Thomas Wang '16, William de Chatellus '16, Trey Jennings '16 and Adam Nasser '15 co-founded the chapter this term and organized the event. The Can Kicks Back, an outreach partner of the National Campaign to Fix the Debt, is a non-partisan campaign focused on mobilizing youth to increase pressure on leaders to "fix" the national debt, Troiano said.
Gregg, a co-founder of Fix the Debt, said the U.S. debt is unsustainable. With its high percentage of sovereign debt to gross domestic product ratio, the United States is on its way to becoming bankrupt like Iceland, Greece and Ireland, he said.
The national debt has doubled over the last four years and is set to triple by 2018, Gregg said.
Generational shifts like the retirement of the baby boomers, as well entitlement spending of Medicare, Medicaid and social security, are the leading drivers of debt, and the current generation will be held responsible.
"If you're under 21, you'll have to pay close to $200,000 to pay off the sovereign debt," he said.
Gregg said the country is rapidly approaching a consensus to act on the growing debt, citing a working group of 40 senators and recent presidential involvement. While Gregg expressed hope that politicians inside the Beltway might reach an agreement soon, he said that members of Congress must hear from American youth.
The recent automatic budget cuts served as a triggering event to address debt issues.
Swett stressed the importance of bipartisanship and putting aside party politics to achieve a sustainable resolution.
"We have to design a solution that includes everyone," he said.
The Can Kicks Back campaign gained popularity after releasing a video that showed 81-year old former Senator Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., dancing to the viral "Gangnam Style" song in December, Troiano said in an interview. Dozens of college chapters across the country have formed since 2012.
"It's been my experience that young people can make a difference when they speak up," he said. "The goal is to raise awareness about the issue."
Wang met Troiano over spring break and they discussed bringing the movement to Dartmouth. Nasser and de Chatellus began working on the event with Wang after they were assigned a group project in a public policy class.
Students who attended the event had mixed reactions.
Sutton Lowry '16 said he appreciated the bipartisan nature of the event but had hoped for more background on the statistics shown in the presentation.
Matt Barnes '16 said he did not believe the debt to be as problematic as the campaign claims.
A stack of pamphlets titled "Why you should ignore The Can Kicks Back'" was placed outside the presentation room. The campaign is "neither nonpartisan, youth based, nor grassroots,'" the pamphlets said. Rather, the group is "little more than an attempt by former Nixon aide Pete Peterson to cut benefit programs like Social Security and Medicare using the false cover of fixing the debt.'"
Event organizers questioned the factual basis of the claims but said they were aware of their message.
"I think it's great that we can stir up conversation," de Chatellus said. "Though I think they misinterpreted what we were trying to say."
The event was co-sponsored by Student Assembly, the College Democrats, the College Libertarians, the College Republicans and the Rockefeller Center.
