Students lined the free speech lawn outside of the Social Sciences building this afternoon as they waited for gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist to arrive. But they’re not there for the politics, they’re there for the pizza.

Different student organizations collaborated with the Charlie Crist Campaign to bring the candidate to campus and encourage college students to vote.

Students from organizations like the College Democrats and the FAU Chapters of the NAACP and Students for Sensible Drug Policy set up tables lining the free speech lawn at 11 a.m. to inform students of the importance of voting.

Most of those students were lined up for free pizza provided by the Charlie Crist Campaign, who advocated for the Republican-to-independent-to-Democrat former governor running against incumbent Rep. Gov. Rick Scott.

“I just saw pizza and wanted to see what’s up,” freshman pre-business major John Stansell said. “I guess I’ll do more research and possibly vote.”

The event started with the FAU Chapter of the NAACP organizing a campaign to encourage early voting and grew when the Charlie Crist Campaign arranged for former Gov. Crist to come speak to students.

“We just want to express the importance of voting and educate the people on voting,” President of FAU NAACP Joseph Stubbs said. But Stubbs, like many students at the event, wasn’t entirely clear on details of the campaign. When asked by the UP if he assisted in arranging for the “former governor to visit campus,” Stubbs said: “I don’t think Crist is the former governor, he’s only running for governor.”

He wasn’t the only student who didn’t have details on the campaign or candidates.

“All I heard was ‘free food’ and I support Charlie Crist so I decided to come,” sophomore chemistry major Kira McManus said. “But I don’t really know much about the campaign because I don’t have time.”

In the background, Jessica Diehr, a member of the College Democrats, can be heard speaking from a small stage set up.

“You know what they say about you students?” She shouted. “They call you apathetic. They say all you care about is the Kardashians … Don’t count on your mom to vote for you. You vote for you.”

A mild bias on Dierhrs’ part meant advocating for Crist. “50,000 college students won’t get Bright Futures,” Diehr shouts from on stage. “Rick Scott cut $1.4 billion from education.”

Among the hot topics discussed at the tables at the event was funding for education. In 2012, Scott’s second year in office, he cut $300 million in state funding from Florida universities, $25 million of which came from FAU’s budget. When Crist took the stage a little after 12:30 p.m., he advocated to increase Bright Futures Scholarships and implement a loan forgiveness system for science and math students.

Crist vetoed statewide tuition increases in his first year as governor, but in 2009, he signed a bill that allowed tuition to increase up to 15 percent each year until it reached the national average. As a result, FAU’s tuition increased the maximum 15 percent for four years in a row between 2009 and 2012. For the first time in five years, tuition remained unchanged in 2013.

“Rick Scott cut funding for our universities by $300 million, so this race is really important to you,” Crist said on stage to a crowd of about 120 students and community members. “It’s more important to you than it is to a lot of people probably.”

Crist also addressed the issues of climate change, health care, and Amendment 2 on the ballot for legalization of medical marijuana use in a quick five-minute speech.

Part of the event included the sponsors arranging for three vans to take willing students to local early voting sites to encourage the students to vote.

Michael Cairo, FAU student and member of the Charlie Crist Campaign, introduced Crist on stage. He has advocated heavily to encourage college students to vote.

“The biggest thing is we don’t care about who you vote for,” Cairo said. “Our demographic is grossly underrepresented in these elections.”

Ultimately, many students who came to the event were encouraged to learn more about the elections.

“A young lady was talking to me about money taken from schools and I was interested,” freshman nursing major Malaika Codada said. “I want to learn more and go back to my precinct and vote.”