More than 2,000 students packed the Eisenhower Auditorium last night to witness two Penn State economics professors duke it out over the minimum wage in the annual Great Debate.

"The House of Representatives has passed a bill that will raise the minimum wage," economics professor Norm Clifford said. "Tonight, our two participants will debate the wisdom [of that]."

Sponsored by the Penn State Economics Association and the College of Liberal Arts' economics department, the debate pitted Penn State professor Russell Chuderewicz, arguing in favor of raising the minimum wage, against Mark McLeod, arguing against the raise.

McLeod started the debate with a video, showing the opinions of students and faculty who are against the minimum wage.

"It's ultimately probably going to put more people out of work," Tom Shakely, financial director for The Lion 90.7 FM, said in the video.

McLeod then followed up with a humorous vignette depicting those hurt by the raised minimum wage, including a 13-year-old forced to paint her father's house and abandon her dreams of being a soccer player because the minimum wage has made labor too expensive. He argued that raising the minimum wage would cause greater unemployment.

"The minimum wage is hurting precisely the people you're trying to help," he said.

Chuderewicz countered with a video of his own, playing an excerpt of a Chris Rock comedy routine and showing a slideshow of those affected by the low minimum wage to Rush's "Working Man."

"Sixty-year low -- hello?" he said. The current federal minimum wage, when adjusted for inflation, is the lowest it has been in 58 years, he said. Chuderewicz suggested tying increases in the minimum wage to the inflation rate.

"I like the idea of tying the minimum wage to cost adjustments -- if you assume we like the concept of the minimum wage at all," McLeod said in response.

Both candidates also took questions from the audience; one student asked McLeod if raising the minimum wage would encourage unemployed workers to go back to school and better their education.

"Not if they're in jail," he replied, citing statistics linking unemployment and crime. "If you tell someone to go and improve their skill set, that may not be a feasible thing."

Last night's Great Debate was the third of its kind; previous debates have addressed the pros and cons of free trade and environmental policy. Chuderewicz said that attendance to previous debates has always been in "boatloads."

Students, many of whom received extra credit in their ECON 004 or 002 classes for attending, filled out Scantrons after the debate, marking whom they thought had won. Ryan Struthers (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) said he would've voted for Chuderewicz.

"We should get the minimum wage raised," he said. "A lot of people already make more ... why don't we help out the others?"