Senator Kicks off University Crossing Author Series
09/22/2014
By David Perry
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren brought her newest bestselling book to the UMass Lowell campus Friday afternoon, christening a new author’s series at University Crossing.
“UMass Lowell is where it’s happening,” she said shortly before taking a stage in the dramatic atrium of the new, $95 million student center. “I love this new building, which is representative of the UMass Lowell experience of serving its students while really opening up to the community.”
“A Fighting Chance” is Warren’s 10th book. It is her story of a rise from poor Oklahoma roots to a forceful voice for the disenfranchised. It is laced with the message that it is time to make government work for everyone, not merely the rich and powerful.
“Washington works for those who have money and power and can hire armies of lobbyists and lawyers,” she said.
Standing before a crowd of more than 200 people, Warren read sections of the book. The atrium was filled and students lined the stairs and upper-level walkways.
Warren, whose successful bid to unseat Scott Brown in November 2012 gained momentum at a nationally televised debate from the University’s Tsongas Center, also returned to speak to students in 2013.
At the Sept. 19 event, 20-year-old Amanda Robinson listened closely. The junior finance major is one of four children. Her parents are sending three of them through college now and her siblings in private schools. Loans abound.
Amanda carries a federal student loan.
“I’m glad I chose UMass Lowell,” she says. “It could be a lot worse. But I’m really nervous about what happens after school. When I graduate, will I be able to find a job? I don’t want to be in debt for the rest of my life.”
It was for her and 25 million other Americans carrying an average of $30,000 of student loan debt that Warren says she is fighting. Her bill, blocked by Senate Republicans (but with 58 of 60 votes) would allow them to refinance their loans at current, lower interest rates. The cap would be 4 percent. Currently, she said, interest stretches into the double-digits.
In all, student loan debt totals $1.2 billion, more than U.S. credit card debt.
And there is no incentive for the powerful to embrace her reform, said Warren, noting that for loans issued between 2007 and 2012, the federal government stands to make $66 billion in profits.
Warren said she was able to attend college because decades ago, she lived in “an America that was investing in the future ... that let us work together to make investments we could not make alone in things like education, infrastructure and research.” She blames deregulation which “turned financial institutions loose on the backs of American families.”
She encouraged the students to “push your voice back into this conversation.”
“You know,” said Amanda, “her student loan bill would make a difference in my life.”
Warren entered to a standing ovation from the crowd, following an introduction from UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan, no stranger to the workings and frustrations of Washington. She left 50 minutes later to the same sort of ovation.
“I don’t know about you,” said Meehan to the crowd, “but I feel pretty good about having this senator fighting for me.”