virginia for 30 years, almost 40 years. we've made money -- houses and and the average american uses his sense, can do something like that, too. >> over the course of the past 58 years. >> about the same. it is kind of interesting now. used to be a guy on the committee, i could always tell

when the media was going to be there because he'd show up and that was always a tip that things were pretty important. the business of the house has been a little bit corrupted. not a lot. a little. because it's interesting to note it's interesting to note that that money, that relationship with the media is one which generally squares the members of the house. it is always a situation where if you watch the members, you

watch -- he's got his eye on there and if you look, you'll find that instead of intelligent debate, all of a sudden, we've got a guy who is making a big speech -- being where he need -- somebody with whom he was having a discussion on important issues. just to return to one point, i've done pret i well because i learned something.

and that is how one can take a units of compound interest rule. and one of the reasons you know what is i have to report it. you can be pretty sure it's fairly truthful. and it does very frankly keep me and the system sort of -- >> now on to some questions about the issues. at the start of every congress, you've always introduced a bill establishing a national health care system. we don't have that, but we have obamacare. how is obamacare working in your estimation? >> it's a little bit like asking paul, this child going to do in

the presidential race as that child boy or girl does in his or her race for the presidency. this is the biggest single undertaking of this kind ever done by this nation. social security was something like maybe 50 million. this is more like 350 million. and it is not done by people. we're working with their government. it's done by people who are working with insurance companies and so, all of these things have

got to be done by everybody pitching in and cooperating. we didn't get a nickel's worth of help fromsulked. their complaint is that they weren't heard, but we'd invite them and they wouldn't come. i have questions about the -- but then if you look first of all -- second of all, the enrollment of the american citizens, how they were treated. had been largely addressed. citizens are able now to know that they're not going to cancel their policy when they go into the operating room on their

gurney. they're also going to know that there's not going to be any preexisting conditions borrowing. the numbers of recipients benefits is almost 100%. a young fellow in the office who's paying 360 something. in insurance. guess what? he went out into the market, said you've got to have this. it's not going to do the good for you that he wants. we're going to give you the same policy for 160. he said, wow. so then he went into the market, they looked at him and they says, this is costing you too much for your wage. and we're going to, we're going to cut it, so he winds up paying about 68 bucks a month.

same policy. haven't heard a word of squawk from him. all you hear from the republicans yelling their heads off that it ain't working. but -- and insurance companies, if insurance companies are not satisfied, they're all of a sudden finding that they've got to pay back, they've got to pay to if they exceed the cap of a year 85% -- a lot of people got that. the republicans complained about that. i guess they're busy with other more important things. >> speaking of republicans, republicans point to the scandals and say that president obama is incompetent, but how do you think he compares to other presidents you have served with?

>> got us into the iraq war, did he? he wasn't involved in the watergate and he did a, he run a pretty honest administration. one of the reasons the va is problem is that he's got to take care of 100 million vets and see to it that he not only takes care of them, but that he sees to it that they get the care they're supposed to. and that's against the skin of congress that had a cut of $10 million, 10% that the republicans were prepared to give.

i don't have any real problems with that. a lot of these people are g getting their benefits and a fair number of these guys were waiting because they are not qualified to go in at this particular time. the service for the most part, not, are not -- what was the other one? >> i think that we have covered everything -- >> i don't want to run out of here with my tail between my legs. i want to address what these republicans say because every once in a while, they tel the truth. i'd kind of like to praise them -- >> republicans point to the irs

scandal, the va scandal. >> oh, the irs. here, we're giving gigantic amounts of money under the citizens united to under fat cats trying to buy the government, so the irs is looking at them. i say hooray. the guys that are doing this are crowded very frankly would steal a red hot stove, then go back and get the smoke. >> ladies and gentlemen, we are almost out of time, but before asking the last question, we have a couple of housekeeping matters to take care of. first of all, i'd like to remind you about our upcoming events and speakers on july 17th, anthony fox, secretary of the department of transportation. july 22nd, dr. thomas frieden, director of centers for disease

control will address concerns about the mers virus and other key health issues. july 31, good luck jonathan, president of nigeria -- president of the republic of congo will discuss peace, security and stability in the central african region. next, i'd like to present congressman dingell with a traditional national press club mug. i don't know if you already have a set of half a tuzen. here is another we're honored to give you and finally, our traditional last question. given your reputation as one of the toughest questioners in kopg, what advice do you have for reporters asking members questions as you experienced today? >> you know the answer before you ask the question.

>> thank you, congressman dingell. thank you, all, for coming and i thank once again, the national press club staff, including a broadcast center for organizing today's event. we are adjourned. tonight, "washington journal's" interview with interim president james lender. units in the big tech conference. that's followed by a discussion on challenges faced by minority students and a series of discussions on campus sexual assault. that starts at 8:00 p.m. eastern.

cspan's campaign 2014 is bringing you more than 100 debates for the control of congress. tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern, see the debate for west virginia's third congressional district seat between 19-term incumbent nick rayhall and evan jenkins. here's a look at some ads running in that district. on a fixed income, it's punishing. nick rayhall's carbon tax, sky high electric rates, worse, he cut benefits for senior's care, forcing some into nursing homes. favors for obama, cashing in for himself. nick rayhall is not for us. the choice, evans jenkins. trusted on coal to keep power costs down. to get rid of -- evan jenkins, for west virginia, not obama. >> when evan jenkins voted

against raising the state's minimum wage, he abandoned west virginians and sided with his new york billionaire financial backers. they opposed raising the minimum wage and also want to privatize medicare. nick rayhall believes anyone willing to work hard should be paid a decent wage and that medicare should never been privatized. he puts west virginians first. >> i'm evan jenkins and i approve this message. >> for generations, coal kept the lights on. here and across america. but then, nick rayhall pulled the switch. rayhall voted for the largest eps budget in history, bankrolling the war on coal with our tax dollars, but were coal miners sick with black lung, rahall slashed benefits and he's lying to hide it. it's time. turn the lights out on nick

rahall. >> hello, i'm joe mansion. we hear a lot about politics, but none worse than the lies about nick rahall. he's a straight shooter and works with me every day to fight the obama administration's war on coal. don't let anyone mislead you. knicks. >> aapprove this message because i'll never let anyone change our way of life. >> recent polls have listed this race as a toss-up. see the debate at 9:00 eastern, then at 10:00, another house debate for the open seat in utah's fourth district. see mia love and doug owens debate for seven-term congressman jim mathson's seat.

be part of cspan's campaign 2014 coverage. follow us on twitter and like us on facebook to get schedules, previews from our politics team. cspan is bringinging you over 100 senate, house and governor debates and you can instantly share your reactions to what the candida candidates are saying. the battle for control of congress. stay in touch and engaged by follows us on twitter and like us on facebook. coming up, a conversation with university of minnesota president, eric kaler. it's part of the "washington journal" series on the big ten conference, which looks at some of the challenges facing higher education. this is 40 minutes. expectationn constructive way. >> and here on washington

journal this morning, we kick off the first of our big ten college tour with visits to big ten college campuses and talking to presidents of the big ten colleges and universities. the colleges that educate some half million people each year and allocate some $10 billion a year to research throughout the country and beyond. we're joined this morning by eric kalor. and and on wednesday, james lindher, and joining us on our cspan bus is eric kalor, thank you for joining us this morning here on washington journal. >> very glad to be with you. >> tell us about the university of minnesota system. is it a public system? a land grant university?

>> sure. it's minnesota's land grant university. we have five campuses across the state, our twin cities campus, minneapolis and st. paul, duluth, morris, christian and rochester. all together, about 69,000 students. >> the university was founded in 1851. how long have you been president, president kalor? >> well, less than that for sure. i'm just starting my fourth year, i'm the 16th president of the university so people tend to serve in this job for a long time. >> what are some of your priorities as president? >> well, it's really pretty simple for me, i'm very interested in accessibilities and affordability. and i'm interested in the university providing a truly excellent education for those students.

also interested in being sure that we help drive the economy of the state of minnesota, that we're the home of inventions and innovations in medical care, science and engineering and we also have a critically important responsibility to maintain the liberal arts and be a place where creative work of all kinds takes place. so it's a pretty broad span, but at the end of the day we're interested in our undergraduate student, ensuring they get an excellent education. >> our bus will be visiting almost all of the big ten college campuses. where does the university rate in terms of size, just size alone? >> well, first off, we're really glad that you started with minnesota. we're appreciative of that. we on the twin cities campus. technically we're the fourth, fifth, sixth largest campus in the country. so the only one that's physically larger than we are is

ohio state. but again, an important breadth across our system as well. so the twin cities campus is about 51,000 student this is year. >> and for our cspan viewers, alumni and students, just a quick snapshot in terms of the size, you mentioned this a little bit earlier in terms of the attendance. the total number of students, 48,000 plus. that's 28,000 undergraduate, 12,000 graduate. 3,800 postgraduate. and 3606 nondegree. let's look at some of the costs too in terms of on campus versus off campus for on campus students, the total is 25,374. off campus, loving off campus, $19,386 in terms of in state versus out of state, the total of tuition and fees in minnesota, if you're an in state student, is $12,060, and $19,310 for out of state students. in preparing for our

conversation, the system has frozen the tuition for this year, why was that? >> well, we had a very productive conversation with our state legislature and with the governor at the beginning of the last -- we decided to put forward tuition free if we were able to get appropriate funding from the state of minnesota to make that happen. and we were able to do that. so at the beginning of this biennium, we see the great -- we have taken a pretty heavy cut during the great recession and as a consequence, we had to raise tuition to maintain the quality of our program. our conversation with the state governor let us reverse that. so the state allowed us to reinvest as we should, and we were able to make the deal to be

able to freeze minnesota resident graduate tuition. student debt is something i'm sure we'll falk about this morning, it's important to us to have our students leave with a great education but without a great amount of debt and this tuition freeze is a great step in that direction. >> we want to invite our viewer, we've broken our phones down just a little differently. if you are a parent, the number to call is 202-585-3880. that would be the parent of a student, not necessarily the university of minnesota. for educators, the number is 202-585-3881. for parents, and for minnesota residents, we have set aside a line as well. that is 202-585-3882.

back to the subject of university tuition costs. when you talk to your colleagues at big ten and other universities, what is the number one priority in terms of keeping those costs low? what's the number one tool you can use to keep college costs low? >> well, it's clear that the great land grant institution state supported institutions have a historical relationship with their state. and for years, the state of minnesota and other states in the big ten supported their universities well. when i was a graduate student here 30 years ago, the state of minnesota provided over 30% of the university's budget and this year they provide about 16% of the state budget. so that state disinvestment has meant a shift of costs to students. so as we look at ways to make the burden on students easier,

the first conversation with state government. the other side of the coin, so to speak is our ability to control our cost. we're in an industry that requires us in order to be competitive to hire a great faculty and great staff to do the work that we do. and those personnel costs are expensive. but we also need to drive our administrative costs as far as possible. we need to operate as effectively and efficiently as we can so that those funds we do have are not administration cost s and we're working every day at the university of minnesota to make that happen. so really it's maintaining a -- being in partnership with the state to fund the whole enterprise. >> for the student coming in that's accepted the university of minnesota, where does that conversation begin on affordability and how is it tracked?

>> well, first off i should tell you about a third, 37% of our students graduate with no debt at all. so they are able, with their resources and the family's resources to appropriately pay for college. of the students who graduate with that, the average dead is about $27,000. again, that's for students with debt. that's the price of a nice, new car. and you need to make that balance of your life decisions, about making an investment in yourself as a young person, getting that college education versus doing something else with that money. so i think students and their families have their conversation. we provided last year well over $300 million in financial aid, so we're eager to help qualified student who is don't have the means to come to the u to be here with us and that balance of

financial aid, taking some loans at the end of the day, a young person making a decision to invest in college, that yields the outcome that produces the 5,500 first-year student that we welcomed to campus last month. >> 75% of stuchblts receive some form of financial aid. and 25 varsity sports teams, the system also has campuses in duluth, morris, cookstown and rochester. how many athletic scholarships do you give out per year? >> we have 750 student athletes at the university of minnesota at the twin cities and additional student athletes? duluth. most of them receive some kind of financial aid, ranging from a full scholarship to a partial scholarship across all sports. and again, the revenues that support that athletic program are to a very great extent media revenues, ticket sales,

philanthropy and other sponsorship sites, so the impact on our overall budget is a million or two million this year and hopefully a little bit more than that next year. >> as we kick off our cspan bus college tour this time through the big ten conference starting with the university of minnesota. if you are a parent of a student whether at minnesota or elsewhere. college students or others, 202-585-3882. we would love to hear from some high school students who are planning to go to college next year. let's hear first from capital heights, maryland, a student, john, where do you go to school? >> hello?

>> john, you're on the air, yes do you go to school? >> caller: i go to university of maryland. >> go ahead with your question for eric kalor. >> what is the university, what services and what are they doing to help students who may have gone to a high school that didn't really orient or have the resources to help students that want to go to college help them? >> john, hang on the line for a quick second and we'll hear from president kalor. >> i didn't quite get all of that, but i think the question was what does the university do to provide resources for students that need help to come to the college. we have a broad spectrum of financial aid, both need based and merit based.

we work hard to make the university affordable. so for example, if you come from a family who has income of $30,000 a year or less, that means that the expectation is your family will not contribute to the cost of your education. and we package financial aid grants and scholarships that more than cover the cost of tuition. so we're very affordable for students from very low income families and we grant that up and again give need-based financial aid to families who have adjusted gross income of up to $100,000 a year. unlike many of our competitors, we put financial aid on the table, recognizing that the cost of college is a burden to many families and we're eager to make it possible for their students to come to the university of minnesota. >> what about on the academic side, in terms of help for incoming freshmen who may not have excelled or they need a little bit more help.

they have made it into the university but they face a fairly daunting fall schedule or whatever. what sort of resources does the university of minnesota offer? >> just this year, we have begun a program called the president's emerging scholars program. that's a program that consists of a summer activity before the first year, to get them squared away in a dormitory, we give them a little bit of a head start. we provide an additional $1,000 of financial aid in the first year and $1,000 in their fourth year to be sure they get over the finish line. we offer a variety of programs, really for students who are the first-generation in the families who come to college, who are really not familiar with a college culture, we have a great program around financial literacy, this is a way for students to stub their toe when they get away from home. it's called live like a student now so you don't have to later.

it's the idea of affordability in the decisions that you make with your money. we have programs hosted like that and with the president's emerging scholars program, we think we have ways for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed at the university of minnesota. >> the fall tour of the big ten campuses, a tweet from laura who asks you president kalor, what decides a college as a big ten besides their football teams? >> well, that's a great question, i'm glad it came up because the football teams are actually the least of what we do, the backbone of the big ten is a committee for institutional cooperation, the so-called cic. that's a program run by the university, it's the most comprehensive association in the country where best practices are exchanged, where leaders of various parts of the institution come together to learn from each other.

it's a model for how academic institutions should collaborate and work together. and of course we do play football and a variety of other sports, but i think if you ask our new members, maryland and rutgers, what the important attract fors for them to the big ten was the academics that we do. it's really a remarkable group of institutions when you look at the quality of the academics that is done, together with the competitiveness of their sports teams, they're really a very special group of institutions. >> and the cspan bus will be visiting those big ten universities in new jersey. here's steve who a's parent, steve, where's your child in school? >> caller: my child is not currently in school. she got a wonderful education at the university of wisconsin and many of her friends were from minnesota and the reason for that is, minnesota and wisconsin has this wonderful reciprocity

program where they go to each other's colleges and universities, i guess, for in state fees and i wanted to hear what dr. kalor thinks is the advantages and disadvantages of that. and do they have that with other states. because i think this is a fantastic program. the friends she made from wisconsin, pardon me, from minnesota, are lifelong friends and helped my daughter become a better student. >> reciprocity is a wonderful opportunity for wisconsin students to study in minnesota and vice versa and it also applies to north and south dakota and manitoba in canada. and it does enable students to come to a similar school. and have that experience while being a little bit further from home.

it is interesting for those listening who have had college aged students, as was the case in my family, being away from home was an important part of the decision of where to go to school and being able to go to wisconsin if you're a twin cities student, it's far enough away and you're still getting your great education at the price you would pay in minnesota. it's a wonderful program. about 16% of our students come from wisconsin under that reciprocity program. >> here's a student on the line. this is kevin who's in west sacramento, california. kevin, go ahead and where are you in school? >> caller: where am i in school? actually i'm not in school right now. i was trying to find out more about his college, the location, where it might be located? >> the school's in minnesota. any other question about the university there, kevin? all right, we'll let you go, here's catherine, who's a parent in falls village, connecticut. good morning. >> caller: good morning, i'm

fortunate to have two students in college right now. one went to wpi. one at mt. holy oak. i have tuned in to the issues of climate change, a little different, but almost similar, domestic abuse and now, we're hearing about college accountability for sexual assault and i'm wondering if we could share the resources such as civic research institute that has rather extensive, but comprehensive research done for educators and people in all professions and if all students could know about that because there seems to be a lot of confusion about what is you know, either assault or in a divorce or custody plan, what is a fair, appropriate outcome. particularly for women because unfortunately, it is highly often the case that it's the women and children are being victimized, even by some of the system, so we need a major turn

around. >> let's find out, president, kalor, in terms of campus sexual assault. there's a lot of talk obviously on capitol hill and elsewhere. what are some of the things the university of minnesota is doing to address the issue? >> well, we have been a long time leader in battling sexual assault on our campuses. women's center is a national center of how to respond to accusations of sexual assault, how to help victims, how to pursue justice in that space and in fact they have been consulted by the white house as this freshman conversation has moved forward. we take the issue very seriously here. we have, again, a variety of programming, a variety of structure that we think educates ying people, both men and women about making smart decisions

about no means no and again as i mentioned, we are a robust support system for victims. we're by no means perfect, there's obviously opportunity for improvement, but we are in that space as a leader by many people in the country. >> question for you on twitter, by the way our 457kdal the cspan wj. how do profits from athletics break down in fund parts of the college in nonathletic scholarships to renovations. >> our athletic program, like all but a small handful of athletic programs does receive a subsidy from the university. as i mentioned earlier, it's an amount that nets out to be about $2 million a year, so that support for the athletic programs are big revenue sports, football, basketball, and in minnesota, our hockey program, both for men and women, do carry a lot of the budget tear load and provide opportunities for student athletes in the nonrevenue sports and again as i

mentioned, we have 750 athletes all together. but as of now, our athletic program does not turn a profit to the university and we continue to move towards that. i would like to see our twin cities campus be self sufficient, but we also need to be competitive. so there's a balance to be made as is the case in most schools like that. >> you can find president kalor on twitter. jim from gadsden, alabama. jim, good morning. >> caller: good morning, i have a general request about educational opportunity because i'm all three of the above in your categories. just recently finished seminary after going to harvard and birmingham southern down here in alabama and my wife recently got her phd at uva and is now a college professor, but we both came from poor families, i mean a generation ago we were dirt

poor. and we received opportunities, but we studied in high school and subsequently. now my question is, i hear so much about the poor people in america and the minority groups in various big cities, they can't get education, they have no opportunity to go to college. but with all i hear, even from your discussion this morning, and all i know from my alumni schools and my wife's, there is so much opportunity, we both worked during our college and graduate school. but we studied our books in high school, we did fairly well on the s.a.t.s, but here's my question, if a person, no matter what area of america they come from, no matter what their race, no matter what their background, if they can pass minimally an entrance example to the average college in america, is there any reason that person, no matter

what their background or what their neighborhood was, should not be able to go to college? >> thanks, jim. president kalor? >> no, absolutely, qualified students obviously should be able to go to college. that's why we spend so much time and effort on financial aid and a variety of structures to enable students from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed at the university of minnesota. i don't think there's anything more critical for our country's future than to have an educated population. and that means everybody needs a-degree of education. sometimes a four-year college is the right fit.

sometimes it may be a professional or a trade school. but everybody needs a post secondary education in order to thrive in our country. i think the data on that is pretty clear and we're committed to that at the university of minnesota. >> just looking at some of the statistics in terms of the number of ying people in college, in particular between 18 and 24, a 30-year and 32-year comparison here. there's more going to dlej in 2012, up from 26% in 1980. there are fewer in the -- that's down from 75% in 1986. as you graduate students from the university of minnesota, how do you prep them for the workforce, beyond just their course work? what's the most important thing that you do at the university to do that? >> i think employers will tell you that the single greatest predictor for success for a

student coming out is that they have some prak kl experience, they have an intern shirp in their company or their field so they understand what that's like or they have experience beyond the course work. we have the third largest study abroad cohort of students in the country, that provides a great opportunity for students to see other people in the world and give them a deeper, richer experience. many of our major capstone cowses, they'll spend either a semester or a senior year pulling together in the elements in the discipline, learning to think more critically about what their discipline is about. but at the end of the day, that internship experience, east in the summertime or over a semester is important.

and that's something we work on aggressively. we're fortunate in minnesota, that twin cities is the home to 18 fortune 500 countries and a very active economy beyond those companies, so there are lots of opportunities for young people to go out and get experiences relevant to them as they search for that first job. >> i want to get your reaction on that issue to the fiscal times survey of hiring managers and other employ. the surprising reason college grads can't get a job, they write that nearly 3/4s of -- aren't prepared for the job market and lack an adequate work ethic. those hires managers aren't alone in their assessment either, a wide range of business people, according to recruiters, academics and others interviewed for the study agreed that

college graduates deserve a grade of c or lower for their preparedness for their first job. how do you counter act something like that? >> well, that is a challenging situation and it reflects of course the input that that young person has had for the first 22 years of their life and we're not responsible for all of that. we do insist on a rigorous education, we do insist on work at the university of minnesota, the quality of our programs, i think, is at a level that our students are prepared to go to work once they succeed. at the end of the day, there is a general expectation of students graduating. different, than, for example my generation, an expectation for quality of life, expectation for a work-life balance, it can be different from other generations so i think it's a function of society that's a little bit overa university's genera.

>> hello in missouri, go ahead. we'll move on to st. joseph, michigan, arlene is a parent there. go ahead. >> caller: yes, i am a parent. and my daughter has been out of school for 22 years now. but i do not understand why people say they can't afford to send their children to school. i was divorced, making about $23,000 a year at the time, daughter went to western university which ran around $12,000 a year. and she did go full-time and she did live on campus. but when my daughter turned 16, she didn't have a car. i didn't have to make car payments, i didn't have to make car insurance payments. she started working at mcdonald's at 15 and when she got her check on friday, most of it went into the bank. she didn't have it spent the

next day, between her -- after her senior year of college, she worked at the company i was working at because they would hire kids of parents that were going to school. and they could work for the summer and so they made better than minimum wage. >> now arlene, did you wind up paying her bills or did he take her care of her tuition, her student loans? >> caller: it was pretty much half and half. she did get two scholarships which also did help. but when she was working in the summer, there were several other kids working there, they would get paid on thursday, those other kids, their money would be gone by friday. >> eric kalor, is there a magic number of how much debt a student or a student's parents should be carrying? >> first off, i would like to congratulate the caller on a very successful management of

resources and a good outcome of her daughter getting an education. that's a degree of responsibility i think that's commendable. and to go to your question, and you look at a college debt, i think there's not one size fits all. i think unfortunately, sometimes what you hear about in the media, are really the horror stories of somebody that's racked up $100,000 or $150,000 in debt to get an undergraduate degree. i don't think there's any reason in the world to have that person. that's a series of bad decisions that person has made in my opinion. you can get a very high quality degree. lets just take the numbers again at the university of minnesota. for a resident student, the total cost of attendance per year is $25,000 roughly. so $100,000 for four years and again, you would have the expectation, if your family is

of limited means, which would give you financial aid, a new base aid that would cover at least half of that amount. you would expect that a student should work during the summer, you could expect perhaps your parents would help out to some degree. so it feels like to me that even under difficult conditions, a $25,000 total amount of student loan is something that should be in the upper end of what people are carrying. yet i do know people graduate from our university with more than that debt. which means they've been spending those funds on things beyond the cost of coming to college and that's a personal decision. a person wants to have a particular lifestyle, they need to the make that decision at the end of the day on ways to way for it. >> how much do you think the federal government should play in additional student loan aid? >> that's an interesting

question. i think the balance there is really tough to see. on one hand, there is an argument that as we make more lower cost financial aid available, federal financial aid available, students take that and therefor incur more indebtedness without having the conversation about is that something that really is in their long-term interest. on the other hand, obviously for students who need that financial aid, having it available and having it available at a low interest rate is a huge advantage for them going forward. so there's not really an easy answer to the right level of federal financial aid. i certainly am -- you might want to have some financial counseling involved to make sure that people are making good decisions about their ability to repay those future loans.

>> it's the first stop on our cspan bus tour. just under ten minutes left, again, are a parent. for students 202-585-3882. and for minnesota residents 202-585-3883. a student. >> caller: i go to eastern kentucky university. my question to the president concerns immigration. there were some proposals. as the president of a university i was wondering what kind of insight you would kind of input into this process? i know in other country, australia, canada, they have advanced systems for some of

their graduates from foreign countries, that sort of thing. i was wondering, what's your insight into this question? >> thank you, fred. >> my view is that a person who has gained an education in the united states should be able to stay in the united states. if it was up to me, i would begin to address the shortage of people in science technology, engineering and mathematics by stapling your green card to a diploma for anybody in that field. our country is richer by having a strong immigrant population. i think our economy is stronger by having trained individuals be part of it. this country grew by immigration and i'm in favor of it continuing to do so, particularly from -- with those who have earned a college degree. regardless of the institution that those individuals have gone to, there has been some state or federal investment in that institution that's benefitted them.

and i think we ought to allow those people to stay in the united states and reap the benefit of their labors. >> call from minnesota next. dorothy is there. she is a parent. >> caller: good morning. i'm calling because i'm interested in the stem influence that is part of the college curriculum now. i would like to add an a to that for arts. how important are the arts in minnesota? >> i think the university of minnesota has a core value and a core responsibility to maintain the art, the creative arts of all kinds in minnesota. and we have some points of real strength. in the performing arts, we have a wonderful relationship with a

theater where we have students who are part of that. we have terrific facilities for many of our visual arts activities and our performing arts activity with a new auditorium. i'm a huge fan of support for the arts. at the same time, we have very tight budget constraints and the challenges of providing enough for everybody are always there. i think as an institution of higher education, as the state's only land grant institution, we have a requirement to maintain the creative activity. they benefit not just students who happen to major in one of the performing arts. i visited a pottery class recently that was filled with students from all disciplined who were interested in expressing their create difficulty in that way. it's an important part of a well-rounded educated being. i hope to continue to strength the arts at the university of minnesota.

as resources come to be able to make wise investments there. >> to our students line. this is chris in kansas. where do you go to school? >> caller: i go to seton hall in new jersey. i object to a few of the things that have been discussed. i think the major root of the problem involves critical thinking. many of my professors, even in high skoom my teachers were saying that kids from an erm age are not being taught to think correctly. most of the way i've been able to learn how to do that has been outside of classroom. i participated in speech and debate. i know that other students have alternate means for that. i guess my question is, what do you think the confines of learning in the classroom are and how do we escape them? >> go ahead. >> that is a perceptive question. i think the escaping the classroom is actually one of the most important things that a college student does.

that's actually one of the important reasons that this is so important, because it's the out of classroom activities, the caller mentioned debate, which is a wonderful way to build a rigorous way to think and analyze a problem. we encourage our students to be involved in those kinds of activities. it is true that sometimes in a classroom you are so consumed with taking knowledge that we don't always have the time to think about it and particularly to apply it across different disciplines and extra curriculum activity like debate lets you do that. i mentioned some of the courses that we have in our majors also enables you to have the space and time to think that way. back to the secondary education. >> go ahead. >> sure.

i was just going to comment that we at the university are working to strengthen post secondary education in minnesota from prekindergarten all the way through high school. these are problems that we all need to lean in together. >> headline from the boston globe on the front page courtesy of the museum. harvard gets $350 million for health efforts, the foundation will help the school battle global threats. they say it's the biggest gift in the school's history. $350 million, not to make you jealous or anything, president kaler. how big is the endowment at the university of minnesota? how do you decide where to allocate the funds? >> the university of minnesota foundation endowment is right at $2 billion. the university maintains its own endowment that's at about a billion dollars. we have around $3 billion in endowment resources at the university.

it's one of the larger endowments in the country. it's divided up into a myriad of activities. broadly speaking, scholarship support, professorship support for faculty members and support for really probably literally if hundreds if not thousands that donors have contributes to. philanthropy is an important part of our budget and will continue to be an important part going forward, certainly as we balance state contributions and our desire to keep tuition revenues as affordable to students as they can be. >> one more call here on the student line. robert, good morning. >> caller: good morning. how are you doing? >> fine. >> caller: i have a comment in regards to university in general.

do you think it's appropriate for the universities to discriminate on campus in regards to veterans being on sight there? and/or things of that nature in regards to -- i just know from my personal experience in illinois that sometimes the presence of veterans is frowned upon. by university of northwestern. i think that is inappropriate. >> we welcome them with open arms. we have three strong detachments here in programming and accessibility for veterans. i grew up in a military family so we are open and welcoming to the people who served our

country. >> the first stop on c-span's college bus tour. thank you for being with us on washington journal this morning. >> i have enjoyed it. thank you for having me and good luck at your other stops. with the 2014 mid term elections a week and a half away our campaign debate coverage continues. today at 7:00 p.m. eastern live coverage with congressman tom rene and martha robinson. at 8:00 the iowa fourth district debate between steve king and jim mower. at 9:00 the west virginia third district debate. and at 10:00 the utah fourth district debate. friday night at 8:00 eastern new hampshire senate debate at 9:00 the only debate in the oregon senate race. and then at 10:00 the louisiana

fifth district debate between seven candidates. c-span campaign 2014, more than 100 debates for the control of congress. tonight on c-span 3 a look at america's colleges and universities. next, university of nebraska-lincoln interim president and then a look at challenges facing minority students followed by discussions about campus sexual assaults and how they are investigated and