This week, Dr. Peter Kirstein, a Professor of History here at SXU, weighed in on the Illinois’ primary elections that happened on Tuesday, March 18, 2014.
The Illinois’ general election that will take place on November 11, 2014 will elect state constiutional officers including the governor.
These primaries pit incumbent Pat Quinn, the democratic nominee running for his second successive term in office, against the GOP’s Bruce Rauner, an Illinois businessman and multimillionaire.
When asked which candidate would benefit higher education more, Dr. Kirstein said Pat Quinn would benefit higher education more because of his intention of raising the minimum wage and signing of the Illinois Dream Act which signaled his commitment of promoting diversity in higher education.
According to Dr. Kirstein, raising the minimum wage is one of Quinn’s plans, which would greatly benefit college students because many of them work at minimum wage. He also commented that “the additional income provided to working college students by the increased minimum wage would ease the burden of tuition, stress and studies, thereby promoting better performance in college and happier students.”
Quinn has also worked for an increase in Monetary Award Program funding being made available to college students. Under his administration Illinois has benfited from an increasae in MAP funding and recently, Quinn announced his plan to double MAP funding.
Dr. Kirstein said that Rauner planned to lower the minimum wage which would have the opposite effect on working students by forcing them to work more to earn the same amount of money as before. The lowering of minimum wage would also lead to a higher poverty rate among the Illinois population.
Rauner’s poor relationship to unions would limit his ability to promote change in higher education, according to Kirstein. Rauner, on his campaign website, has claimed that union ties to career politicians in Illinois have controlled the state and driven it to the ground. He has proposed government reform in the form of union restrictions, term limits, and controlled spending as ways to counter this issue.
While Dr. Kirstein does not endorse either candidate, he does believe that, as of now, Quinn seems more likely to win. He also stated his desire for a candidate to emerge, at any level, that would support a higher education system that would provide education for students free of charge.
Rauner won his nomination in a pool of four other candidates: Bill Brady, Kirk Dillard and Dan Rutherford.
According to his campaign site, Rauner, a venture capitalist, is running for governor “because he loves Illinois and refuses to stand by while career politicians drive it into the ground.”
Incumbent Pat Quinn handily won the democratic nomination over Tio Hardiman, a community organizer and Executive Director of CeaseFire Violence Interrupters, an organization aimed at reducing shootings and killings.
Quinn was sworn in to the governor’s seat when Rob Blagojevish was removed from office in 2009 after attempting to sell Barack Obama’s vacated Senate Seat. Although his popularity has fluctuated, Quinn has kept his administration scandal-free.
Both candidates have declared education as a priority, however, their focus remains on primary and secondary education, not higher education.
David Rodriguez
News Editor