The millennial vote is crucial to American politics, said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston) at an on-campus event Tuesday.

Schakowsky attended a forum with Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-California) hosted by Northwestern’s chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority in Parkes Hall. The event was one of several held by the Future Forum, a group of young Democratic congressmen who work to engage millennials in politics.

The two representatives discussed issues surrounding the current election, political engagement and student loans with members of the sorority, as well as NU staff and students. Both Swalwell and Schakowsky urged young people to get out and vote on Election Day.

“Elections are always a choice between two individuals,” Schakowsky said. “This election is going to make a huge difference, bigger than any in my lifetime.”

Schakowsky told The Daily that those who feel neither candidate represents their views need to “think again” and that a vote for any third-party candidate would essentially be a vote for Donald Trump.

Trump’s values are “antithetical” to those that young people hold, she said, and those concerned with the future of the Supreme Court should make sure to vote in November, as the next president will likely nominate a person to fill former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat.

“I’m hoping that their precious vote won’t be squandered,” she said. “The decision of who’s on the Supreme Court will resonate for literally generations to come.”

The group also discussed issues with student debt for college students. Swalwell said he is working on reforms, such as easing debt payments for those who choose to enter public service.

Making college affordable — and student debt livable — is important to the country, Schakowsky said.

“It’s a crisis, it really is,” she said. “There are too many young people who are ambitious, who are smart, (but) just are not able to take on that kind of debt.”

Schakowsky said that students at previous forums told her they had to scale back their ambitions, such as choosing not to go to graduate school, because of problems with student debt.

Other students and recent graduates have said they have had to put their life on hold, such as getting married or having children, because of student debt they had to pay off, she said.

“We lose as a country if we don’t make college affordable,” Schakowsky said.

Swalwell and Schakowsky also asked the attendees about NU’s financial aid and their experiences in dealing with institutionalized racism. Both these things, as well as limited mental health resources for students, can add to the pressures students already face with schoolwork, Swalwell said.

“There’s just an anxiety that a failure of leadership has put on young people,” Swalwell said.

Both representatives praised the younger generation for their tolerance and accepting spirit. Swalwell said the generation is changing the way people work and interact.

“We have big hurdles that stand in our way, but there’s nothing that we can’t fix with the same spirit that our parents had before us,” he said. “If as a generation … we showed up.”

SESP senior Kieara Reed, president of the chapter, said events like Future Forum are important to get politicians to understand the millennial perspective.

“It’s really sitting down and talking and having voices heard that aren’t usually heard,” she said. “When people are high up in government they don’t necessarily see the everyday that’s happening in the community…you can’t affect good change.”

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