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
From Page 1A
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
From Page 1A