Green Party candidate campaigns at UH

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein will host a meet-and-greet today at 11:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. at the University Center Satellite food court.

UH is the first stop in Stein’s appearances throughout Houston and San Antonio this week. Today and Friday, she will appear at other colleges including Lone Star College and Texas Southern University, as well as parks, churches and radio stations in Houston to promote her candidacy. On Oct. 7, she will return to Houston to host a fundraiser.

“I think it’s going to be received very enthusiastically,” said Deb Shafto, Green Party candidate for state representative, regarding Stein’s visit.

“I think the young adults, many of whom do not vote because they are so disenchanted with politics as it is, are going to be enthused and re-energized by the possibility of doing things differently.”

The Green Party of the United States is a left-wing party with an emphasis on environmentalism, nonviolence and grassroots democracy. Jill Stein, a physician from Massachusetts, announced that she would be running for president under the Green Party in October 2011. In July 2012, she announced anti-poverty activist Cheri Honkala as her running mate.

“(The Green Party) does not accept any corporate donations of any kind. So if there’s an opinion that you get from Jill Stein, it’s her real, clearest thinking, uninfluenced by outside forces,” said Shafto.

One of the most important issues in Stein’s campaign is considered to be the “Green New Deal,” a plan based off of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal,” a program often attributed with ending the Great Depression.

“(Jill Stein will be received with) curiosity for some people,” said George Reiter, UH physics professor and co-chair of the Harris County Green Party. “Most people probably won’t have heard much about her, but I think they’ll be curious as to what the Green Party is and what it stands for, and who she is.”

The Green New Deal is a four-part plan, aiming to give economic rights to Americans while also reorganizing the financial center of the U.S., according to Stein’s website. Additionally, it attempts to institutionalize more environmentally friendly practices into government.

“The systems we’ve had are not working,” Shafto said. “People are unemployed, even the Democrats are willing to cut benefits to the working poor and the poor. We need a different kind of outlook on civilization as a whole, and we as Greens represent that different outlook.”

During her visit, Stein will be meeting staff and students and answer questions about her presidential run and the Green Party.