michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
As Michigan gears up for the
March 10 Democratic primary,
University of Michigan students
are comparing the positions
of front-runners former Vice
President Joe Biden and Sen.
Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. on issues
relating to higher education.
Affordability
of
four-year
colleges
and
universities
has been an important topic
throughout
the
primary.
Both
candidates’
platforms
include measures to increase
affordability and reduce student
loan debt, focusing heavily on
the expansion of Pell grants,
a federal subsidy provided to
students
from
low-income
families.
According
to
Biden’s
published positions on higher
education, Biden thinks college
should be used as a pathway
for people to move into the
middle class. To make college
more affordable, he promises
to double the maximum value
of Pell grants in order to
offer additional financial aid
specifically towards low-income
and middle-class students.
Biden’s platform also says
he
wants
to
further
loan
forgiveness for people working
in public service and continue
programs such as the Public
Service
Loan
Forgiveness
program, which forgives debt
to students entering public-
service related careers. His
platform
also
discusses
promoting
an
income-based
student loan repayment plan
and protecting GI benefits for
veterans and their families.
LSA
freshman
Andrew
Schaeffler,
co-founder
of
Students for Biden at U-M,
believes Biden’s policies on
increasing Pell Grants would
directly
impact
University
students by increasing access to
education.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 75
©2020 The Michigan Daily
N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
CL A SSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
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A2 talks
multiple
languages
on ballots
CITY
JULIA FORREST
Daily Staff Reporters
Students compare 2020 candidates,
policy positions on higher education
‘U’ political organizations discuss funding for public schools, community colleges
GOVERNMENT
Follow The Daily
on Instagram,
@michigandaily
With
the
2020
election
approaching,
United
States
immigrants
and
naturalized
citizens make up one-tenth of
eligible voters in the United
States. The number of U.S.
immigrants
and
naturalized
citizens eligible to vote has
grown by 93 percent since the
year 2000, making about 23
million
immigrants
eligible
to vote. However, more than
5 million of those immigrants
have
Limited
English
Proficiency, making it more
difficult for them to vote since
ballots are often written only in
English.
Carolyn Chen, LSA junior and
field director for the University
of Michigan chapter of College
Democrats, spoke to The Daily
about the issue of English-only
ballots for those with LEP.
“English-only ballots are an
issue because without having
multiple languages, there is
covert disenfranchisement by
pushing away underrepresented
minorities from the polls,” Chen
said. “If people are not able to
understand a ballot, they are
unable to vote.”
EMMA RUBERG
& FRANCESCA DUONG
Daily Staff Reporters
DESIGN BY HIBAH MIRZAl
Bernie makes strong
efforts to reach out
among Muslim, Arab
American communities
EMMA RUBERG
Daily Staff Reporter
City administrators
comment on Limited
English Proficiency
challenges on voting
Bernie Sanders, the Vermont
senator hoping to win the
Democratic
presidential
nomination,
has
made
an
extensive effort to reach out
to
the
Muslim
community,
garnering large support. Arab
American and Muslim groups on
various social media platforms
use
#Muslims4Bernie
and
#InshallahBernie to show their
support. Many in the Muslim
community
have
taken
to
referring to Sanders as “Amo
Bernie,”
meaning
“Uncle
Bernie.”
At
a
campaign
event
in
Dearborn on Saturday, Sanders
addressed
members
of
the
area’s
large
Arab
American
and Muslim communities. He
discussed the need to focus on
what unifies people, rather than
what divides them.
“Every person in this room, it
doesn’t matter if you’re Christian,
Muslim, Jewish, whatever you
may be, you have the same
dreams
and
aspirations,”
Sanders said on Saturday. “Last
I heard, everyone needs health
care as a human right. Last I
heard, everyone wants their kids
to get a quality education.”
Sanders
garners
minority
support
ASHA LEWIS/Daily
Presidential candidate Joe Biden hosts a rally at Renaissance High School in Detroit.
Biden speaks in
Detroit ahead
of primary day
IULIA DOBRIN
& ANGELINA LITTLE
Daily Staff Reporters
Whitmer, Booker and Harris support
presidential hopeful at Michigan rally
Cheers of “Let’s go, Joe” filled
the gym of Renaissance High
School in Detroit on Monday
night, the eve of the Democratic
primary, as supporters gathered to
rally for presidential hopeful Joe
Biden. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Cal.,
Sen. Cory Booker, D-NJ, and Gov.
Gretchen Whitmer joined Biden
on the stage in a final push for his
election before Tuesday.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan
opened the rally in support of
Biden, referencing the former
vice president’s commitment to
helping rebuild Detroit’s economy
following its 2014 bankruptcy.
“He got us new buses, he got
us housing ... When the rest of the
country had written us off, he was
there,” Duggan said.
Lt.
Gov.
Garlin
Gilchrist
explained his support for Biden
using three factors: his record,
his results and his relationships.
Gilchrist said he voted for Sen.
Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in 2016,
receiving a mixed response from
the crowd, but explained he
believes these three qualities set
Biden apart.
“The
difference
is
nobody
with the records, results and
relationships of Joe Biden was on
the ballot and what we need in
2020 is somebody who is gonna
have a vision that includes all of
us,” Gilchrist said. “When Joe
Biden looks to build a coalition,
he doesn’t look away from any
person, he doesn’t look away from
any community, instead, he looks
to empower people to help make a
difference.”
Biden’s record resonated with
some
University
of
Michigan
students in attendance as well,
including
Information
junior
Harrison McCabe, who said he
finds Biden the most trustworthy
of
the
remaining
Democratic
candidates.
“I trust Joe,” McCabe said. “He
has a record of getting things done,
and he’s the most ‘get-it-done’
person left in this race.”
LSA freshman Kenny Larson,
who is involved with Students for
Biden at the University, said he felt
a sense of coalition while waiting
in line for the doors to open to the
rally.
“Just based on what we’ve seen
walking through here, this rally
reflects a really diverse coalition of
voters, whether that be across age,
race, ethnicity, sexuality,” Larson
said. “I think that really speaks
to sort of Joe Biden’s message of
unity.”
Whitmer spoke to this coalition
in her speech in support of Biden,
pointing to the diversity of the
crowd.
“What I love about Joe Biden,
though, is he knows how to
build a coalition,” Whitmer
said. “I’m ridin’ with Biden and
everyone else has a seat too. It
takes coalitions to win. And
this campaign looks like this
country and it looks like this
city.”
LSA
freshman
Adam
Grimes, who is a member
of Students for Biden and
attended Sunday’s rally for
Sanders, felt that the crowd
at the Biden rally was more
diverse and indicative of a
stronger coalition to beat
Trump.
He
pointed
to
Biden’s victories in Southern
states as evidence of his
ability to turn key states
democratic.
See EDUCATION, Page 3
See SANDERS, Page 3
See LANGUAGE, Page 3
“Bernie’s
crowd
yesterday
actually made me a little bit nervous,”
Grimes said. “It was just the same
young, generally white voters that
he’s been getting and that’s not
what’s gonna win the election against
Trump.”
Booker mentioned this sense of
unity while also appealing to Detroit
natives, speaking about his mother’s
roots in Detroit and his grandfather
being a United Auto Workers
assembly line worker.
“This party is not the party of ‘me,’
it’s the party of ‘we,’” Booker said.
“It’s the party that believes in this
radical concept — I don’t know if y’all
ever heard of it — it’s called science.”
Booker
listed
other
issues
important to the Democratic party
as well, such as civil rights, voting
rights, women’s rights and worker’s
rights. Harris, taking the stage after
Booker, spoke more to some of these
central party issues.
“Michigan: Justice is on the ballot
in 2020,” Harris said. “Economic
justice is on the ballot in 2020.
Reproductive justice is on the ballot
in 2020. Healthcare justice is on the
ballot in 2020, environmental justice
is on the ballot in 2020, racial justice
is on the ballot in 2020,
and Joe Biden is on the
ballot in 2020.”
Biden came out after Kamala’s
introduction, thanking those who
spoke before him. He specifically
thanked Whitmer, citing one of her
campaign’s catchphrases.
“When I hear that great line you
say, ‘Let’s fix the damn roads’ — let’s
fix this country,” Biden said.
He began his speech by talking
about how just over a week ago, the
press and Congress had declared
the campaign “dead,” a ruling that,
according to Biden, was overturned
by South Carolina and Super Tuesday
primary results.
A
few
minutes
into
his
speech,
Biden
was interrupted by Anti-NAFTA
protesters, who had large banners
and began chanting. Biden responded
with, “This is not a Trump rally,”
telling people in the crowd to let the
protesters go. The protesters were
quickly escorted outside, after which
the crowd resumed chants of “Let’s
go, Joe.”
Soon after, about 25 protesters
from Sunrise Movement, a climate
activist group that endorses Sanders,
and
Black
Youth
Project
100
(BYP100), a Black youth organization
dedicated to social justice issues,
disrupted the rally with the chant
“Joe must go.” They carried banners
reading “Green New Deal Now” and
“Green Jobs For All” as they marched
and chanted.
Allie Lindstrom, midwest trainer
and co-founder Sunrise Ann Arbor
Hub, said they hoped to interrupt the
rally and ask Biden questions about
his ability to appeal to youth voters.
“My intention was to call attention
to the fact that Joe Biden does not
have widespread youth support and
many of the policies that excite young
people and excite new voters — he
has not spoken (about), he has not
committed to any change, and we
See BIDEN, Page 3