The Student Union and the Office of Communications will hold a forum on Wednesday night as part of Brandeis Votes to discuss the current state of the economy and how the presidential candidates may handle these issues.The forum will feature Dean of the Heller School Lisa Lynch and Dean of the Brandeis International Business School Bruce Magid.

Lynch is currently chair of the board of directors of the Boston Federal Reserve and is a former chief economist at the Department of Labor under the Clinton administration. Magid is a former managing director and senior vice president at Bank of America.

According to the Student Union Web site's press release, the forum will be "facilitated and moderated by economic journalist David Warsh."

According to the press release on the Student Union Web site, "The forum is an installment of the Brandeis University 'Spotlight on Economic Distress' series. The subject of the forum will be 'Financial Crises at Home and Abroad-Imagining the next president's agenda.'"

According to Director of Communications for the Student Union Jamie Ansorge '09, the program was created to "actively engage the community in the electoral process in a nonpartisan, apolitical way while increasing voter engagement with the issues in play."

Ansorge said, "The goal of the forum is to be a very insightful, in-depth and cross-cutting discussion on the state of the United States economy and what that might mean for our next president."

In an e-mail to the Justice, Magid wrote, "I hope to provide members of the Brandeis community with a unique perspective on the current financial crisis: What are the lessons learned and how will it impact the U.S. and global economies? How will it influence the economic and social policy decision making of the next president?"

Magid also explained why he believes he was chosen to speak at this event.

He wrote, "As a former chief international economist at Bank of America and a leader of an overseas corporate finance banking unit, I believe I will provide both a practitioner perspective on the current crisis as well as an analytical framework to understand the recent historic events in the U.S. financial system."

Student Union President Jason Gray '10 said that Lynch and Magid are "the best people to talk about the topic." Gray expressed his hopes for the forum by saying that "the experts [will be] given the opportunity to provide insight into the important issues.