Students and faculty assembled at locations around campus Tuesday night to watch President George W. Bush's sixth State of the Union address.One of five organized campus viewings of the speech took place in the Shapiro Campus Center TV Lounge, where a bipartisan group of about thirty assembled to watch the address and eat free pizza provided by the Politics Department, which sponsored the event.

In his speech, Bush proposed solutions to America's oil dependency, defended his foreign policy, called for new initiatives to maintain American economic competitiveness and offered some brief remarks on education, social security and Hurricane Katrina.

"Tonight's theme was foreign affairs, the Bush doctrine of freedom across the world liberating oppressed nations," said Jason Brodsky '07, a Politics Undergraduate Department Representative after the address.

Brodsky said he felt the speech illustrated the "extreme partisanship" of national politics. "[Watching] one side of the aisle standing [and] the other sitting down, it was quite disheartening in many ways," he said. "You could see that our nation is quite divided and it's sad."

Emily Kadar '08, who attended the Shapiro Campus Center event, said the gathering appealed to her because it was a bipartisan crowd. Kadar said she had mixed feelings about the speech because though Bush made some comments she agreed with, there were other points on which she took an opposing view.

"Anything that's good seems to be just talk, and we see very little action," she said.

Students and faculty who watched the speech had much to say about President Bush's comments concerning national energy policy, as well as his assertion that the country is "addicted to oil." Bush vowed to replace 75 percent of U.S. oil imports from the Mideast by 2025, increase research in clean-energy at the Energy Department by 22 percent and make heavier investments in cleaner, more efficient energy technologies.

"I think [the energy proposal is] one of the most innovative points that he made," said Prof. Daniel Kryder (POL), an expert on the American presidency who spoke briefly at the Politics-sponsored event. Kryder noted that Bush's energy policy should find bipartisan support in Washington.

Justin Kadich '08 said he wasn't convinced the Bush administration had shown its dedication to an improved energy policy.

"It's another empty rhetoric from the Bush administration," he said. "You have the oil man and the guy from [energy infrastructure corporation] Haliburton denouncing oil when they are so closely associated with it. It's so hypocritical.

The Brandeis Republicans hosted their own event for the address in the Polaris Lounge in Scheffres. Republicans President Robert Schwartz '08 said about 15 students gathered to watch.

"I thought it was an amazing speech," he said. Noting his own strong interest in environmental issues, Schwartz said he liked Bush's comments about developing new energy resources that could help alleviate the amount of oil imported from countries in the Middle East.

"It is a liability having to rely upon the Mideast for their oil," he said.

Some viewers said the address focused too heavily on foreign policy and not enough on domestic issues.

Kryder said the Bush administration needs to respect cultural differences, and acknowledge that there is not a one-size-fits-all prescription for democracy.

Schwartz said Bush's commitment to foreign policy was one of his favorite parts of the speech. "The ocean doesn't protect us anymore, and we cannot stand by and watch things go on in the world because today's dictators will help enable terrorism," he said.

The University chapter of Democracy for America, a national politically-progressive organization, hosted another event in the Castle Commons. DFA member Meredith Ives '09 said she felt Bush avoided discussing domestic issues. "He spent the bulk of his time on Iraq I think because he didn't want to get into domestic issues," she said.

Ives said she felt the speech lacked appropriate content. "I thought it was telling that [Bush] only briefly mentioned education," she said. "He mentioned the No Child Left Behind Act, but of course, didn't mention how horribly it failed." Ives said overall the speech was "fairly predictable.