Stanford offers opportunities that we will never again have at our fingertips. In addition to an award-winning faculty and the best overall collegiate athletics program, the University has constructed a community of our peers from diverse national, ethnic and ideological backgrounds. It’s unlikely that many of us will enjoy such privilege after graduating.

A quick glance at the OSA’s Web site or a walk through White Plaza at lunch time reveals how well we take advantage of these opportunities. But amidst our impressive array of activities, a gap remains: regular, student discussion of issues that confront our campus, national and international community. Although several excellent campus publications provide outlets for student thought, there is no forum that promotes a live exchange of views. That is a shame. We have all of the ingredients for fruitful discussion: intellectual openness, curiosity and a broad spectrum of beliefs. The only missing piece is a central, inclusive and regular forum on campus.

Recent events have highlighted the need for this type of discussion. The appointment of Donald Rumsfeld to the Hoover Institute, Michael Lucas’s visit to campus, the concern for faculty diversity and recent activism about the Iraq War have revealed some of the many controversies we face as a University and nation. By encouraging students to tackle such issues face-to-face in a public environment, a regular forum would promote a vital part of college life: the exchange of ideas.

Many have recognized the potential for such a forum. Articles in The Stanford Review (“Editor’s Note: Progress and Return”) and The Daily (“A Motion in Favor of a Centralized Debate Forum”) have already articulated that need. Similar organizations at Oxford and Yale have succeeded for decades in encouraging political engagement on their campuses. Noting the importance of student discussion and the lack of a centralized forum for debate at Stanford, our group — the Stanford Political Union (SPU) — formed last quarter.

Our goal is to facilitate debate and conversation about campus, national and international issues. To this end, we will organize regular events centered around a pressing topic relevant to our roles as students and citizens. We seek to create a community of students passionate about political life — but, we will welcome the whole student body in a relaxed and inclusive environment so that anyone with a yearning to express their opinions on a specific issue has the opportunity.

A nonpartisan organization, we will host town-hall style events that unleash the myriad opinions and perspectives of the student body. Students with special backgrounds or well-demonstrated knowledge of the issues will be the primary speakers, challenging each other and the student audience. When the opportunity presents itself, we will invite outside experts, controversial figures and professors to visit and participate. We encourage other student groups to use the Union as a forum for speakers they bring to campus.

Our first event is scheduled for Monday, April 28 at 6:30 p.m. in Meyer room 124 — the Forum Room. With the coming five-year anniversary of President Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech, General Petraeus’s testimony to Congress and the recent anti-war activity on campus, we will reflect on the success of the war to date and its future course. The student speakers include an Iraqi Kurd, an Iraq War veteran and U.S. Marine, an editor for The Stanford Progressive, the founder of Stanford Says No to War and the editor-at-large for The Stanford Review. Come relax, enjoy free Middle Eastern food and engage with your peers on one of the most controversial developments of recent history.

The success of a political union at Stanford hinges upon participation and interest on behalf of the student body. Similar organizations have failed in the past. We ask for your advice, assistance and attendance. Please, SPU forth your ideas.

Andrew Hillis, Caroline Kusin, Raffi Mardirosian, Max Friedmann, Astasia Myers and Danny Crichton are founders of the Stanford Political Union (spu.stanford.edu).