Republicans, 202 5853881. Parties, 202 5853882. You can catch up with us on your favorite social media pages. If you chose your Political Party by a specific issue, a poll shows what party you may belong to. Most dominant issues for republican voters. Only about half of democratic voters say these issues are important to their decision. The chart can be found at the Pew Research Center for the people and the press. Budget deficit, forum policy, immigration, terrorism, and economy. For those issues more important to those voting democrat, environment, economic inequality, birth control, and health care. Aboutally a port equally important, abortion and gay marriage. If your parents have influenced your decision to vote, a story from earlier this year two children take their parents political beliefs . It is not that simple. Parents with strong beliefs feel it is their duty to see their children adopt those beliefs, however wellmeaning those efforts are, they may be in vain. Found that parents who are insistent that there children adopt their political views inadvertently influence their children to abandon the belief once they become adults. Is surprising. Children who come from homes where politics is a frequent topic of discussion are more likely to talk about politics once they leave home. That is the story from earlier this year in may in the atlantic. We want to hear your stories this morning. How did you choose your Political Party. You can share those stories on facebook, twitter, or give us a call. Our numbers are on the screen. Two post from folks on facebook. I am a democrat and proud of it. There was a time when the gop was fiscally conservative but socially liberal. These values lost and i cannot consider membership in that party. Says he realizes making decisions based on emotion was not working. That is when he started leaning conservative. Leavenworth, kansas. Good morning. I am 64. My whole voting career started with the vietnam war and civil rights and the catholic that had taught me the nuns on the bus people. It influenced my voting. I raised my son to show him that tois important to give in civil democracy, to participate. Not think like me. I would not want him to. It is important. It disturbs me that people say politics is they ignore and and they do not know the issues. I say you can ignore politics, but it does not ignore you. It is like a bloodsport. Is serious when you have people without enough food in this country and poverty growing and income inequality and at least the democrats are little better. You have to keep trying for the environment, education, and the good things. Does Political Party matter to you when you go out to vote on election day . Is a highprofile race in kansas going on this year. It is a frontpage story, talking about the race between. At roberts and greg orman greg orman does not have a Political Party label and has not said what party he will caucus with if he won in the election. What are your thoughts . It would be wonderful for kansas to get rid of pat robertson. Things back. D greg orman is an independent. He leans more democratic. That would be wonderful. People need they do not want to talk about abortion and their religiousife and stuff. They want to talk about jobs and the state it used to be known as the smart state, educated. Chance and is a hope they get rid of brown backs. There are people. You can never give up. Not red. S are there are good people concerned about sudan environment. About food and environment. Host that is margaret. How did you how did you click pick your Political Party. Renee, calling in from los angeles, california. Caller good morning. I am independent. I used to vote democrat up until about 10 years ago. Not vote for obama because of his stance on immigration. Morals andally about my personal beliefs. I am disappointed in both parties. As the lady said, we are more , education,out jobs and people not having enough food on the table. Ofare able to take care everybody else in other countries and we are not taking care of people here. Party seems to be concerned about americans. They seem to be concerned about who is going to keep them in office. Do plan to vote in november . Caller i live in california. We are having a problem with illegal immigration and nothing seems to be done about it. Mother is a democrat and she is not going to sway going towards republican. We get into battle about that. I am not impressed by the party. Renee, los angeles this morning. We are getting your calls and taking your comments on facebook and twitter. Writes iok bobby chose the Republican Party because of what i heard on pbs when i was growing up erie it below that, i chose a second party when realizing that republicans were part of the b g same coin. , silver spring, maryland. I became a democrat during the civil rights era. The time and decided to study political science. I am a democrat because of the stand on the social issues. Also, the economic issues. I am disappointed in the fact not most americans do understand how the government works, which makes it hard for either party to get anything done. I feel that the democrats represent my interests because i am more concerned about the middle class, having a safety people, i am concerned about health care and republicans are not concerned about this issue. Host you said their stance on social issues is why youre a democrat. What other concerns you have about the social issue side for the Republican Party . They would like to repeal roe versus wade and i think women should have the right to choose. Party, for the main part is against our gay marriage. I think individuals should have the right to. To marry whoever they want to. Do not think people should be adopt other peoples view of religion. , callingt was matalin in from silver springs, maryland. For a Younger Generation of voters, the old rightwing nostrands about the sanctity of life and marriage have lost asir power and are revealed intrusions on political freedom. On human freedom. It is not necessarily true in the most conservative states. In louisiana and arkansas, two ,ndangered Democratic SenatorsMary Landrieu and mark pryor, have not been as outspoken in attacking their opponents antiabortion positions. Republicans have not campaigned against samesex marriage. Washingtonory from times. Voters choose cruz in straw poll. Least one past gop president ial contender urging evangelicals to show up at the polls if they are upset at the direction of the country. Ted cruz one for the second consecutive year, taking 25 of the vote. Then carson was a close second. Mike huckabee was third, with 12 . We are getting your stories this morning. How did you choose your Political Party . Phone lines are open. Randy, shreveport, louisiana. Good morning. Caller good morning. A democrat, and it up as a republican and then i went to independent. Democrats and republican are the same game. They have thrown the country down a river. System needs to go to a thirdparty. They love to keep the tea party out. You have a bunch of communists nazist seize and running the country. Im not just talking about obama. Bush, reagan, all the way back to 1913. These people have sold this country out. They have trashed the judeochristian ethics of this country. Host is there any political leader right now that you think is going in the correct direction or do you believe follows your views . Then carson. He has been on tv a bit. He seems like he knows what is going on. Peoplere a lot of other do. The country has been sold out. I would right there, vote for him. I do not care what color your skin is. Ethics, thesehave people have sold this country out. They do not care. Host our lines are open. Democrats, republicans, and a third line for all others. Richard is in indiana, pennsylvania, on the line for all others. Good morning. Caller i am an independent. I agree with the last caller. Republicans and democrats have sold this country out. Its a shame. I dont know what to make of it anymore. I watch cspan in the morning on a regular basis. I try to be concerned about what is going on, but to be honest with you, it is a shame what is happening to this country. Political for a new everything. Need to get rid of democrats and republicans both. Or wed the third party, need new parties, or something. It used to be that it was an honor to serve. Republican. T or a it was an honor. It is big business, it is corporations. Was politics a conversation around your dinner table and what party did your parents belong to . My family was nonpolitical. I grew up in the ub generation. E did not care about politics i watched Richard Nixon resigned. That is all i know. That is when my political news started. I watched Richard Nixon resigned. Same view youthe hold right now . Caller i am. Like the last caller said about the clintons. I admired bill clinton. I liked him. The thing with sending jobs to mexico. I just watched the decline of the United States. It is awful to watch and comprehend. I care enough to listen to cspan because i really want to hear the opinions of other people. It is important to me to arerstand people out there concerned about the decline of our civilization. We are going to start another war now. What is that all about. We are going to bomb people . These other simulations have been around for thousands of years. Here we go again. Host richard, indiana. Joe is waiting in las cruces, new mexico. Caller good morning. Thank you for cspan. Ive probably ought to be calling on the independent line because i am a christian i amate republican, but thinking about becoming independent. Host why is that . Caller because the democrats and the republicans have upset me. They are not seeking that perfect middle. There is no perfect middle, but you can try and seek it. Host did you grow up interested in politics and leaning towards one party or the other . Democrats. Were we were kennedy democrats and we and now i amicans thinking about becoming independent. Host we are getting your stories this morning. About 36 days away from Midterm Elections. Bothill hear a lot from Political Parties on the television, radio, and online, as well as those advertisements again in the month of october. Editorial, lead saying the big losers will be everybody who watches television. Will take over the airwaves in excruciating volume. Estimate, the campaigns have dumped 228 million into 11 over 2012. Up kay hagan is trying to withstand a challenge from tom tillis. North carolina one of the states that is going to be key for control of the senate this fall. Five carolina one of the races that will control the senate according to a political column in the Washington Post. States, for controlled by democrats and one held by republicans. They are likely to see the at the lastnding five plus weeks of the Midterm Election campaign. That is in todays Washington Post. How did you pick the Democratic Party . I was raised in butte, montana. I am 80 years old. My father was a union organizer. Every labor law that was ever theed for the benefit of working man was passed by the democrats. The republicans fought social security. , i was vice and thet of the jaycees health laws were passed. Medicare was passed. They fought social security. They had laws like the sedition act. It was always dad, dont go down in the mind today. Most of the labor laws that were passed were passed because of butte, montana and the miners when they went on strike. Host some callers have said Neither Party is working for people anymore. Is the Democratic Party working for you . Caller why do we have the Affordable Health care act . Who is fighting it . The republicans. Every law that has been passed, and i have done a lot of research on this. Peopleaw for the regular has been fought by the republicans. I could tell you stories. I was raised in a town where they working where the working man had callous on his hands. They ought to do research and find out how well the republicans are looking out for him. Will keep getting your stories in just a second. I also want to point out some of the headlines, especially in Foreign Policy news. President obama with an interview that is gaining quite a bit of attention. The lead story in todays Washington Post notes that the United States underestimated the rise of the Islamic State in iraq and syria. Here is a bit from the interview. [video clip] how did they end up where they are, and control of so much territory . Was that a surprise . Our head of the Intelligence Community, jim clapper, has acknowledged they underestimated what had been taking place in syria. He did not just say that we underestimated isil. He said we overestimated the ability and the will of our allies, the iraqi army, to fight. That is true. Obama not thet only one making news on sundays shows. John boehner making a bit of news in his interview with this week. Supporting president obama is not supporting sending Ground Troops in, but boehner says if other countries do not step up, we have no choice. Here is john boehner in that abcs with a bcs this week. We are talking about choosing your Political Party how you choose your Political Party. Joe, good morning. I was raised in brooklyn and long island. My parents were republicans. I grew up republican. Much political talk at the table. Into a fiscally conservative tea party libertarian. It disenfranchised with the establishment as much as i am disenfranchised with the democrats. Are you going to vote in this election . It is a constitutional right to vote. I will go out to vote. What is your take on the senate race in virginia . A race that is on the air now in televisions in virginia. Would you make of the senate race . I would vote for the i amlican candidate, but amazed how virginia has leaned more democratically. We have a democratic governor as well. That is because of the state next to us. It has been democratic for a long time. Fleeing maryland left and right because of the high taxes and everything else. Towards the democrats in the state of virginia is very bad news for virginians. This year, smart they will not vote democratic. They will vote republican. They dont like the candidate very much, we do not want virginia to turn into another maryland. The race that is getting all of the headlines this year, but certainly one that is focused on in virginia. We will go to frank. He is in fort lauderdale, florida. I was a democrat for over 50 years. I come from a democratic family. My grandfather and uncle were party leaders. Years ago, i registered as a republican because i think all of the democrats have done a lot of good in the past. They have gone out the deep end by endorsing abortion and gay marriage. They are restricting religious liberties under the Affordable Care act. I am for helping needy people, but not forcing religious oriented groups and abortionyers to fund causing drugs. That is where i stand. I will be voting in november for rick scott in florida, who advocates those principles i believe in, of family values. Will take theers responsibility seriously and make an effort to learn the issues, positions, and to vote for the common good. Host talking about the governors race. The senate race the focus of the front page of the journal news. The question which party will run the senate. Senate races making the front race the front page of the times in louisiana. The headline candidates passionate about, and core, talking about the senate race with bill cassidy and Mary Landrieu. Ther papers with headlines the senate race is the subject of the des moines register. A fiery finish in the senate debate. It is between bruce bailey and jodi ernst. Debate asbit from the it aired on cspan. [video clip] toall of the subsidies going oil and other sectors within the we need to bey, on equal footing. I will continue to support the rff. Farm. Up on a my father is a proud farmer. In six jobs is creating is created by the iowa farmer. Thell continue to support rff and do that as your next senator. Respond, i am not sure that is what she told the toh brothers when she went their secret meetings. She said she was opposed to the fuel standard. My support of the renewable fuel standard has been clear, strong, and unequivocal goal. And unequivocal. I would like to respond. You are not running against these other people. You are running against me. I am a soldier, and i am an independent leader. You are being funded by tom snyder, who is a california billionaire extreme environmentalists. Remember please, you are running against me, not against any of these other groups. I realize that. President obamas name is not on the ballot. I am not going to open president obama anything on election day. You are going to of the Koch Brothers everything. Learn about our coverage of house and senate and governors debates going on in campaign 2014. One debate taking place tomorrow night at 9 00 p. M. On cspan. The Texas Governor debate. Be sure to tune in tomorrow evening. For the next 10 minutes or so, how did you choose your Political Party . We want to get your stories. Democrats, republicans, and a special line for all others and thirdparty members. Lets go to our line for republicans. Steve, scottsdale, arizona. Caller i am republican. Ideals more. Those , i think we should raise speed limits, have less regulation in general. Everything went terrible when we where youelt laws have to wear a seatbelt. I think it should be a choice. Things like that. We still do not have the helmet law out here. I am more into freedom and less regulation. Milford, connecticut. Linda, waiting on our line for democrats. I started out as a republican. More of a rockefeller republican. Frankly, i was an independent. Then, when Ronald Reagan came in and started shopping started chopping away i have always done my own taxes. I am aware of how it affects my family. Waffling a little bit and voting some democratic and some republican. Right sent me running from the Republican Party. A previous scholar with the misinformation about funding abortions, i think he is referring to the morning after pill which prevents pregnancies. Being christian, i resent the use of a religion as a political tool. I am an avid democrat because i believe in freedom and individual and i believe in separation of church and state. I believe in the truth. I do not like innuendo. Beocrats have turned out to more truthful about what they represent. Fault from a republican, to an independent, to now, a democrat. Last emocrat for the the second clinton election. I voted democratic straight through. You never miss a vote. I want my voice heard. I see truth. I seek truth. The Republican Party is using religion as a tool and they are using innuendo as fact. I cannot vote for them. Linda, with her story from milford, connecticut. Bonnie writes on our Facebook Page the democratic platform is far from godly values. On ours been waiting line for democrats. Good morning. Chose myhe way i was not aparty, there discussion. I was born in kentucky. Tv, youot have cspan, know. Informationrce of came over a battery operated radio. The first time i voted was for ichard nixon and after that, have changed my Political Party to democrat. I lived in a union town in , it was a General Motors parts plant town. If you were not going to college for attorney, doctor, or profession like that, you worked at the factory. My husband worked for 10 years in the heating business. Plumbere a journeyman and pipe fitter. That afforded us a better life andour two daughters during that time, i saw plants, a lot of plants in the town closing. There was a National Tile that made ceramic tile. In 1978, i moved to arizona. I picked up a magazine and saw off ande gm was laying telling people to seek employment elsewhere. That went through republican and. Emocrat president s for anybody voted but a democrat since then due to the fact that when Ronald Reagan was president , he destroyed the thens and unions created dash. They helped us have a better life for our family. Host we want to hear your stories. We will try to get to as many of your calls as we can. Lets go to the line for all others. Regina, apollo, pennsylvania. What is your Political Party . Republican. Why are you republican . Freedom,ndividual private property, private my ability of having to buy Health Insurance so i can buy mammograms i never use. Very unhealthy for womens brea sts. The ladyion which denied, it is a total lie. It does kill the baby. The life as art event started in the warm. The womb. They make me pay for that. Was politics talked about much in your house . What party are your parents . Caller i am not really sure. It was not a big subject because things like abortion were not on the radar screen. We did not have to pay for abortions like we do now. We will have to pay more planned parenthood. There is no reason i should have to buy somebodys abortion. Republican platforms do not support abortion. What obama is doing in pennsylvania, we are affected by his crush on the coal industry. To wake upts ought and realize what he is doing to their jobs when he decides he needs to close power plants that have been here for years. It is a good, affordable industry, a way to get power. I do not have more money for rates. I do not know where people get money to subsidize solar and everything. Host we will try to get a few more calls in. Cyril is waiting in lincoln, california. Like i got cut off. Am i still on . Host you are. Go ahead. Caller i used to be a republican. I went to college and got an education. I probably credit one professor more than a lot of others when he taught me that he had a in god weaying trust. The Critical Thinking skills i learned tell me come to the conclusion that the republicans ,perate on arrogance, hubris and ideology that gets them in trouble. It is the party that brought you watergate, the challenger 9 11, the blowing of the worlds economy in 2008. If you analyze the data, you will realize they were terrible decisions and every one of those driven by an ideology where the hubris and the arrogance said they were right about everything. Host mike, washington, oklahoma. Shame on cspan for presenting the topic this way. People was built on voting for the person, not for the party. And pull a go in Straight Party ticket, a monkey could do that. Need informed people who will pick the person that goes along with whatever they want to have for their best interest. We have a problem and the waysiveness in congress the it is now because the people doing this Straight Party crap. Wake up, get informed, look at the person. For about one minute left jesse, darlington, south carolina. Good morning. Caller good morning. I was a republican, but i am independent now. The reason i have changed is party never gets together, they are always fighting with each other, they look for political gain. The economy they say it is coming back, but i see people looking for jobs. I am a veteran. I am 54 years old. A. Is all messed up now. It is back and forth, back and forth. Why cant we get together and pass things that mean something . Political gain, constantly. Theyre always trying to pass something for themselves. It is all about money. Corporate companies, they worry about themselves. They do not worry about us. Our directv bill is 125 a month. Why . They worry about the people who support them. We are tired of it. They would not be in business if it was not for us. Of. S what i am tired health care, making us want to get health care. I do not need health care. I have the v. A. I have people here living on 700 dd dollars a month. Struggling. We struggle constantly, every day. That was our last caller in this segment. A couple of other headlines continuing after the announcement last week of the resignation of eric holder. Aftercision to step down a new attorney general is named. There is a story by Jonathan Turley if you want to read more on that. A tragedy for civil liberties. On the sameece hisn eric holder legacy of racial politics is the headline. The author is a former u. S. Attorney general and a former mayor of cincinnati, ohio. If you want to read that piece. The discussion surrounding air holders of eric departure continues. Tacticstalk about the of isis and the threat that isis poses to the United States. Later, we talk with the Muslim Public Affairs council. We will be right back. Here are a few of the comments we have received from our viewers. I watched q and a. I suppose the most offensive thing about that whole hour was as the daughter youthodist minister have to wonder what in the heck is a Methodist Church in the south like . I wonder what her parents positions are. I heard the whole hour, how she got to where she is. I want to start off by allowing cspan2 know that by allowing cspan to know that i do not allow any other selection on my cable besides this. 3. Pan1, 2, and i want to show my appreciation for this and your services. To keep it mixed up and lively. Watched the what do you think of Global Warming show. It would be nice if cspan1 hold people accountable for the that they spew out. If you put the picture of the irl in the Pacific Ocean that is the size of texas. Put the information out there. When you do your reading, make sure you put xers up also. Pictures up put also. That would and anyones the nile. I heard it is 90 miles deep. Let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. Us, or you can send us a tweet. Conversation, like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. Washington journal continues. Ist Thomas Sanderson joining us this morning. President obama acknowledged the United States underestimated the rise of the Islamic State. Heres what he had to say last night. [video clip] how did they end up where they are . In control of so much territory. Was that a surprise to you . I think our head of the Intelligence Community has acknowledged that they underestimated what had been taking place in syria. He did not just say that we underestimated isil. He said we overestimated the ability and will of our allies, the iraqi army, to fight. That is absolutely true. With allmas sanderson, of the resources at hand, how is it that isis could have been underestimated . Guest when you dont have enough resources on the ground, you are not able to pick up all of the signals you need to. Have a strong embassy in baghdad and resources in the area that would give us an indicator that isis was growing as a threat and certainly we had seen what they were doing in of twon the summer thousand 13. It was not a total surprise, but the speed at which isis was able to take parts of iraq and threatened the state and to safey what is a broader haven is what surprise people. Host were there any voices that had it right in terms of the speed and power coming out of isis from syria and into a iraq . People highlighted capabilities. We saw isis takeover fallujah in january. We saw they were fighting other militant groups inside syria and putting themselves on the margin because of their capabilities and brutality. This is not unknown, but there are a lot of threats to look at in the region. Wasr al qaeda groups, isis ejected from the al qaeda family in february of this year. A lot of things to look at. The partial occupation of falluja and other cities in iraq were red flags early in the year. Host you bring up the connection between isis and al qaeda. Can you talk about your take on the connection . Guest the authorization for the use of military force from 2001, for14, attacking al qaeda and its sanctuaries covers any al qaeda affiliate or franchise. Isis was part of al qaeda. With the ejection in february, people did raise this issue does it still cover isis . I am not an attorney and cannot give you the definitive answer. The administration is arguing that it is. Speaker boehner agrees with that. We have thebelieve authority, others do not. Most people believe that there is no significant opposition for this. Host Speaker Boehner talking about this issue and saying that congress ought to consider a resolution authorizing the isis fight. [video clip] i know you have said you want to have a vote on a resolution. Why not now . I would be happy to. In a situation, he would call for authorization vote and sell that to the American People. He has not done that. He believes he has the authority under existing resolutions to do what he wants. Has the authority to do it. The point i am making, this is a proposal congress ought to consider. Host that was john boehner yesterday. He also said that the president that the United States may have no choice when it comes to boots on the ground in iraq and syria. The strategy depends in large part on creating some for proxy forces to operate against isis and to strengthen the Iraqi Security forces and ensure that there is political reform that can reduce the conditions that advantage isis so much. Moving parts of and they are of questionable quality. We are going to have a difficult time that during trained forces vectoring trained forces during that time. Host we are talking with Thomas Sanderson. The u. S. Lking about strategy against isis, and isis strategy. Our phone lines are open if you have questions or comments. Democrats, 202 5853880. Republicans, 202 5853881. Independents, 202 5853882. If you are outside the u. S. , it is 202 5853883. We will get to your calls in a second. The president in his interview said the Islamic State has been good at using social media in their efforts. Not just to terrorize, but in their other tactics as well. Guest their uses unprecedented for a military group. As time goes on, you take advantage of new technologies and social media. They do it to brag about what they have done, they do it to terrorize people, they do it to demonstrate capability and to recruit individuals. Very useful for them. Sees also useful for us to what theyre doing, to be able to identify individuals conduct attacks. Element is toia the advantage of isis, but we benefit from it as well. The general public would say why do we need to see these images . Networks prevent those from being shown . They do that. They tried to take them down. Host it is not just terrorism. It is recruitment as well. Are having Great Success at recruiting. They are the winning team when men think about going to conduct eight jihad or a battle on the groupd, this is they want to join. , theyre attacking shiites are engaged with u. S. Forces. Been men who have marginalized, who do not have a sense of respect or dignity, who do not feel empowered. They go from something to nothing when they join a group like this. That is very powerful. Serves as a potential threat for those who return home. Host Thomas Sanderson is joining us for the next 30 minutes or so. We will start with an, calling in from greenbelt, maryland. Caller i love cspan. I travel across this country. If you travel across the nation, our people are listening to the wrong sources. They are listening to misinformation. I have a federal communications license and i know how the broadcast system works. In youneed to call are calling in on our previous segment. Any questions for the guest about isis . I have been calling trying to call in for one year. For your guest the reason is one of the biggest roles. Our people are misguided with the media. Media these other crazy stick with the subject of isis. We want to use Thomas Sanderson for his expertise while he is here. Lets go to nancy in logan, ohio, on our line for independents. Caller combating violent extremism. First, it has to be identified. I dont believe it has been identified in the last five years or six years. I think you have to call it what it is. One example is egypt. Government is jumping up and cheering because morsi was elected. Democratically elected. Then we find out what he was. Same thing here. Isis call them what how can you fight something if you do not call it what it is . You do not have to listen to the news media. You can listen to when the president is up there. With his cabinet is up there. Listen to what theyre saying. Not too much. In our country, we are afraid of isis here. What did we just see happen now west . Now, host Thomas Sanderson, concerns about isis attacks in the u. S. Are they overstated or understated . Guest difficult to tell. During the iraq war, we were concerned about the few thousand foreign fighters that had come usled to fight coalition forces. We thought they would come to and otherr Europe States allied with us and attack. That shoe never really dropped. There were efforts by individuals inside the u. S. Fbi, local and state Law Enforcement had done a spectacular job of blocking this plots. It never materialized the way we thought. This threat is more significant. You have fighters from over 80 countries. Not all of them fighting for isis. 3000 europeans and over 100 americans who have gone to syria. Those individuals can come back. They can conduct operations. Take a lot of coordination. It could be an individual. Among those 3000 europeans, you likely have hundreds if not thousands who are from visawaiver countries. 38 countries are part of the Visa Waiver Program. They do not need to go into the u. S. Embassy to get a visa to travel to the u. S. 38 these are waiver countries are european. Likely that many fighters are able to return to europe and get on a plane to the u. S. Without having an interview in the u. S. Embassy. That leaves the officer at Dulles Airport to make the decision as to whether the individual as to whether the individual is a threat. A tall order. Host from the wall street journal on the number of europeans. Some of the visa waiver countries, france, with 700 citizens who have fought with militants in syria and iraq. 500. In with in terms of an immediate threat, some comments last week about more concerned about the shadowy khorasan group. A caravan of al qaeda operatives from south and central asia. Intothe lower stans afghanistan and pakistan. They traveled to the region to engage in planning and operations. It was believed that the coast and incredibly high threat last week. You heard the degree of the a bit. Being knocked down but they were not posing such a threat. Difficult to know what kind of threat they posed. Theres a lot of talk about the group. Seems that the leader was killed, likely. Good to target them, the degree to which they were a threat was unknown. More than 100 americans have traveled, 12 people fighting directly for isis. Tose individuals are going be motivated, trained in bomb making and surveillance encounter surveillance. Theyre going to come back to a country where they feel marginalized. Having felt empowered by what they did in the region and seeing the u. S. Now at the vanguard of the coalition to destroy isis. Likely thatit is they might want to seek to conduct operations in the country. T kate in missouri barbara on our line for democrats. Caller good morning. , without the support of the worlds greatest military, the United States, isis is able to walk through that area and do whatever they choose . Its 12 years of suppose raining, money, military support from the u. S. , we cannot train people in iraq to fight off any means right in their own yard . Is so to know why isis powerful and the people that we train our so weak. Whats in it for the u. S. . Looks like our goal is to demilitarized every country in the middle east except israel. Then we can walk in there and take over the oil. Host a couple questions. Guest why is isis so capable . They are battle hardened. This group has been fighting for some time, from the very early days after 9 11 through today. Very importantly, they went up against and Iraqi Security force. Isis scare the uniforms off the back of these guys in mosul. Maliki took office, he put loyalists into office. Loyalists benefit from their position. If you bring in only shias an d have this trust among some of the sunni fighters, sunni members of the iraq Security Forces. This remains a political problem, even though maliki is gone and alibadi is there now. Butning is effective, without the u. S. Babysitting you are not going to have the same kind of stiff and spine they might have had. Host york, pennsylvania, not on our line for republicanss. Caller the majority of my questions have been answered. I thank you for the Foreign Policy. Mention,hing i want to the seven order questions were resolved. Southern border question. We are coming into a cycle now where the question of illegal immigration could impact a lot of this thing. I know youre not domestic policy but Foreign Policy. Is aal immigration gigantic issue and that is part of your expertise. Maybe you could elaborate. To sayi dont have a lot about the immigration debate. Over the past two years, people felt that al qaeda and other groups might try to use a week southern border in the u. S. To infiltrate individuals. The fbi focus on this for sometime. I dont believe it was a significant threat, although we do not know every person that has come into the country. A potentialin problem. With the Visa Waiver Program, these individuals can fly to the u. S. And not take the risk of going to mexico and getting connect or killed and getting kidnapped or killed. Either way, they can get into the country. It is doable. Thought to revamping the Visa Waiver Program in light of the recent threats . Guest there is a lot of pressure to keep it open. This facilitates a lot of Business Travel and towards them and tourism. Its up to individuals at the airport. Unfortunately, they can enter through the Turkish Border or other ways and not have their passports stamped. That is not going to have an indicator. ,he men and women at the border the air and sea and land borders, they are well trained and good at picking up threats. Host the threat posed by isis. We shared this headline earlier. Airstrikes not enough. Talking about the possibility of u. S. Boots on the Ground Fighting isis. We put troops on the ground, isil will have won. Talking with Thomas Sanderson of csis about these issues. North carolina on our line for independents. Caller my question is about the authorization for the use of military force. One of the political lessons of the 2001 aumf was that democratic politicians who aligned themselves with the aumf was at a political cost for the 2008 election. In the general election, the republicans were it was used against the Republican Party. Given that that political cost exists, is there any incentive to revisit the aumf now. Say aboutat does that the political legitimacy and the ongoing congressional approval for military action in the future . Guest many people are loath to revisit it because they want the elections to take place without that conversation. Democrats are put into a difficult position because their president is saying i have the authorization and i do not need to go forward. They would rather let the president be any flag magnet for political opposition over the aumf rather than having to put themselves on record and vote for. Host one democrat talking about this yesterday on the sunday shows. Tim kaine of virginia. Heres what he had to say on of the face of nation. [video clip] the definition of the mission has been careful, that is why ive introduced authorization to authorize the mission with key limitations. I think the administration has done a great job of bringing together the multinational coalition. We are not processed or a war without congress. Im sitting in the capital that Thomas Jefferson designed in virginia. He and others who participated made a critical break from previous history where war was a matter for the monarch. They said war should not be started without congress. We should not be putting our servicemen and harms way without a political consensus. The assertion that he can do this, he does not have the article to Constitutional Congress andhout neither of the authorizations in 2001 or 2000 to cover it. We should be voting on this entire mission. Mr. Sanderson, you said yep. Guest i agree. Even if the president can argue he has authorization, any time you make a move towards warfare host are we at war . Guest i dont think so, yet. 1600 people on the ground, that is a pretty significant number. At some point, they will be engaged in direct action. It will be out there with Iraqi Security forces. There will be movement on the battlefield that ends up with them being engaged in direct firefights. Weve seen a marginalization of congress and the voice of the to weigh in on the use of force. That should be done. Sadly because rit simply because reinforcing that is informed for the country. Owings mills, maryland, on our line for democrats. Caller thomas anderson, thank you for your insights. Id like to ask you if you are muslimr with the community. This organization has an presence in multiple countries including mosques in the u. S. Peace forommunity of muslims. Our model is love for all, none. For we believe in the jihad of the pen, not the sword. What role can we play to combat the cancer called isis . Guest i am familiar with ahmadiyya because the trouble ahmadiyya has had in indonesia. A largely dominated sufi country, there have been some extremists who have looked at ahmadiyya as a heretical sect. My sense is that those extremists are offbase. In sort of in what sort of role ahmadiyya could have, anytime some element of the larger Muslim Community of over 1. 5 billion muslims worldwide weighs in on the extreme brutality that is being perpetrated in the name of islam and shows how wrong that is, that is an important role. I cannot come up with a specific role for you to engage in. The general sense of saying this is not islam, it is an important thing to do. There are a lot of forces in the Muslim Community who are afraid to speak up in the midst of such extreme brutality. Host stick around for our next segment of washington journal, the president of the Muslim Public Affairs council in the u. S. 15 minutes left with Thomas Sanderson. The strategy to take on isis and isisstrategy as well in iraq and syria. Bill in pennsylvania on our line for republicans. Caller good morning. It seems to me like you have this title where you are looking at transnational extremists and threats. Dont you really think that the u. S. Is a transnational threat . I dont see many people in my community that were injured by terrorists. I see people that were injured as a result of our government sending them into harms way. I do not go down to north philadelphia on susquehanna, diamond, and allegheny avenue and tried to boss people around because i know it is a bad neighborhood. Out of baday neighborhoods. On tweety threat . Arent we the threat . Our government intervening in their fights . Host can you talk about csis . Were formed we out of Georgetown University during the cuban missile crisis. We are a Bipartisan Organization with about 250 individuals at our rhode island avenue headquarters. We cover all the major populated regions. We have programs on terrorism and technology, home and and geographic, programs. We have russia, china, europe, americas program. Africa. We cover these regions. We try to do independent research with a wide range of sources so we can develop insights and perspectives meant to bring Greater Knowledge to policy makers who are grappling with all these issues and who may not have the time or the staff to do this kind of research. We do this research and believe it is Rigorous Research and we bring it to those folks in makenment to help them better foreignpolicy decisions. We engage with the public through cspan and other media outlets. We host thousands of events every year, public roundtables at csis. We are aur website and very open organization. We are proud of the role that we have in bringing greater lobalstanding of g challenges to the American People into the globe. I do not agree that the u. S. Is a transnational threat. Right in this position now because, inevitably, the u. S. Is the most involved nation in the world. To harken back to madeline albright, we are the indispensable nation. If we are not there to help settle some of these disputes, either nobody will or other actors that are very disruptive will come in and try to do the same. We went in to defend the yazidis on the mountaintop a few months ago. Withd isis forces artillery and mortars within range of our consulate in erbil. They took over mosul. Lets be frank, iraq is a big oil producer, number two in crude reservesst in the world. In the direction that Oil Consumption is heading, not having iraqs 3 million plus Barrels Per Day would bring about some instability in the markets. Are more reasons and we have a lot of allies in the region. They are under threat, to some degree. We need to be a part of that. Host arizona, libby on our line for democrats. Caller good morning, mr. Sanderson. Good morning cspaners. Pardon my cynicism, and must money endless money forms the sinews of war. Tv networknd is news, i worked for kabc in the 1980s. Sandanistacontra reversals. Reagan was saying that the contras were the equivalent to the founding fathers. This isis group has taken over a city of 2 million people, mosul, with anosmopolitan City International airport and fivestar hotels. Are you telling me that a bunch of barbarians who suddenly have diplomatic powers take over airports, radio, tv stations, munitions, government buildings, are you saying those guys are in charge of that city for real . My second part, i understand i read in the New York Times, some of your scholars have been writing position papers for foreign governments. They think are doing that and paid to do so. I will take my answer offline. Guest ill adjust your second question first. Csis has a very transparent and open funding arrangement with a lot of supporters. The New York Times article was john hamrene and dr. Has been out in front. Are receivingars foreign support, that is not true. Group that is brutal. They are vicious but highly organized. They have tens of thousands of fighters. They cover large parts of syria and iraq. Mosul and other places, they are efficient, they are brittle, to run cities. They are in charge of water, sanitation. And have ary durable portfolio of Revenue Streams from oil to the sale of antiquities, stolen int antiquities, kidnap for ransom. They are bad people but they know how to run cities. This is a serious threat because of their fighting capability. They can hold and govern territory. Host how are they able to gather those people and get re warningsot be mo about the rising power of this group. That it was such a surprise for the iraqi army. Guest i dont think it was a total surprise. The increased numbers of people on their side has been very sudden over the last two months. That often happens when you have victories like this. They are taking over land for where there are people. They threaten people but there are people interested in joining them and working with them because they see them replacing a corrupt government or a aetely an internet completely inept or absentee government in iraq and syria. Have bureaucrats and technocrats who can run the city. Texas, power line for republicans. Caller how are you . People got upset beheadingsaw thae of the americans and british and so forth. Ranch inwn here in a the middle of texas. I see a lot going on down here on the border. I think people are totally misguided about what is going on. Lets put a hypothetical out there. Hoard of, a quarter lets call them terrorists, stormed the border and started beheading people left and right. Before anybody could get to them and destroy them. Would the American People get angry at . What they get mad at the afraid that i am they are going to get mad at our government. That is very dangerous. I do not understand why people do not give this border more importance. T is wide open if Something Like that were to happen, im afraid of what the who theyple would put their frustrations on. Host proposing a hypothetical. I think this scenario is unlikely. We should have secure borders in the country. I will not weigh in to the immigration debate. Every country should have control of their borders for security purposes. Terroriststicipate coming over the border like that. There are possibilities that individuals can go over the land border or come in through the airports, through the Visa Waiver Program or otherwise. And inflict pain on American People. Host whats the hypothetical that homeland Security Forces are most concerned about . Wolf attacks or something on the scale of 9 11 . Incredibly is difficult to pull off. The lone wolf threat is an issue. The individuals dont have to have traveled to syria or iraq, herecan be radicalized and heed the call to attack the u. S. Individuals who have traveled and gained battlefield skills credibilityet and the sense of purpose, they can come back and do a lot of damage. Host baltimore, maryland, independents. Caller good morning. My question, mr. Sanderson. Ima world war ii veteran, 87. Excuse some of the interactions. Im an avid reader of fort affairs, i am an avid reader of Foreign Affairs, the magazine. Last year, they had 4 articles that described isis. But did not call it isis, they described it as an alternative government forming within and outside of al qaeda. I believe the president s comment about them being a jv team, i think he was talking about our intelligence. I dont seey, anything that came out of your organization that emphasized what i read very clearly in Foreign Affairs. Guest for a long time, we have been following isis, al qaeda, as many terror groups as possible. We have had very good coverage on these groups. Weve been looking at the threat they pose and have been talking about it and meeting with members of government. Both at csis and in the halls of government. Testifying on capitol hill as to the threat we are facing. I cant speak to the articles in Foreign Affairs but this group for many years. The speed at which they conducted the operations was a surprise. There was misplaced confidence in the Iraqi Security forces. When you spend 25 billion and that kind of time and giving them such good equipment, you expect them to be able to stand up. The afghan military, we have been fearful of not performing well. We felt that the Iraqi Security forces were pretty significant. There were reports by internal inspectors that said many brigades and larger units were not in good shape and iraq. We have a call about a weakness within the Iraqi Security forces for some time. Host csis. Org. One more call. Sandy in pennsylvania on our line for republicans. About the question is seemingly the increasing radicalization of people in mosques in our country. I dont get out a lot. Seven years ago i was on a bus in baltimore going to a hospital. The young driver mentioned that he was having a lot of trouble. He told the two of us, my sister and i, that it was because people at his mosque were asking him to do things that he did not want to do. He did not get into it. From our bombing in boston and oklahoma and somalians from minnesota. The going overseas. Overseas. Have to go we have more people who can father usually who can fault very easily into this trap. Finding a new way of life. To give Thomas Sanderson a chance to respond. Stick around for our next wet, we talked t talk about some of these issues. Guest american has a great advantage, muslim communities are very well integrated and part of american life. And higher than in europe other places. It does not mean we are not going to have some people who are radicalized by what they see on tv and what they read on the internet. But essentially, what they hear from a cleric. Llerll point out, the ca identified a couple attacks perpetrated by muslims. Wasoklahoma city attack perpetrated by a former u. S. Army soldier, a christian, timothy mcveigh. You do not need to travel to the battle space to be radicalized and want to strike back against the u. S. Those individuals will exist in any country. It is important for communities to help identify those individuals and report them to the police if they are recruiting people for violent activity. Generally speaking we are in much better shape. It does not mean we dont have to be vigilant. At a time of conflict like this, when we have u. S. Forces engaged in the region, we need to be more careful. Host Thomas Sanderson with csis. Csis. Org. We appreciate your time. Up next on the washington journal, the president of the Muslim Public Affairs council in theu. S. About islam and american Muslim Community. Later, our Big Ten College tour continues as we take viewers to ann arbor, michigan to talk with the university of michigan president. A news update from cspan radio. 8 32. The britainbased syrian observatory for human rights says the u. S. Airstrikes on Islamic State group in syria included hits on a grain silo and the entrance to a gas operation. The facility was not damaged. Activists say bombs fell in 4 provinces in northern and antern syria, causing undetermined number of casualties. We will hear more about the u. S. Airstrikes in syria today when Major General jeffrey harrigan, assistant deputy chief of staff, breaks the media at the paragon. Live coverage at 1 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan and on cspan radio. A Quarterly Survey by the National Association for business economics shows members predicting steady growth into next year. They also see weakness in Consumer Spending and investments in homes because of americans lagging wage growth and trouble obtaining loans. And update on the situation and ferguson, missouri. Nearly 10are charging times the costs of some of their own employees salaries for records relating to the Fatal Shooting of michael brown. The city has to mandate high fees to produce copies of records that, under missouri law, it could provide for free if it determined the material was in the public interest. Thatssociated press says price gouging for government files is one way that local, state, and federal agencies have responded to requests for potentially interesting information they may not want released. Those are some of the latest headlines on cspan radio. Our campaign 2014 debate coverage continues, live on cspan. Tuesday night at 9 00 eastern, the final Texas Governors debate between state senator ernie davis and state state senator democrat wendy davis and republican greg abbott. The debate between joe dorman and mary fallin. The nebraska governors debate between Chuck Hassebrook and pete ricketts. More than 100 debates for the control of congress. Tonight, federal trade commission or on the neutrality federal trade commissioner on net neutrality. Big data is a tool. It can be used well or poorly. There can be insight on many areas and some that are in health care and other kinds of research. Providing new insight in our more difficult to solve problems that we face as a society. Are there risks, thats true. You can take pieces of previously separate information and assemble them into a profile that might give sensitive insights into a consumer. The question for me is, you have all these benefits and some risks, what do you do . Tonight at 8 00 eastern on the communicators on cspan2. Washington journal continues. Host were joined now by salam almarayati, hes the president of the Muslim Public Affairs council. A discussion on islam and the american Muslim Community amidst the backdrop of the usled military effort against isis and other jihadist groups. Mr. Almarayati, weve had calls already from viewers concerned about radicalization of american muslims. How concerned are you about that scenario in light of isiss efforts. Guest if one person falls prey to the recruiters, that is one too many. This is a serious problem. The reality is that these people that do turn towards violent extremism are doing so outside the mosques. To have healthy conversations in the mosques to see how we can reach the unreachables. These are a handful of people. We are concerned about it. At the same time, we believe that the best thing we can do is to fortify the partnership we have had with Law Enforcement foster Even Stronger relations throughout civil society. Host youve written that the key to defeating isis is islam. Explain what you mean by that. Guest islam means life, isis means death. Islam means mercy, isis means cruelty. It is very simple. Anyone that has any kind of Elementary Education about islam knows the difference. If anything, what we see in isis , there might be muslims there but it is not islam. Islam has contributed to civilization, that is being tarnished by groups like isis. We have to set the record straight. On the other hand, we know there is a great danger in groups like isis rising not only in the region but in terms of the narrative throughout the world. President obama was correct. He said what groups like isis do effectively is they exploit grievances of people. They lure them into thinking that fighting the way they are fighting, in such gruesome and cruel manner and barbaric, really, is the way to fight evil. Islam says to respond to evil with good. There are so many points in islam that we can use as an antidote to the ideology of isis. Many military experts have said that we cannot defeat isis militarily, we have to deal with the ideas. It is a battle of ideas. We feel that american muslims have that ability to help in the war on terror. Host president obama talks about some of the issues last week before the uns general assembly. Heres a bit. He called on muslims to speak out against extremists ideology. [video clip] it is time for the world, especially muslim communities, to explicitly, forcefully, and consistently reject the ideology of organizations like al qaeda and isis. Is one of the tasks of all great religions to accommodate the faith with a modern, multicultural world. Hating. Ren are born no children anywhere should be educated to hate other people. There should be no more tolerance of socalled clerics who call upon people to harm because they are jewish or because they are christian or because they are muslim. Is time for a new compact among civilized peoples of this at itso eradicate war most fundamental source, the corruption of young minds by violent ideology. Host salam almarayati is the president of the Muslim Public Affairs council. After that speech, do you think enough muslims are speaking up against jihadism . Call this violent extremism. One thing we have to be clear about, we should not be countering jihad. We should restore the meaning of jihad. Jihad, to the extremists, means holy war. In classical islam, it means struggle. Let us not use religious terminology in fighting groups like isis. It plays into their hands. They want this to be a war on islam, a war on religion. We should be at work at war on criminal behavior and terrorism. Rather than dealing with these religious terms, i think we have to isolate them from mainstream muslim communities. And what i think the president is talking about in terms of violent ideology, lets face it. There are people in the region of the middle east that sponsored groups like isis. There are groups and powers in the middle east that have these ideas. About a battle of ideas, we should confront those groups in the middle east. I think american muslims have that ability. We have the ability to steer the conversation in a different direction so that young minds are not corrected. Not corrupted and so peoples grievances are not exploited. So we set the record clear on what islam is and show that american muslims are part of the solution. Host what is the Muslim Public Affairs council . Guest aimed at helping to integrate islam and muslims within american pluralism so that we become a vibrant and Effective Group in helping on Public Policy issues such as countering violent extremism, religious freedom, human rights and democracy in the muslim world. Also enhancing understanding of islam to the american public. Host how Many American muslims are there in this country . Guest estimated between 3 million and 6 billion, no one really knows. The fact is that there are muslims in every sector of society. Whether it is in the arts or the sciences. In technology. More muslims being involved in civil society. We want that to be a positive contribution to the challenges that we are facing today in the 21st century. Ust salam almarayati joins for the next 40 minutes or so to take your questions and comments. Our phone lines are open. Stafford, virginia on our line for republicans. Caller good morning. Theres a lot of dancing around the words of what this terrorism is. Mcveigh did not have anything he did not do that act in the name of christianity. Timothy mcveigh did that in the tradition of the government is too big and he was against the government. Had nothing to do with his religion. All of the acts of terror we see in the world today, including the one with chopping off the girls head the other day, are in the name of islam. I want to make a couple points. Isil,hadist, isis, whatever. Sir, you are a muslim. These people will kill you just as quickly as they will kill me. This is in the name of islam. When i say dancing around the words, the point im trying to make is you cannot hide from that. President obama hides from it and refuses to say what it really actually is. Host mr. Almarayati . Guest isis we understand that isis we understand that isis is ready to kill muslims. They have killed more muslims than anyone else. Their objective is ideological cleansing. They have an ideology that declares muslims as apostate s and infidels. We understand that problem very well, more than anyone else. Number two, anyone can use labels. There are religious groups in every religion that use labels. The reality is, when they violate the number one rule in all religions, that is to protect life, they are going against the tenets of the faith. That is our point. Rather than reacting to isis are fear and outrage, we calling for more leadership in america to expose the forgery of isis. Isis is a mafia. It does not conduct any martyrdom operations. It is conducting criminal operations. Lets set the record clear and straight on that issue. Number two, by shedding light on us, asue, it will help americans, create more leadership in dealing with groups like isis more effectively. The reality is we have bombed iraq, the past 4 administrations. It has not helped us. In terms of creating stability in the region. It has not helped us strategically. We need to do Something Else besides airstrikes. What we are saying is we need a campaign to expose the forgery of isis. A campaign of ideas that is a campaign of raising voices of the american Muslim Community. Anybody can do anything in the name of religion. When that act is an act of terrorism and criminality, criminal behavior, let it not validate that act with any religion. Host is that effort one that should be led from the Muslim Community . Is there a way that the government can help in this effort . Guest great question. There are american muslims who are speaking out against this. 120 scholars issued a letter last week that is basically deconstructing and exposing isis. We ourselves have had several press conferences on that issue. It does not get the Media Attention that it needs. Our civicpport from and faith partners, from our government, from media so that that voice becomes the predominant voice. And we expose isis for what it is. That is, we render it marginalization that reserves. It should not be the predominant voice for muslims. We, the american Muslim Community and the muslim mainstream community throughout the world should be the predominant voice. Host kathleen from florida on our line for democrats. Good morning. Caller good morning. Im going to open up that pandora box. Im an africanamerican. How is the sound . Forever. Ribe of judah host we will go on to bowie, maryland, our public in mind. Our republican line. Caller first of all, i would like to thank the guest for coming on. Thank you for properly identifying democrats as democrats and not democratic. I am a republican and i grew up in a two religion high school. My mom is christian and my dad is muslim. I read the quran. Aanted to give you sense that i know what i speak of. You said radicalization is not happening in mosques. That is wrong. It does happen in some mosques. I have been to certain mosques even though i am a christian. Gentleman said you are dancing around words. You are. The idea that all terroristic activity that has occurred over the last 20 years has been done in the name of islam. That does not mean that the faith of islam is bad or islam it just happens that everyone that happens to be a terrorist or has performed a maj terrorist act happens to be muslim. Something within the religion or something to clerics said. I understand socioeconomic impacts and i understand that you have people that are disenfranchised. People who kill people in droves, and then one religion that has produced most of those people hussein is not islam or has to be to say its not islam. Within theething teaching of the faith and allowing the clerics to spread propaganda all the time host mr. Almarayati . Guest i dont want to get into a debate about religion and extremism. Go to the israeli settlements and find just as vile and vitriolic rhetoric amongst the settlers there. Grievances by muslims that talk about how they have lost so many lives by western powers. We do not need to go into that point. They closed in that i think these people are having is either muslim clerics are there muslim clerics spreading this ideology. Yes. He to confront those clerics and confront that ideology. Do that no other way to then to have muslims confront them. We, the Muslim Community, are part of that solution. Were being asked by the u. S. Government to help in the counter narrative against groups like isis and al qaeda. The reality is we have to work together. Rather than blaming religion, when you blame religion, what you are actually doing is playing into the hands of al qaeda and isis. That is their propaganda. Their propaganda is that america is at war with islam. For people here to just say well, we have muslims who are at war against america and are using religion that is true. Let us not fall into that trap that we are actually going to go to war against a religion to deal with this problem. Some people think that the islam out ofo suck the muslim world. Good luck if you think that is going to work. We have to engage muslims in the region. We have to deal with this cold of death this cult of death with the theology of life, with religion. That is our suggestion. Thats our idea. If anybody has a better idea to areront this ideology, we hav open to suggestions. The reality is we have to have muslims fighting this battle of ideas. On twitter, what are the common grievances that draw people towards joining radical groups . The violation of the rights of palestinians. That is usually on top of the list. How the west has completely turned a blind eye to the suffering of palestinians. How the west has only sided with tyrants in the middle east will. Now we have secular tyrants and tyrants that use religion. Them are our strongest allies and some of them sponsor this kind of ideology that we find in groups like isis. The third complaint would be the double standard. If these groups are allies and then we turn a blind eye to their human rights violations. If theyre not allies, we go and bomb the whole region. These are the grievances. Our we are saying to community and what were saying to policy makers is we need healthy conversations about these issues. Lets have healthy conversations in the mosque. Let it invite more young people to have these conversations. Us us not the size let not ostracize these people outside the mosque so they only get information on the internet. That leads to a higher propensity for being exposed to withoutaeda ideology someone to talk to them about these kinds of issues. Of us channel the energy young people who are concerned about these issues towards constructive, nonviolent means of dealing with policy grievances. These are serious issues. We have to have these conversations. With our policy makers, with young people who convert to islam. So they are not continuously. By so theyre not continuously fooled by propaganda they see. Host sam from new york, new york on our line for independents. Caller good morning. Have ive been listening and keeping up with what is going on in the world as far as terrorism is concerned. Like the other caller mentioned. Terrorists claimed to be islam. I have a nephew who is islam. To meccaakes the hajj and so forth. Heres the question. , is thereamic faith any policy of disowning these people . Im talking about excommunication. Know, like put them out of the religion. That they are not muslim. Could that help. Thisou know, to curtail terrorism. If they are disowned as muslims. Guest in fact, many muslim scholars have said that isis is not a state, we will not recognize it and it is not islam. We will not even recognize it as any legitimate islamic group. Byhas been delegitimized muslim scholars throughout the world. Has military, isis power, now they have revenue. They are a reality. They are a reality that we will have to deal with. The fact is, in time, we will deal with that issue. If more muslim communities are empowered and become the predominant voice to the world, isis is trying to terrorize people and gaining attention as a result. And then spreading intimidation and fear to get more power in the region. We cannot be fearful of that. We have to confront that. Excommunicating them from the religion, it has been done. Not in the way other religions do. They have been legitimized they have been delegitimized. There will have to be changes in the region before groups like isis are going to be marginalized. Mainly, groups that have sponsored this kind of ideology and have financed this kind of ideology, we need to expose that. Host weve heard about isis efforts to instill sharia law in the areas they control. What is sharia law . Guest sharia means the path to god. In classical islamic terms, it is the path to god. It has become islamic law. It is a complex system of jurisprudence similar to judaism. However, there are 5 simple goals of sharia that have been agreed upon by all islamic scholars with unanimity. To protect and preserve life, freedom of expression, freedom of faith, to have the right to property and the right to family. When you look at those classical goals and islamic law and you compare them or you measure groups that claim islam, whether the or any other group, fact that they do not protect life, they kill life, already disqualifies them from having any kind of legitimacy in terms of sharia or islamic law. Like judaism, the quran says, life, itsave a human is as if you have saved all of human civilization. When you kill a human life, it is as if you have killed all of civilization. The enormity of killing innocent human beings is very great in islam, its a major sin. Anyone who goes around and just casually kills people, beheads people, decembers people and displays their parts on streets i dont see that. Forget about religion. Its not even human. Theyre not even close to being human. This is very barbaric. Are very disturbed when someone uses our religion to try to justify that kind of arbor barbarism. Host ohio, our line for republicans. Caller i disagree with everything this man is saying. I was studying the quran yesterday. If you study the quran, you are misleading people. It says you are to behead those who do not believe. Isis and the muslim radicals are quranly doing what the has instructed them to do. Lying justifies what you are trying to achieve, it is ok to lie. You are lying. You are saying muslims want to be peaceful. No, they dont. The whole motive is to have an islamic world. Host mr. Almarayati . Guest is her talking points of antimuslim groups. Are talking points of antimuslim groups. Unfortunately, people who spend way too much time on the internet believe everything they see from these groups. These are talking points we hear too often. It is divisive and destructive. That leads to hate crimes and hate speech against minorities in america. They alsotroy destroy our pluralism, they destroy the sense of what america is. That is bringing many people together to for one society to deal with growing problems like isis. What this woman is saying about the koran, i know the quran. I am a muslim. No one needs to tell me what it says or what my religion is. The religion is not talking about beheading or lying. It is amazing we have to defend ourselves when people say we are lying. This is one of the talking points for many antimuslim buckets bigots in america. They say you dont condemn terrorism. When they hear you condemn terrorism, they say youre lying. There is no way out of that situation, so we have to ignore that kind of nonsense, that kind of fascism. We are saying islam stands for life. Islam stands for justice. Islam stands for engagement with other people so we can create solutions to these kinds of problems, so we can rid our world of the kind of violence we see from groups like isis. The fact is it is muslims there who will have to fill the vacuum once isis is eliminated to create a Better Society for iraq, syria, and the region. That the Muslim Community is going to be the major u. S. Ally dealing with this kind of problem. The faster we get rid of this antimuslim bigotry and remove boulder in the way, the better. Bigots, anduslim this person parroted what the antimuslim bigots are saying, they cherry pick the verses that deal with times of war and say muslims are all about war. The fact is muslims are about peacemaking, if they want to follow the courkoran. Any human who wants to deal with religious texts can find verses that deal with corporate the reality is people of all faiths need to come around one theme. If you believe in one god, you have to believe in one human family. If you believe in one human family, you have to protect life. That is the message that is going to expose the forgeries of groups like isis and also deal with the into muslim bigotry. Salaam our rm the mesh salam almarayati is taking our questions. Good morning. I can understand the Obama Administration and isis. I understand it well because they are terrorists. Would be a lot better if the republicans would pull together. I dont agree with everything obama do, but they need to stop people fighting in the white house. A lot of things would get done. Host ernestine from North Carolina with her comments. Ed is next on the line for independents. Religion is regarded by the common man as true, the wise as false, and the rulers as useful. Why is risk never mentioned when we talk about terrorism . The department of state reports only 17 u. S. Citizens were killed worldwide as a result of terrorism in 2011. A 52,000 or 35,000 times more likely to die from Heart Disease than a terrorist attack. Justice would solve 90 of all our problems. Cspan, i wish you would get Professor John mueller back on here. He had the book overblown. They cannot do away with american life. I will read this and then get off your. Host i want to let salam almarayati take your comment about the concerns some of the threats are overblown. The reality is a handful people have gone to join isis. Having one person join isis from the United States is one too many. In terms of violence that has impacted americans, this is the minority of cases. Isis has killed more muslims over there than anyone else. Andaeda has bombed mosques markets in muslim capitals throughout the world, so we understand the enormity of the problem that. These groups terrorize individuals from the west, these journalists, these americans, these britons, who were executed. They do that to terrorize and bait the United States into fighting them so they can continue in their propaganda that the west is at war with islam. On the one hand, we have to deal with this kind of tactic on their part. On the other hand, the reality is they are a brutal, barbaric force that occupies a large part of syria and iraq. And we will have to do with the. We can only deal with that in a united way. We have to be united against extremism. We have to have a military, political, and ideological way of dealing with this problem. That all have to work in concert with one another. The caller is concerned about threats to the United States, what is the department of Homeland Security asking of muslim communities in the United States to try to identify threats or people who may go overseas to join groups like isis . Guest the department of Homeland Security and the government has shifted its strategy. It is calling for less surveillance of muslim communities, eliminating profiling of muslim communities, and working on partnerships with muslim communities. Lawave to work together, enforcement and communities in partnership dealing with any kind of threat or risk of terrorism on our streets. Strategy isthe shifting to empowering communities and Building Community resilience on these issues. The department of Homeland Security has endorsed our program called the Safe Spaces Initiative based on the pine model. Engagement. Hrough having healthy conversations about difficult topics involving violent extremism intimating from the middle east. Having conversations about u. S. Policy. Directing people toward constructive ways of dealing with the issue. That is prevention. Also education. Intervention is if we find someone troubled, we have an infusion of Mental Health experts, social service workers,. Counselors, religious counselors to do with the individual. If we feel the person is going down the path of violent extremism, we build in offramp for that person in partnership with the government. If we feel that person has joined a Violent Extremist Group and is ready to commit an act of violence, we inform Law Enforcement. They have to deal with it because we are not criminal investigators. That is the pine model. The u. S. Government has accepted that strategy discussing that throughout the nation in terms of that particular strategy. Host for viewers interested on that topic, there is a story in todays wall street journal asking if programs can stem the flow of european militants. Talking about efforts by countries in europe. We are speaking with salam almarayati of the Muslim Public Affairs council and well get to as many calls as we can. Cathy is on the line for republicans. Caller thank you for taking my call. There was a lady a few calls back that had been reading the koran. She was correct. Bearod of islam and allah no resume once to each other. I feel islam a phobia does not exist. Tois a smokescreen designed shariaphobia. Mine begins were i know my. Or is just as good as your son. Perhaps smarter because she has someone. Ht to respect if she does not, she is not worthy of their respect. Host what about the callers, phobia does not exist . Guest there is one god. He is the god of all creation. ,n terms of antimuslim bigotry we see it all over. It is the way people disfigure and distort islam. You the major source of antimuslim sentiment is from groups like isis and groups in the middle east that exploit islam to justify criminal behavior. I can understand that. I am saying that for us to deal with that problem, we need the help of american muslims. We are part of that solution. Let us dialogue about these issues rather than call each other names. When it comes to sharia and islamic law, i dont want any law from the middle east implanted here supplanted my american constitution. My american constitution, my u. S. Constitution fulfills the obligation for me as a muslim. The best thing i have for me as a muslim to practice my religion is the bill of rights, the u. S. Constitution. Let us defend that together. Him orll help flourishing american Muslim Community get more involved, engaged, and included in these serious policymaking issues. It needs the help of all of us. Stop dividing society by using religion could lets prevent groups like isis from dividing is further. When we speak about religion, lets speak the truth rather than trying to say this religion is bad or good. Only god knows what is good religion. Lets wait until we meet god. Host we have time for one more call. For a is on philadelphia on the ise for independent troy in philadelphia on the line for independents. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] i have caller i have two questions. Do american muslims see israel as a country . Do they see it as a country, israel . Host just about a minute left if you want to take the question. Guest of course israel is a country. Israel is part of the middle east. We have to deal with u. S. Policy that continues israel its strongest ally. That is the reality. Lets deal with that. Were poorly, let us have more dialogue among the more importantly, let us have more dialogue among the upper hammock traditions so we can promote a middle east policy fair to all religions that respects the human rights of all people. Lets leave theology and religion to god who will tell us what is right and wrong. If wee tells us to do believe our religion is right, lets show it by spreading the good word and doing good work. Lets preserve our pluralism and enrich it in america and be better americans for it. Is thealam almarayati president of the Muslim Public Affairs council. Thank you for your time early in los angeles this morning. Our Big Ten College tour continues as we go to michigan to talk with the president of the university of michigan. First, a news update from cspan radio. A Senior Adviser to president kabul saysing in afghanistan will sign a deal tomorrow allowing american soldiers to remain in the country past the end of the year. He said he did not know if the newly inaugurated president would be signing the deal for afghanistan but he said he would sign it on behalf of the United States. The deal will allow about 10,000 american troops to stay in the country after the International Combat mission ends december 31. President obama spending the day at the white house and later attends a dnc fundraising roundtable. The cbs correspondent tweets there will be no press coverage of the fundraiser. He says the 25 supporters are paying up to the maximum contribution of 32,400 per person. Vice President Biden announcing an award today nearly half 1 billion to committed to colleges partnering with employers on job training. A committee college in massachusetts and wisconsin are the largest recipients. They will each get about 20 million per the Vice President and secretaries of education and announcementke the this morning at the white house print cspan is covering that event. Those are some of the latest headlines on cspan radio. The student can competition is underway. This nationwide competition will award 150 prizes totaling 100,000. On thea documentary topic. Includearies need to cspan programming and been submitted by generally 20, 20 15th january 20, 2015. Grab a camera and get started today. 2014 debateign coverage continues live on cspan tuesday night for the final Texas Governors debate. Live thursday night, the oklahoma governors date. Debate. Watcht 8 00 on cspan2, the nebraska governors debate. Campaign 2014, more than 100 debates for the control of congress. Washington journal continues. Cspan has been on a tour of Big Ten Colleges the past week. We have been talking with University President s about Higher Education issues. We take our viewers to ann arbor, michigan, where the university of michigan president arc schlissel joins us. You were named president earlier this year after serving as provost at brown university. Having seen both sides of the Education System, public and private, or are the biggest differences you have seen . Guest thanks very much for the invitation to speak to you. It is a great idea for a series. Universities are so important and so much in the public life that this was an inspired again. Thanks very much. There are commonalities and distinctive features between brown where i came from, berkeley, and the university of michigan. I think we all share a commitment to education and excellence. The university of michigan is at a larger scale. The breath of scholarship that goes on here is almost unimaginable. Become prince of excellence of the university as a distinguishing feature continued to the other excellent educational institutions i have had the pleasure of working at. Host are the challenges different at a public and private university . Some are different and some are the same. We have different types of pressures. We are dealing with the diminished level of support for research and scholarship from the federal government. There are common features. Because we are a public institution, we have a Public Mission and responsibility. That is a little different than any private institution. Host michigan instate tuition, 13,500. 41,906. Ate, d think that is affordable by todays standards . Guest it depends who we are talking about. It is affordable for many in the country. We have made a significant commitment to make sure a Michigan Education remains accessible to the citizens of our state and to the extent possible others from around the generous,pply using needbased, and other scholarship types of aid to make ise a Michigan Education attainable for everyone in our society. Host some stats on grants for needbased education and other on our screen. Instate, about 70 of university of michigan grants,duates take scholarships, or work and study loans. Is College Getting too expensive . Said, college is expensive. I view it as a lifetime investment. I cannot think of another investment families can make that will benefit their children throughout their lifetimes that has greater value than a college or university education. We are one of the few Public Institutions committed to a need blind policy for our instate applicants. We try our best to use Financial Aid, workstudy jobs, and a modest amount of debt to help every eligible and outstanding student in the state attend their flagship university. Host the reference to this in your previous comments about the cuts in state funding. Talk about the financial situation you walked into when you became president of the university of michigan. Michigan state hard hit by the recession. Ways, michigan is no different from other states. It has been hit particularly hard and its economy is recovering. I think the challenge is the state used to provide a high fraction of the cost of educating our students. Through a series of financial setbacks over decades, that has diminished. Credit, ourr current State Government is beginning to reinvest in public higher ed as the economy recovers. That is a very good trend. That said, the increase in t tuition is inversely proportional to the level of support. I would hope the level of support would increase in tuition would moderate. The total amount of dollars it takes to give students an outstanding education is growing modestly. Where the dollars come from has changed profoundly over recent decades. Host if you want to talk to dr. Mark schlissel of the university of michigan, you dont have to be in michigan graduate. We are talking about Higher Education issues in general. We split our lines to family this morning we split our lines differently this morning. Students, errands, and educators. Line for michigan residents for the next 40 minutes or so on washington journal. Start with pat calling in from alabama. Good morning. I am curious to know in your institution and in all institutions across the country the ratio of people in the classrooms to other employees. Researchers,s, whatever, and how that has changed over time and what percentage of the tuition costs goes to pay the salary of nonteaching employees of the university. Guest that is a very good question. The university of michigan has about 3000 fulltime tenure stream faculty that teach our students. We have another 3000 or so political faculty that help train future physicians, residents, and interns in our hospitals. Would probably have on the order of 6000 teaching faculty. The total number of employees is approaching 40,000. Many are employed by our health care system. We have a large and Important Health care system. We are a major provider of health care in the state. If you put aside the health care three, we probably have fold the number of employees providing Services Necessary to run a residential campus. We have many people working in student life. We have over tories, eateries, dormitories, eateries, academic support. We have a health service. Because this is a residential community, it requires more than just the professor standing in front of the classrooms. I think a lot of learning that goes on at the university of michigan and throughout residential Higher Education occurs outside the classroom. Environments where students can participate in groups and student negativitys and learn by doing Student Activities and learn by doing. President s are visible but we make up only a handful of the number of employees of the university and a modest fraction of the total salary commitment. About half of our budget is salaries. We are in a people oriented business. Talking showed a stat about different expenses from the university of michigan. One of those expenditures in 2013, michigan spent 1. 3 billion on research. Talk about the Research Efforts at your university. Guest that is one of the things that attracted me to the university of michigan. I am not sure it is number one but it is in the handful of Top Research Universities in the country if not the world. Of the 1. 3 billion, almost 1 billion comes from outside sources, from foundations and the federal government. We are one of the top recipients from funding from the National Institutes of health and the National Science foundation. The breath of scholarship at the university of michigan is a distinguishing characteristic. It fuels the economy and our future. I was reading an article today that pointed out apple, this home of innovation, certainly invented the iphone, but the underlying ontology technologies came from universitybased discovery and research. The is why i think Investment University of michigan is making funded by the federal government and our generous donors is key to the Economic Future of our country. I am very proud of it. Host we are talking with dr. Mark schlissel of the university of michigan. Phone lines for students, parents, educators, and michigan residents in the last segment of washington journal. Mike is a parent. Good morning. Caller i had a question concerning the comments earlier about affordability. We talk interesting about affordability when i just heard tuition for outofstate is 40,000. This goes beyond university of michigan to the Education System and public universities. Wherently read an article the Median Income of College Graduates was at the highest level somewhere near 60,000. If you have a student paying 40,000 a year for an education that goes in the neighborhood of 300,000 when you toggle all expenses total all expenses. I would say that is expensive when you compare that to the Median Income of an average family. Ask, how is it we can consider that affordable to the average american . That is a very important question. It is the right question. The way we endeavor to make it as affordable as possible is with generous Financial Aid and modest amounts of loans. I willinstate student, talk in a moment about outofstate, for an instate income, if your family is less than 60,000 a year, the outofpocket costs are almost zero. Between scholarships, workstudy earningmmer expectations, and a modest amount of loans, we have managed to make it so students from families of typical income can afford to get this spectacular education. Although the income levels you cite may be national averages, michigan is a spectacular university. Employers are queued up to hire our graduates in many fields. We have over half a million alumni around the country. The significant majority become enormously successful. Once again, i think it is a good investment. Is more a challenge for outofstate students because tuition is higher because they are not receiving any subsidies from the citizens of the state of michigan. Students and their families still think it is valuable enough to want to come here. One thing we are doing in our new Fundraising Campaign is we have set a goal of 1 billion to raise for supporting scholarships, needbased aid, and support for graduate fellowships to try to work on the affordability problem. But i share with you the notion that if we are not successful making College Education affordable based on merit, a willingness to work hard, at in the long run our country is in big trouble. Host you talk about making college affordable. Michigan has one of the largest endowments at about 8. 4 billion. Hre been thought of using that to help with the affordability problem . Guest we already do. A significant fraction of that is feeding our Financial Aid system. That is where a lot of the money comes from. We are trying to raise additional endowment as a mentioned. It would be wonderful to get to the stage where we can endow admission for all qualified applicants regardless of where they come from. We are just not there yet financially. Host we are talking with dr. Mark schlissel. Phone lines are open for students, parents, educators, and michigan residents if you want to talk about Higher Education issues. Why do University Degrees continue to require noncore subjects as part of a degree . Guest we have many different degrees. We have over 250 different majors. We have many pathways for satisfying what our faculty believes are the qualifications to say you are a graduate of the university of michigan. College is more than trade school. You have to learn the skills you need to get a good paying job and have a secure future. But we are educating students for a lifetime. It is difficult to predict what lifetime needs will be. We are also educating citizens. One of my goals is to graduate students prepared to actively engage as good citizens and leaders in their community. If you are an engineer, you have to know more than engineering. You have to be able to communicate clearly. I think you should be able to write well, have cultural sensitivity. Lead and educated to be a professional that can obtain the series of good jobs throughout a lifetime. That is what we continuously endeavor to do. Host we have a couple of lines open. If you have a question about Higher Education, now is a good time to ring in as we talk with the president of the university of michigan. Teresa is calling from chicago. Good morning. Caller thank you for taking my call and for cspan. I want to bring up the fact i think today colleges and affordable for middleclass families. Is unaffordable for middleclass families. We are kidding ourselves when you see the numbers. If the thousand dollars . 50,000 . That is just the initial cost. That is not the cost of day to day expenses. They are lucky if they can get through in four years. That is the cost of a house. Most homeowners if they can afford a 200,000 home, that is a 30 year commitment as far as a mortgage payment. Look at all the utilities you have to pay over 30 years for the house. We are putting our students in a position where that is what they need to get through college. It is ridiculous. Equation part of this not talk about are the Interest Rates. Students are taking these loans and trying to pay them back. Plusuld be 500 a month the actual loan is self. Itself. As a country, it is crazy what we are charging kids for college. I dont know why we cant figure out a better system to educate our kids. Host dr. Schlissel. Guest those are all excellent points. I agree there is an affordability problem confronting all of Higher Education. The fraction of students that 200,000 pay 50,000 and dollars over four years to attend the university of michigan is less than half. As i mentioned earlier, we are need blind instate and attempting for outofstate students to use Financial Aid and workstudy jobs and loans in combination to allow students from any background to attend the university. I think the Biggest Challenges are at the borders of our Financial Aid formulas. You make enough money that you dont qualify for tremendous amounts of support. It really is a struggle. I think families do have to make a conscious decision on the value. I was the oldest of four kids from a very middleclass working family. My parents sent me to a private university. I took out a combination of loans, scholarships. I worked during school and in the summer. I graduated with debt. In hindsight, i would do it again in a heartbeat. It is enormously challenging. We do our best to help. I appreciate you pointed out this is a national problem. I think it would be a wonderful thing to provoke a National Discussion of how the public as a whole might be willing to contribute the accessibility issues for Higher Education. Host some of the National Discussion we have highlighted is Student Loan Debt topping estimates of over 1 billion. What would be a recommendation to deal with that that problem the graduates carry with them . Tiet i think we have to the ability to take on debt with student outcomes. I think we need to carefully look at graduation rates, progress to degree, and make sure the debt is being taken on by students that are going to graduate with degrees that will help them be employable or pursue their future ambitions andnot run into trouble never complete after having made a significant investment. I think we should find ways to cap the amount of Student Loans you might expect a student to take on. That is a discussion i would be happy to participate in. One thing people forget when they quote average low numbers is they are misleading. Half of the students who graduate with no loans. The data you are quoting is for students who take out loans. You are quoting averages. For instate students who take out loans, it is about 25,000 of total debt. For outofstate, about 30,000 of total debt over four years of attendance. It is basically like buying a really nice car. Host on twitter, kind words for michigan. Bernie is waging on our line for parents. Bernie is in columbus, ohio. Good morning. Caller you have a license to steal. If you subsidize babies, you get babies. If you subsidize education, you get highly paid administrators and teachers. Prices have gone past the rate of inflation the last 10 years. The government keeps subsidizing loans. You keep raising your prices. The excuses usually given we have to keep up with other colleges, they are taking our professors or talent. Just because they are stealing does not mean you have to steal. Host dr. Schlissel . Guest there is not much new to say. I understand the frustration people feel when they look at a cost of education that sounds out of reach. I think there is an issue we have to do our best to constrain the cost of higher ed. Use financial to aid and judicious amounts of debts to make sure students can attend. Thent accept the argument cost in michigan has grown dramatically beyond the rate of inflation. You look hard at the data over the last decade, the university, by cutting costs, has managed to mitigate a lot of consequences of diminished state support. The rate of increase in tuition roughly parallels the rate of decrease in state support. We are in a people intensive business. There are gains to be made by introducing technology that replaces a professor talking to students or a professor managing a class discussion. We have not discovered those yet. But i dont think we are done working on Creative Solutions to the affordability problem. I dont think we will be done until our universities look like the society they are serving and students can come to School Without mortgaging their future. We have to keep working on this. Host a question for you from twitter. As importantee growth areas over the next 30 years . , go blue. Guest sciences fuel discovery. We have a fantastic Medical Center that consists of a hospital and medical school. But also schools of nursing, pharmacy, public health. Era where are in an the discovery potential and its ability to affect human health and wellbeing is unmatched in our history. That is a tremendous area for further investment in growth that will have an obvious upside for society. We have a spectacular school of engineering that educates students at the undergraduate, masters, and doctorate level that produces discoveries that have great impact on society. We have in Automotive Research center. Other efforts that fuel the local economy. Of hightech industry, a great bioengineering department. We have many areas of finance and technology or discovery fuels the future economy. Not just by training students producing new discoveries that fuels new industry. Local my son goes to a university in the washington, d. C. , mature area. He is a senior. His major isd economics. I have noticed a number of his classes are fluff. I am not talking about a broadbased education where you take a literature class or something you normally would not take too roundabout. Round you out. Im talking about classes that are pure filler. Not moreked that are substantive classes. Sometimes when i talk to my son it seems like i am not working that hard at this subject because he is fulfilling the major but there are not enough substantive classes. I guess my question goes to the total requirement for a bachelors. I realize there may be things in maybe premedr where there are structured classes and not a lot of fluff. But i think in a lot of other there is a large percentage that is not substantive and could be eliminated. I appreciate hearing your comments. Host dr. Schlissel on fluff. Guest thank you. I never thought i would get to make a definitive comment on fluff. A lot of curricula teach practical things where you can connectionous because what students are studying and their first job or where they want to go on in their life to graduate or professional school. A lot of our curriculum teaches aspects of living in modern society that make life more interesting and fulfilling. Taking an english class, learning how to read and appreciate lerature, how to write well, communicate clearly, taking a Foreign Language class, anthropology, learning cultural sensitivity. Our kids are going to be operating in a very different world. There are hard skills they need to learn. There are soft skills they need to learn. Sometimes what people call fluff turns out to be in normal sleep at full. Admitted tog to being any fluff at the university of michigan. We do educate our students probably and specifically. I think both are important in the long run. I am a University President. I studied biochemistry as an undergrad. I studied medicine and biochemistry as a medical student and doctoral student. As an undergrad, i took classes in religion, history, politics, government, music. All those things have affected how i live my life. It is also affecting how i look at the leadership of a great university. I think we have to educate broadly. That is not fluff. We also have a responsibility to educate with specificity. Host colin is on the line for educators allen is on the line for educators. Caller i appreciate you taking my call. My question goes back to Student Loans funding the nations universities. Hopefully you are aware of this. Student loans are the only type of loan to be specifically exempted of the most fundamental Consumer Protections that exist for every other type of loan. This is bankruptcy protections, statutes of limitations. Quite frankly a laundry list of other protections people take for granted and assume are in place for Student Loans when they sign for them. I have been looking at this for over a decade. I have not heard one University President say anything about this very unique exemption. To say nothing about the structurally predatory behaviors this enables. If i could get your comments, i would appreciate it. Host you are on the line for educators. What do you teach . Caller i am in charge of a group called student loanjustice. Org. I give talks across the country at universities. Guest those are excellent points. I have to educate myself more. Im not an expert on the laws that govern Student Loans. I think this is an interesting area for universities to organize and our government to our so i will speak to Government Relations people and student loan folks so i understand this better, particularly in the context of michigan. We have caps in turn will he of debt we allow students to take on under the university auspices. But the practices you mention are very important and i need to understand them better. Thank you for bringing them up and your work. Host frank is a student. Good morning. About i have a comment it seems the elephant in the room that has not been addressed. As costs rise in the Education System, the costs are not evenly spread. Universities are hiring more adjuncts. As a grad student, i am writing my thesis. I expect to finish it next month. Every professor i had as a grad student was an adjunct. Not one fulltime professor. I dont want to mention the school, but i am in central florida. Professor wasvery an adjunct. Im not an advocate for adjuncts, but they do receive pennies on the dollars. Many professors have secondary or tertiary jobs outside the Asset MovementAcademic Field to make ends meet. You university costs are going up exponentially. How do you justify that . What youre pointing out is a national problem. It is not a major problem here because we employ very few adjuncts. Are the ones we do are largely professionals that have careers that comedical fields and teach a course for us because they love to teach. It is not their real job. The problem is a real one across the academy. But at the university of michigan, it is tenure stream faculty members and professional lecturers that deliver our curriculum. It is only affected around the edges by adjuncts. I do applaud you. That is a real problem that deserves scrutiny one university at a time and perhaps discussion more broadly. Host as we talk about spending by universities, comment on Athletic Department spending. Do you think the spending is in line with the goals and missions of the university . Guest sure. I think athletics at major public universities have become bigger through the years with more attention from the public and media. The size of programs has grown. Not the number of students but the dollars flowing through them. At the university of michigan, the alumni ande community in supporting the major sports, programs are selfsupporting. The basketball programs provide enough resources to pay for the other 27 other mens and womens sports. The Athletic Program does not take money from the campus budget at all. It stands on its own. It even puts 20 plus Million Dollars into the campus budget because it pays the full cost of the athletic scholarships. Michigan iset in in the fortunate position when it comes to the dramatic increase in spending on intercollegiate athletics. Host we have about 10 minutes left with dr. Schlissel, the president of university of michigan. Lets stay in michigan. Jason is a student. Are you a student at the university of michigan . Caller no, i am not. No disrespect. I want to ask a couple of quick questions. Costs perow much it credit hour currently at the university of michigan. Guest youll have to forgive me, but i dont have per credit hour numbers in my head. I know the cost of attendance tuition for an undergraduate student for a full year is approximately 13,000 in state and approximately 41,000 outofstate. But i dont have the credit hours broken up in my head. Host it sounded like you had a followup. Caller 13,000, the credit hours is that how many credit hours is that . Guest a typical student will take between 12 and 18 hours a semester. You can do the math. 24 to 36 credits over a year. Caller but that does not include housing or food or anything else. Guest that is correct. Students have to have a place to live and eat while they are studying. Host several folks calling in to talk to dr. Mark schlissel. Lets go to amy in texas on the line for parents. Actually, i am a grandparent. I am wondering if as parents we need to rethink our idea of wanting to give our children this experience of going off to college in four years and all of that. You get out of high school when you are 18. You graduate with newer 22. You graduate when you are 22. Exactly a problem if it takes longer than four years. You go a semester and work a semester or take night classes. Most colleges have a lot of students who have been in the workforce and are returning to school while continuing to work. They are taking classes on the weekends or whenever. As parents, we want our children to have this carefree College Experience except that it is hurting the later. I dont think it is harmful to a child to deprive them of that if for the rest of their life they are not saddled with debt. Host dr. Schlissel . Guest i think those are very good points. There are many ways for students to make their way through college. It is wonderful in the United States there are thousands of colleges. They cater to students of different interests and means with different types of ambitions. But i have tremendous respect for students that work their way through college. If it takes longer, that is ok. The important thing is they get their education and their education sets them up for a successful future to fulfill their ambitions. The university of michigan has campuses in flint and dearborn where the pathways you are describing are more common. Students come in and out of school over longer than four years, ultimately heading to their degree but working and satisfying other life responsibility set the same time responsibilities at the same time. I think it is great we provide that kind of access for students. Host lets go to mike in michigan, also a student. Caller i want to know if you see any way to reverse the dangerous trend of Higher Education facilities devolving into sports facilities. Sports is issue of active in the Public Domain with discussions about it. Me, there are wonderful traditions of competitive athletics at the university of michigan. It provides entertainment for students. It provides a connection for alumnis. Part of michigans great culture, the Alumni Community i meet are energized. They care tremendously about our sports programs and academic programs. For me, it is a matter of striking the right balance. Having people realize athletics is a wonderful activity, it is a cultural activity, but it is not the core mission of the university. The core mission is transforming lives through education and doing research that will fuel future opportunities in our economy. In thehas to occur appropriate balance with the rest of the things that are our mission for the campus. Host we will try to get to as many calls as we can in the last five minutes with dr. Mark schlissel of the university of michigan. Phil is waiting in fairfax, virginia. Caller dr. Schlissel, i was recently reading a book with an interesting observation that the average student at harvard, is Family Income is over 400,000 a year. I was wondering if you know what it is for michigan students and is it possible for a middle income students would tend a fine school like michigan income student to attend a fine school at michigan . Guest that is a great question. Pickety has had tremendous influence. I think one of the missions of public universities is to [no audio] to me, the most tried and true way to do that is through Higher Education. The challenge is to identify students regardless of their background who are talented enough to benefit from the level of education we provide. We have to be creative in how we look at talent. To supportem here them educationally and provide the Financial Resources they need to attend. I think that is the surest way to change the maldistribution income issue. Im sure the demographic issue here is different from 400,000 a year. But we are not yet are presented of of the distribution of income in our society. Working be able to stop on this issue until we are representative of society as a whole. Host a twitter question for you. What efforts does michigan make to assure the degrees offered a remarkable are marketable . Guest we offer over 250 different programs. Can design, students their own program in a variety of ways. We have tremendous flexibility. We make sure all students learn a common set of skills as well as particular areas they happen to be interested in. We have great interest in education in engineering, business, economics, in skills students looking for careers in those areas can find education here. A broad array of things that allow students to pursue their education in an uncertain future where you dont know the basis of employment 20 years out. Things driving the Economy Today barely existed 20 years ago. We offer different disciplines as well as a basic education with a set of what we hope are Transferable Skills to fuel a lifetime of personal satisfaction and employee building employability. Host wander from michigan is a parent. Caller i want to know why my husband and my income has affected the amount of money my son is able to get on a student loan. It is ridiculous. He is working but my income and my husbands income affect the lungs. The Interest Rate is too high. The government is making a lot of profit on the kids. It is shameful. Host dr. Schlissel, if you have comments. Guest other than feeling the challenge of families that struggle to pull together need to getildren educated and the fact loans and the language tribute loans are challenging, i dont have much more to say. I think we are struggling because we dont have or devote adequate resources to make sure everyone in this country has access to affordable Higher Education. I think it is the responsibility of society to our children. We have to work towards that in many ways through government means, private philanthropy, the prioritization that goes on one university at a time like it does at michigan. Host we have about a minute left. I wanted to give you a chance to talk about foreign students at the university of michigan, ranked among the highest in total number of foreign students at a u. S. University with 8895. Many of those students are also doctoral or professional students. Students on 43,000 the ann arbor campus alone and another 9000 in flint and dearborn. I think it is a wonderful thing i education Higher Education and michigan is viewed around the world as a spectacular key to future success, that we are able to attract students here from all corners of the come and study. In addition to serving a broader population of students, it affects the quality and nature of the education we provide oncampus. We are heading toward an increasingly globalized society