Higher education did not garner much mention in either of the candidates’ stump speeches yesterday, but Bush and Kerry have traded barbs on such issues for over a year now.
The president has often touted a dramatic increase—nearly $5 billion—in federal financial aid under his administration. But the Kerry campaign said that this rise can be attributed to more families qualifying for federal aid because of dropping family incomes under the Bush economy.
Still, both candidates have promised further increases in a variety of federal aid programs to low-income college students. In the third presidential debate, Bush said that his signature No Child Left Behind Act was preparing more students for a college education.
In several speeches across the country yesterday, Bush said he had “challenged the bigotry of low expectations by reforming our public schools.”
Race and education emerged at the forefront of a nationwide debate last year as the Supreme Court ruled on two lawsuits challenging the University of Michigan’s affirmative action policies.
At the time, both candidates supported the Supreme Court’s decisions, which permitted affirmative action so long as it does not constitute a “quota” system, but Bush said last month that “race-neutral admissions policies ought to be tried.”
In an interview yesterday, Gary Orfield, professor of education and social policy at the Graduate School of Education, lamented that issues from financial aid to affirmative action did not play more prominent roles in the presidential campaign,
“Almost all chance of real mobility is tied to higher education,” Orfield said. “It should have been a higher priority than it was, but higher education doesn’t have as well-organized constituencies.”
The two candidates have largely sidestepped the ongoing debate over military recruiting at Harvard Law School and other campuses. But as a vocal opponent of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, Kerry has implicitly sided with those schools which have objected to the military’s presence on campus.
PREPARING FOR VICTORY
While the Kerry campaign made preparations for a victory celebration in Copley Square set for tonight, volunteers at Bush’s election-night headquarters in Washington, D.C. began literally setting the stage for their candidate’s own victory party in the nation’s capital.
Technicians and stagehands rushed yesterday to put the finishing touches on an elaborate setup that will host the Bush family and 4,000 supporters at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center tonight. The stark, modernist atrium of the building was transformed into a glowing red, white and blue motif, complete with massive American flags and candy-colored lighting schemes.
But with 24 hours before election returns were to begin rolling in, there were still technical glitches to be worked out. A filing center for the media was lacking internet access and a special podium designated for Laura Bush, the First Lady, remained packed away in a crate.
—Reporting for this article was contributed by Nicholas M. Ciarelli, Daniel J. Hemel, Sahil K. Mahtani, T. Josiah Pertz and Anton S. Toianovski in Cambridge. Michael M. Grynbaum contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.
—Staff writer Zachary M. Seward can be reached at seward@fas.harvard.edu.