Presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton stopped by CSUN last Thursday on her way through Southern California, and local politicians from around Los Angeles came to show their support.

Roughly 2,000 others also came to show their support for Clinton and hear what she had to say, but due to the overflow they had to watch her on a monitor from the Plaza del Sol.

Clinton’s campaign rented the Grand Salon for their event, which turned out to be a town hall-style meeting that allowed time for questions after she spoke.

Clinton took questions from the crowd in front of her and a group of CSUN students who were sitting behind her. The biggest response from the crowd came when she spoke about student loans.

She said she was concerned with “ending the abuses of student loan companies.” Clinton said she also planned to improve the Pell Grant system and do away with confusing government student loan forms.

“We need to make college more affordable,” she said. “I think (student loan companies) have ripped off a lot of students.”

Other issues Clinton touched on were:

? Health care, she said she wants to give Medicare the right to bargain for cheaper drugs.

? The war in Iraq: she said she wants to start bringing troops home within 60 days after she’s president.

? Foreign affairs: she said, “the era of cowboy diplomacy is over.”

? Energy and the environment: she said, “Let’s create millions of green-collar jobs.” These would be jobs that involve installing solar panels, building wind power, or improving the environment in other similar ways.

? Immigration: she said, “I believe we can be a nation of immigrants,” but there should be stricter border control and laws should be abided by.

? The economy: she said she would declare a 90-moratorium on home foreclosures and freeze interest rates for five years.

Before Clinton arrived, Brad Sherman, the U.S. House representative for the San Fernando Valley, notified the crowd that Clinton would be late. When the crowd voiced their disapproval, Sherman notified them that there were about 2,000 people outside the building that were willing to wait for her.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa introduced Clinton before she spoke at CSUN. He said he had been traveling around the country campaigning for Clinton, and got back from New Hampshire recently. It would take a lot for him leave the sunny climate of California, but he said this was important enough.

The event was organized in less then a week, and it wasn’t official until about 48 hours beforehand.

“I knew Tuesday night,” said Jolene Koester, CSUN President. She said she was happy to have CSUN host the event, that CSUN “should be a place to support democracy.”

Koester said she would welcome more candidates to come speak on campus in the future.