Lt. Gov. John Fetterman will visit Slippery Rock University as a stop in his listening tour about recreational marijuana.

Dave Kershaw, associate professor of political science and chairman of the Department of Political Science, said his department is excited to have a close look at democracy at work.

“We kind of reached out, and we heard about it,” Kershaw said. “We said we'd love to host this if you're coming this way.”

Fetterman will talk to county residents from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the auditorium at SRU's McKay Education Building.

To date, Fetterman has held 18 stops in 17 counties with another 50-plus stops planned through June.

Gov. Tom Wolf has praised Fetterman's work.

“The response to the lieutenant governor's listening tours has been tremendous, with people across the state making their voices heard,” Wolf said in a news release. “This is exactly the type of discussion I had hoped John would get — for, against, not sure. Everyone's opinion is important and valued.”

Kershaw said the university had a connection through 2015 SRU graduate and Butler native Bobby Maggio, who serves as Fetterman's chief of staff.

“It's cool to see what you can do coming out of Slippery Rock,” Kershaw said of Maggio. “It's good to see that with hard work, you can end up doing some amazing things.”

Kershaw said hosting the discussion will give students a home-field advantage in seeing a type of political interaction up close, and if Fetterman's staff needs the help, there are plenty of honors students who could lend a hand.

“Generally our crew wants to go to things like this,” Kershaw said. “We'll strongly encourage everybody to go.”

Kershaw said the event's listening approach should appeal to many who feel subjugated to one of two political parties. He said there are plenty of people who have non-traditional questions.

“It's good civil society. It's good democracy,” Kershaw said. “Representatives need to hear what their people are saying.”

County Commissioner Kevin Boozel has been advertising the talk and conducting his own poll on Facebook regarding legalizing recreational cannabis. He admitted the poll reaches only a select audience, but he was surprised by the results.

As of 6:30 p.m. Thursday, 550 people voted on the post with 78 percent in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana use and 22 percent against it. Many participants commented explaining their reasoning. Some comments looked alike while others brought new ideas and issues to the table.

“I think the public perception on marijuana has changed over many years,” Boozel said. “I love to read into what people are thinking.”

Six days remain on the duration of Boozel's poll.

Slippery Rock Mayor Jondavid Longo said Slippery Rock provides an interesting and complex environment for this type of discussion. He said geographically Slippery Rock is a popular crossroads between Erie, Cleveland, Buffalo, N.Y., Toronto, and Pittsburgh, all within a few hours' drive.

“Add the college and tendency for SRU graduates to want to settle in our area, and you have a place where so many people from across the nation and world come together,” Longo said.

Longo said he has heard from an overwhelming majority who favor legalizing recreational marijuana.

“The lieutenant governor's stop will give citizens in intimate localities like ours an opportunity to speak to the highest levels of the state government as to their feelings and attitudes on this topic.”

WHAT: Lt. Gov. John Fetterman town hall-style forum as part of his listening tour about the proposed state legalization of recreational marijuanaWHEN: 6 to 7:30 p.m. ThursdayWHERE: Slippery Rock University’s McKay Education Building auditorium