The Capstone Coalition held its first ever open forum on Monday night. The Coalition is a group of students who essentially function as a political party, backing political candidates, working on policy initiatives and more. 

Monday’s forum had a crowd of roughly 10 non-coalition members in attendance. The event began with SGA Senator Lita Waggoner discussing her bill that allows students to voice their concerns on the Senate floor. 

From there, Pablo Ramos and Ronnie Hill, both of whom are also senators, discussed their legislative ideas and future plans. Ramos discussed his plan to create a University petition site that would be accessible through MyBama. Hill, however, discussed an event he is working on that would function as a forum style event with students and police. Hill said the event will focus on open carry, police brutality and other topics.

After hearing from the senators, Jake Proctor, the Coalition’s Chairman, opened up the floor for discussion. From there, all in attendance discussed a wide variety of issues, from Milo Yiannopoulos’ speaking event that will be held later in the month, to meal plans and the recent violence at Cypress Inn and the nearby gas station. Discussion lasted approximately 45 minutes before the event concluded.

Afterward, one of the non-coalition students in attendance, Cara Antonia Clay, thought the forum was a great place for students to share their ideas and be heard. Clay, a freshman majoring in environmental science and economics, also said she looks forward to attending more Coalition meetings. 

“I know that even though SGA, like, it’s a great organization to be in to, like, make change not everyone can be involved in that so this in a way, is, you know, available to more people and so it gives everyone a chance to, like, you know, have a chance to make a change,” she said.

Similarly, Proctor, a  senior majoring in journalism, said the Coalition decided to hold the forum as a way for the group itself as well as its senators to hear ideas and feedback from students. Proctor said he was please with how the forum went.

“You know, going in, you never really know what your turnout’s going to be, how receptive people will be, but I felt like we had a good turnout… people were willing to discuss issues and it was civil, civil discourse which was good,” he said.

Proctor concluded by saying the Coalition plans to hold similar forums once a month.