Candidates duel over higher ed
by Dmitry Rashnitsov
The Metropolitan
Pete Coors
Senate candidate
Republican
With the race for the Colorado Senate seat between Colorado Attorney
General Ken Salazar and businessman Pete Coors heating up, their campaigns
have been addressing issues such as terrorism, experience and the environment
in TV commercials across the state.
One issue getting very little air time is higher education.
According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning
and Engagement (CIRCLE), only 42 percent of 18 to 24-year-old citizens
voted in 2000, compared to 70 percent of citizens 25 and older.
This year, record numbers of college students are registering to vote
and are eager to learn about the future of their colleges and universities.
“Pete Coors is a strong supporter of higher education,”
said Cinamon Watson.
Watson, spokeswoman for the Coors campaign, said, “He is a former
member of the Board of Trustees at the University of Northern Colorado.”
Ken Salazar
Senate candidate
Democrat
Also, Coors’ wife Marilyn is a professor at the CU Health and Sciences
Center.
Watson said Coors believes that everyone should have the opportunity
to pursue higher education and he will try to make the accountability
and standards fair for everyone across the board.
For Salazar, higher education is one of the “most important issues
facing the country because the kind of world we create is dependent on
how we address this issue,” he said during a speech at the CU Health
and Sciences center on April 8.
According to the Salazar4Colorado Web site, the Democratic candidate
believes higher education should be primarily funded by state and local
governments.
Watson believes Coors’ stance on the economy shows his commitment
to higher education.
“Creating jobs and strengthening the economy is at the top of my
agenda,” Coors said in a statement.
One part of Coors’ campaign mentions the expansion of community
college nursing programs. Community college programs would provide the
same medical training without the stringent undergraduate requirements,
making health care education available to more people.
Coors promises to encourage state boards to develop workable standards
that allow for the expansion of nurse training programs and licensing.
To make college more affordable Salazar has said he wants to increase
Pell Grant funding for needy students, double the HOPE Scholarship tax
credits, allow multiple student loan consolidations, and eliminate student
loan fees.
“We must keep higher education affordable and accessible to all
students who pursue the dream of a college degree,” Salazar stated
in one of his news releases.
Coors, former CEO of the Coors Brewing Co., in Golden, went to Cornell
University in New York just like his father and grandfather before him.
He majored in engineering.
Salazar was born and raised in Alamosa with seven siblings, who
collectively became the first generation of his family to graduate from
college.
Salazar had the aid of a recruiter from Adams State College who gave
him the final nudge to pursue higher education by helping him fill out
the admissions forms and find funding.
He attended Colorado College and earned his law degree from the University
of Michigan.
Metro student and co-president of the Democrats of Auraria, Angie Knepell
believes
Metro students would benefit from Salazar because he will help bring
back some of $150 million lost from higher education in Colorado over
the past few years.
“At Metro, we need to take the focus off bizarre concerns such
as the Academic Bill of Rights, and conservative students being treated
unfairly and focus on paying teachers what they deserve, upgrading the
library and improving the parking situation,” Knepell said.
George Culpepper, Metro Political Science major and former chairman of
the Auraria College Republicans who has been working for the Coors campaign,
thinks Metro will improve by taking an initiative in recruiting more out-of-state
students.
“Metro needs to compete for more students through high school and
college recruitment,” Culpepper said. “The state and
federal government can work together to make Metro a better school.”
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