[media-credit name=’BEN CLASSON/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Focusing on campus safety, District 8 aldermanic candidates Lauren Woods and Eli Judge faced off in a debate Thursday night at the Red Gym. Judge, a University of Wisconsin sophomore, and Woods, a senior, are both vying for the soon-to-be vacant District 8 seat, which is currently held by City Council President Austin King. With a recent string of high-profile assaults on Spring, Langdon and East Wilson streets, the primary concern on most students' minds last night was campus safety. "What we're going to be trying to do is set up something called the Campus Watch Program," Judge said. He added the Campus Watch Program would include teams of students who "walk around with armbands, indicating piece of apparel and cell phones, communicating directly with neighborhood watch officers, just so we can have a visible thing on the streets." Judge has criticized Woods' call for increased lighting, saying it's too expensive, and instead has called for an ordinance encouraging property owners to install their own lighting. In turn, Woods criticized Judge's plan, saying it relies too heavily on volunteerism. "I think, definitely, it is important to engage our citizens — we want people to be good-hearted," Woods said. "But I know that it's the responsibility of the city to make sure that we're safe, and so I advocate for pedestrian-scale lighting instead of privatizing lighting." Woods also stressed that most sexual assaults occur between acquaintances, so a neighborhood watch program might not do much to curb assaults. "I think that the assumption is that one in four women will be walking down the street and get attacked by a man in the bushes, and that's certainly not the case," Woods said. "It's not as easy as saying that we want to have people patrolling the streets, because in fact people are not getting raped in the streets — they're getting raped in their bedrooms." About 40 students and community members attended the event, which was hosted by the Wisconsin Black Student Union, the Campus Women's Center and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Campus Center. Suchita Shah, a UW sophomore, said she is happy the debate was made available to students. "It's a very important race, because one of these two is going to be the next representative and take City Council President Austin King's spot," Shah said. "I think both candidates are great students who have great ideas, but overall I thought Eli Judge did an absolutely amazing job and is very in touch with students." Many Woods supporters also turned out for the event, including King, Woods' campaign treasurer. Woods' supporters said they were impressed by the forum, as well as Woods' plans for District 8. "I think it was very important for BSU to hold the forum just to educate the African-American and other minorities on campus," UW senior Heydie Navarro said. "Lauren stood out to me the most — I think that her answers were more full and more insightful, and I stand for what she stands for." The two candidates will face off during the spring general election, which takes place April 3.