The Daily spoke with Sen. Gary
Peters, D-Mich., on July 24 about
his re-election campaign to the
U.S. Senate, the federal govern-
ment’s COVID-19 response and
racial inequality. John James is
the Republican nominee running
against Peters for the Senate seat
in this November’s election. The
James campaign declined multiple
requests for an interview.
This interview has been edited
and condensed for clarity.
TMD: Why should young peo-
ple, and college students in par-
ticular, be excited about your
campaign?
GP: Well, a big focus for my
campaign is to make sure higher
education is affordable for all stu-
dents. No matter who they are,
no matter where they live, they
should have the opportunity to
achieve their version of the Ameri-
can Dream and get the education
they need in order to do that. That
means we need to make college
education more affordable. One
way I’m working to do that is for
those students who are taking out
student loans, we need to lower
the interest rate for student loans.
At a time with record low interest
rates, the rates that students pay
should also be tied to those lower
rates. That’s why I worked on leg-
islation with Elizabeth Warren to
lower those rates and we’ll contin-
ue to work to get that passed, but
getting that passed will require a
Democratic majority in the Sen-
ate. We’re going to keep working
on that. Additionally to that, for
those students, it’s not just about
taking loans. We should expand
Pell (Grant) eligibility, so that stu-
dents can get the grants they need
to pursue their education and not
be saddled with high loans.
The other issue that is critically
important to me and one we have
to be focused on as a society — and
one that’s going to particularly
impact students in the years ahead
— that’s the existential threat of
climate change. I am passionate
about protecting our environ-
ment and understand that climate
change is a critical issue. We have
to set ambitious goals to reduce
carbon emissions and do common
sense things like put the United
States back into the Paris Accord
after Donald Trump pulled us out
of the Paris Accord. The United
States needs to be a leader in deal-
ing with climate change and we
need folks who are passionate
about it in elected office, and that’s
me.
TMD: Where would you place
yourself in today’s Democratic
Party, ideologically?
GP: Well, I think folks would
consider that I would be a moder-
ate Democrat, somebody who is
willing to work in a bipartisan way
in order to get things done, but
is also a proud Democrat, a very
proud Democrat. I think part of
that — the fact that I’m willing to
work in a bipartisan way— is that
I do believe that we have to get
things done.
Government has to actually
come together in order to solve the
very tough problems that we face
as a society. There is an organiza-
tion called the Center for Effective
Lawmaking. It is a nonpartisan
center that was put together by the
folks at Vanderbilt University and
the University of Virginia. And
they actually ranked all senators
and congresspeople based on their
effectiveness, which means their
ability to get legislation passed...
The last ranking they put out was
the last Congress, and out of the
48 Democratic Senators in the U.S.
Senate, I was ranked the fourth
most effective. And that’s in my
first term (as a senator) in Wash-
ington (D.C.),and in the U.S. Sen-
ate, seniority matters. The longer
you’re there, the more ability you
have to get things done. And yet
just in just my first term, I was
ranked the fourth most effective.
TMD: As a member of the fed-
eral government, how would you
evaluate the federal government’s
4
Thursday, August 13, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NEWS
The University of Michigan
recently announced students must
adhere to a mandatory two-week
quarantine before they arrive on
campus in the fall. This policy
received criticism from students
who are currently working and
those who are living in on-campus
housing.
Business junior Kayla Hurd said
in a tweet that the University’s
reopening plans do not consider
low-income students who have in-
person jobs.
Business sophomore Madelyn
Larson worked as a pool atten-
dant all summer and said the
announcement of the two-week
quarantine came very late, not
giving her enough time to give her
boss a two-week advance notice.
“It was very much just a blanket
statement,” Larson said. “I under-
stand that (the administration)
have obviously a lot going on … but
I think that advance notice could
have been given since they have
known since March that there is a
pandemic.”
LSA sophomore Riann English
also voiced concerns about the
mandatory
quarantine,
saying
there was no way the University
could determine whether some-
one has followed the proper proto-
col of enhanced social distancing.
“I think, in theory, it’s a good
idea, but in practice and in reality,
(you) cannot control what people
do,” English said. “You don’t know
where other people have been or
what they’re carrying.”
University spokeswoman Kim
Broekhuizen directed The Daily
in an email to the enhanced
social distancing section of the
announcement sent Monday. She
also wrote that students who are
in Ann Arbor are allowed to break
their quarantine to work.
“Students are not prohibited
from working once they are in
Ann Arbor,” Broekhuizen wrote.
“This 14-day period of enhanced
social distancing is designed to
minimize the spread of COVID-
19 as our students return to Ann
Arbor from all over the country.”
Working on campus will also
likely look different this fall as
many campus employees — includ-
ing students — will continue to
work remotely if they are able.
Larson further explained how
the guideline puts low-income
students at a disadvantage of con-
tracting COVID-19 and losing pay.
“On top of the 1.9 percent
tuition increase, the jobs that are
available are much more likely
to be in-person, necessary jobs
which are obviously more risky
and could lead to coming into
contact with somebody who is
positive (for COVID-19) and then
you’re gonna have to take another
two weeks (off),” Larson said.
Some students also expressed
concerns
about
the
upcom-
ing semester and the risk of the
COVID-19 virus spreading on
campus, including in dorms and
community spaces such as frat
houses. LSA sophomore Rakira
Urquhart said she was worried
about the confined dorm spaces
on campus.
“I know that the room sizes are
like 12 by 12, so it just didn’t make
sense to me that, you know, they
were going to have people living to
people in such a small space with
everything going on,” Urquhart
said. “Who knows what my room-
mate, or what I would do … outside
of the room?”
English also noted she doesn’t
understand why there are not
more
restrictions
on
housing
given the current COVID-19 pan-
demic.
“I feel like everyone should be
in a single,” English said. “I know
the other universities have tried
to do that, to a certain extent — in
my knowledge — but (Michigan)
hasn’t done that in any capacity at
all.”
Students criticize mandatory
two-week quarantine, housing
VARSHA VEDAPUDI
Daily Staff Reporter
Design by Hibah Chugtai
In Conversation
with Gary Peters
CALDER LEWIS
Summer News Editor
Read more at michigandaily.com
Michigan Senator and The Daily discuss
COVID-19, student loans and police reform
University policy prevents
working before classes
start
Read more at michigandaily.com