students. Middle-class families all the way.
ST: Is there anything else you would like to add?
JS: As the old saying goes, if you don’t vote you don’t count. Folks that are in an older demographic make sure that they’re heard, and therefore they’re listened to by the folks in Washington. Folks who are 18 to 25 and want their interests to be paid attention to have to make sure that they’re voting so that candidates like me, who are attentive to those concerns, are elected. It’s great to be here, I really like making sure that we get to the campus. I don’t think there’s any other district that has four major SUNY schools in it. To me, I want to be the SUNY Congressman.
To have your voice heard, place your vote this Tuesday in the congressional election. For detailed information on where to vote in Oneonta, visit http://www.oneonta.edu/general/legislative/wheretovote_oneonta.asp.
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