The Cornell Democrats and The College Republicans found common ground in Rockefeller Hall last night during a debate concerning media bias and its effect on civic education. The debate was sponsored by the newly founded Freedom and Free Societies. The sponsors of the debate defined civic education as education enabling citizens to make informed decisions concerning public policy and elected officials.

“Bias is inevitable,” said Prof. Barry Strauss, history, one of the judges of the debate. “You have to force yourself to look at different points of view regularly and accept [that] media bias is real.”

While both republicans and democrats agreed that bias exists within the media and results in the decline of civic education, they disagreed on why and how the bias is elicited.

To the Editor:

Re: “Wikipedia and Obstruction of the Facts,” Opinion, Feb. 23

This week’s column “Wikipedia and Obstruction of the Facts” mischaracterizes the Cornell Democrats. While we represent the national Democratic party, we also have our own views and ideals independent of the national Democratic party as a result of our status as young Democrats from diverse backgrounds. It is not correct to presume as the author does that our mission is to parrot the views of the national Democratic party.

54 Cornell students packed into 12 cars made the three-hour drive this weekend to Pennsylvania — a crucial battleground state with a narrow democratic victory in the 2004 presidential election. The group, organized by the Cornell Democrats, traveled to the town of Stroudsburg to volunteer for Barack Obama’s campaign in Monroe County.

Students were put to work immediately upon their arrival Friday evening making phone calls to undecided voters.

The campaign’s goal for Saturday was to knock on 1,000 doors and make as many calls as possible. But Cornell students exceeded local campaign organizers’ expectations, according to John Spears, one of three campaign leaders in Stroudsburg.

The voter registration tables provided by the Cornell Democrats and College Republicans are a familiar sight to most Cornellians, and many feel that students helping other students “get out the vote” is a positive service to the campus community. But when out-of-state students register to vote in Tompkins County, are they potentially diminishing their political power? Are they affecting campaign strategies and election outcomes?

Elizabeth W. Kree, co-commissioner of the Tompkins County Board of Elections, explained that New York State law has given college students the right to register to vote using their college addresses since the mid-1980s. However, to the politically active on campus, the decision of out-of-staters to vote in-state has a strategic motive.

In an effort to connect the Cornell community with those serving in the Iraq War, the Cornell Democrats have begun collecting goods in order to put together care packages and send them overseas.

Packages will be sent to the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion located at Camp Victory at the Baghdad International Airport. The C.U. Democrats expect to send the first package by Spring Break.

Throughout the month, the Cornell Democrats will collect a variety of products ranging from non-perishable food to travel games in order to provide the troops with entertainment for their spare time.

Rockefeller Hall may be far from Washington, but it played host to a decidedly political event last night as the Cornell Democrats and College Republicans met to debate the War on Terror. In their first debate of the year, panelists from each side discussed Iraq, multilateralism and the nature of terrorism.

Each club had three panelists. Tim Krueger ’08, Randy Lariar ’08 and Ethan Felder ’09 represented the Democrats while David Goochee ’09, John Farragut ’11 and Brian Wolfel ’10 spoke for the Republicans. Each side was given three minutes for opening statements.