SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Thursday, September 10, 2015 — 3A

would guarantee qualified stu-
dents two free years of communi-
ty college. The plan has yet to gain 
traction in Congress.

Biden 
said 
students 
face 

decades of debt and that it’s hard 
to get ahead in the workforce 

when Americans are struggling to 
keep up.

“If we want all Americans to 

succeed in the 21st century we 
need to make sure that all stu-
dents at all ages have the best edu-
cation possible,” she said.

Obama also announced the 

board’s plans to launch Heads 
Up America, a public campaign 
designed to garner support for the 

nation’s community colleges.

Obama also discussed his sup-

port 
for 
apprenticeships 
and 

training opportunities as a means 
of making America more competi-
tive within the world economy. He 
argued Americans must be able to 
adapt and improve their skills.

“Everything is moving too fast 

and if you don’t have the skills to 
get the new jobs and you don’t 

have the knowledge to adapt and 
be creative, you’re going to fall 
behind,” Obama said, noting a 
study that found workers who 
completed 
an 
apprenticeship 

made $300,000 more than their 
peers over a lifetime.

“Upgrading your skills pays 

off,” he added.

The Obama administration is 

pledging $200 million to promote 

apprenticeships 
and 
training 

opportunities, with the Depart-
ment of Labor awarding $175 mil-
lion in grants to 46 public-private 
partnerships that have commit-
ted to expanding high-quality 
apprenticeships.

“This is a concrete way to 

reduce the cost of higher educa-
tion for young people, to improve 
the skills of workers so they 

get higher paying jobs, to grow 
our economy,” Obama said. “It 
shouldn’t be controversial.”

The president will continue to 

speak about affordable education 
over the next week and a half, 
with First Lady Michelle Obama 
and Secretary of Education Arne 
Duncan joining him at later tour 
stops.

OBAMA
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2-News

such a bill coming forward.”

Higher Education

Despite receiving a 1.4 percent 

increase in state funding from 2014, 
tuition still increased at the Univer-
sity, with officials noting that the 
small increase could not make up 
for a nearly decade-long trend of 
declining state funds.

But the 2.7 percent tuition 

increase for in-state students and 
the 3.7 percent increase for out-

of-state students is still smaller 
compared to the 8 percent tuition 
increase students at Oakland Uni-
versity, and the 7.8 percent increase 
students at Eastern University 
enacted this year in response to 
funding challenges.

Irwin said his fundamental high-

er education initiative this year is to 
increase state financial support.

“Mainly, the goal is to get more 

state support for our universities,” 
Irwin said.

LGBTQ rights

Over the summer the U.S. 

Supreme Court ruled same-sex 

marriage legal in the United States. 
The historic decision featued the 
Michigan plaintiffs, who spoke 
at oral arguements for the case in 
April.

However, LGBTQ residents in 

Michigan are still facing other hur-
dles.

In June, Gov. Rick Snyder (R) 

signed a bill that would allow adop-
tion agencies to deny applications 
from same-sex couples on religious 
grounds. In Michigan, there is no 
provision outlawing discrimination 
in housing or employment based on 
sexual orientation or gender iden-

tity.

Last year, amendments to the 

Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act — 
which would have granted these 
protections — failed to pass the leg-
islature. 

“We need to get the bigoted lan-

guage out of our law books,” Irwin 
said. “More importantly, we should 
amend our state civil rights law to 
include protections for LGBT citi-
zens. Nobody should be fired from 
their job or denied housing because 
of their sexual orientation or gender 
identity.” 

Marijuana

Irwin, who attended Hash Bash 

last year in April 2015, is a vocal 
proponent of marijuana legal-
ization in the state of Michigan. 
During the last legislative session 
Irwin introduced a bill to decrimi-
nalize the drug, but this session he 
said he hopes to go a step further 
and introduce a bill to legalize it.

Irwin, calling it time “to end 

this long and failed experiment 
with prohibition,” said he intends 
to introduce a bill in the coming 
weeks that would be similar to 
Colorado’s, which allows adult use.

He asks voters to sign his www.

milegalize.com petition to land 
marijuana legalization on the state 
ballot in 2016; however, the chanc-
es of it passing are slim. A recent 
Michigan Radio poll showed 40.2 
percent of Michigan voters oppose 
legalization of marijuana for rec-
reational use, 4.2 percent of voters 
are unsure, and the remaining 55.7 
percent are in favor of legalization 
but divided on the logistics.

In the meantime, Michigan 

legislators are working on bills to 
crack down on the current law 
which allows medical use of mari-
juana. 

STATE
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