With elections just around the corner, students at California State University, Stanislaus (Stan State), many of whom are newly registered voters, are ready to turn in their ballots for the primaries. However, it might be hard for students to know the candidates’ stances on issues directly affecting them due to the onslaught of information the media has been doling out.
Here, we have delineated five main issues that directly affect students at Stan State:
College Loan Debt
Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have plans for helping college students with their loan debt.
Hillary Clinton’s website (http://www.hillaryclinton.com) says that “by 2021, families with income up to $125,000 will pay no tuition at in-state four-year public colleges and universities.”
“I’m going to put a date certain so that if you pay faithfully every month, at the end of twenty years, you’re done no matter how much you have left after we’ve refinanced it,” Clinton said.
26 days before the election, Trump made a speech at his Ohio rally regarding college debt:
“Under my student loan program, we would cap repayment for an affordable portion of a borrower’s income – 12.5 percent. And if borrowers work hard and make their full payments for fifteen years, we’ll let them get on with their lives.”
Immigration Reform
Donald Trump is strongly against immigration and plans on putting “American workers first,” whereas Hillary Clinton supports immigration and is focusing more on integrating immigrants into American society.
Trump has a ten-point plan to put America first, including points such as: “Begin working on an impenetrable physical wall on the southern border, on day one,” and “Mexico will pay for the wall” typed in red.
Another point is, “Anyone who enters the U.S. illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country.”
Many Stan State students feel very strongly about Trump’s stance on immigration.
“I think [Trump] doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing if he thinks he can just deport 11 million immigrants, and he’s even more clueless if he thinks that Mexico’s going to pay for a wall. And he doesn’t realize that most of the immigrants in the United States are not actually Mexican, so that’s not really the issue,” says Paola Nieto (senior, Business).
Clinton has nine bullet points on her website that describe her policies on immigration.
The first point is that “Hillary will introduce comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to full and equal citizenship within her first 100 days in office. It will treat every person with dignity, fix the family visa backlog, uphold the rule of law, protect our borders and national security, and bring millions of hardworking people into the formal economy.”
Although Clinton’s stance on immigration is very different than Trump’s, students at Stan State do not seem to have too much faith in her abilities to truly help immigrants in the U.S.
“From Hillary, I don’t expect her to do much, but I expect her to keep the DREAM Act, I expect her to continue DACA and maybe even expand it for DAPA. I expect her maybe to try and push for it, but I don’t anticipate her being successful unless the Democrats take the House and Senate, which is not very likely,” says Nieto.
Health Care
Hillary Clinton plans on expanding the Affordable Care Act, and Donald Trump wants to repeal it and replace it with Health Savings Accounts.
According to Donald Trump’s website (http://www.donaldjtrump.com), “Contributions into HSAs should be tax-free and should be allowed to accumulate. These accounts would become part of the estate of the individual and could be passed on to heirs without fear of any death penalty.”
Trump believes that no one should be required to buy health insurance, while Clinton believes that affordable health care is a basic human right.
Health care directly affects Stan State students, such as Jose Castro (junior, Criminal Justice).
“I agree with Hillary Clinton. I think we should have the Affordable Care Act. Before, I never had any type of health care. Sometimes I couldn’t even go to the doctor because I couldn’t afford it, and now I actually got free health care. I can go to the doctor whenever I need. I can get free medicine. So it definitely benefits a lot of people. It benefited me and my family, so it’s a really good thing that we have, and we should be able to keep it,” Castro said.
Campus Sexual Assault
On her website, Hillary Clinton makes her stance clear regarding sexual assault on college campuses.
“I want to send a message to every survivor of sexual assault,” Clinton says in a video, “Don’t let anyone silence your voice. You have a right to be heard, and you have a right to be believed. We’re with you.”
She has a plan in place with three core principles:
- Provide comprehensive support to survivors.
- Ensure a fair process for all.
- Increase prevention efforts.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump does not have a plan on addressing sexual assaults on campuses.
According to the 2016 Annual Security Report for Stan State, there were seven rapes in 2014 and four in 2015 that occurred on campus.
Gender
Trump does not have any policies about how to address issues of gender and race on his website. He is also notorious among students for not respecting women.
“He is misogynistic… You can put in that there were lots of angry sighs,” Rachel Heiss (senior, Anthropology) said when being interviewed in the quad.
Trump has accused Clinton of “playing the woman card,” and Clinton responded by saying, “If fighting for women’s health care and paid family leave and equal pay is playing the woman card, then deal me in.” She is also selling The Official “Woman Card” for $5.00 on her website with a description that says, “Tell Donald Trump you’re a card-carrying member of the majority.”
Clinton has many plans to help improve women’s lives, including working to close the wage gap, fighting for paid leave, and confronting violence against women.
“The measure of any society is how it treats its women and girls,” said First Lady Michelle Obama on Oct. 13 during a speech in her campaign for Hillary Clinton.
“I think it is time we need a woman in office,” Gloria Vallin (senior, Biology) said.
“Hillary Clinton as our president, imperfect though she may be, would not only extend the progressive political run over the last eight years, but she would break a long overdue barrier for women and young girls all over the country, which would be just as inspiring to them as Barack Obama’s presidency has been for African-Americans,” Dr. Trystan Cotten said, a professor of Gender Studies at Stan State.
Race
Clinton also has plans to help minorities. A hot-button issue has been the Black Lives Matter movement, and Clinton addresses this by saying she will “Reform our broken criminal justice system by reforming sentencing laws and policies, ending racial profiling by law enforcement, strengthening the bonds of trust between communities and police, and more.”
“It sounds like a beautiful suggestion,” says Michelle Akanji (senior, Kinesiology), the vice president and treasurer of the Black Student Union at Stan State, “but I truly believe deep inner healing needs to take place, not just laws and policies.”
Clinton also says that she will “protect immigrants’ rights and keep families together” and “end violence against the transgender community—particularly women of color.”
Meanwhile, Trump has been trying to get the minority vote by speaking to groups of color. Recently Trump addressed the Republican Hindu Coalition saying, “We love the Hindus. We love India.” One of the members said, “I’m sure he will make some difference for the Indians,” and went on to say that Trump would improve the immigration system currently in place.
“Race is always an issue in any election because the founding of America was built on racism,” Dr. Regina Jennings said, a professor of Ethnic Studies here at Stan State. “Trump and Clinton both represent that ethic and all of us carry either racism or reactions to it. Just because Trump addressed Asian people, showing support does not erase his previous and current history.”
“I’m not convinced by either candidate. In fact, I’m actually disappointed that they believe they have the ability to solve a multifaceted and complex issue solely on their own,” Akanji said.
