Gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley remembers time at BU, shares plans for higher education

This is the fifth part in a five-part series of interviews with the Massachusetts gubernatorial candidates facing off the Nov. 4 election. Interviews with Charlie Baker, Evan Falchuk, Jeff McCormick and Scott Lively can be found by clicking on the candidate’s name.

After graduating in the first female class at Williams College and serving as the Commonwealth’s first female attorney general, Martha Coakley is campaigning to add another first to her record – first female governor of Massachusetts. The 61-year-old North Adams native has worked under the administration of Gov. Deval Patrick since 2007, playing an active role in a number of landmark cases.

Prior to her work as attorney general, Coakley was district attorney of Middlesex County from 1999 to 2007. The Boston University School of Law alumna hopes to bring her experience in the public sector to her campaign for governor, continuing the work she has done as attorney general by protecting civil rights and bringing innovation to the Commonwealth.

Felicia Gans: What inspired you to run for Massachusetts governor?

Martha Coakley: I am incredibly excited to run for governor…because as I see this economy turn around now, coming out of the tough recession, created mostly by a Wall Street excess that crashed our economy, I am interested in making sure we now build a sustainable economy that turns this around for everybody. So people get a good education, starting with early education through two or four years, if they want and beyond, because I believe not only is that a good opportunity for everybody in Massachusetts to get a fair shot, have a good life, build a job, build equity, it’s also good for our economy because that is how in a knowledge economy, we’re going to get and keep businesses here if we have the skilled workforce who can do those jobs.

FG: What are your goals for higher education?

MC: First of all, we need to reduce the cost for students. It has become so expensive, and I think students are questioning the value, given particularly what the average tuition is, tuition and fees, at a not-for-profit school in Massachusetts for four years. It’s a huge burden for students and families, and for many people, it’s not attainable. Addressing the affordability of schools and the affordability of borrowing money for schools is one of my top priorities.

One of my plans is to provide for full-need financial aid policies at our community colleges, anyone who’s graduated from high school, who wants a two-year additional education but can’t afford it, we would make that available to them. And the other, one other piece that we’re looking at, increasing tax deductions for parents who want to contribute to a 529 College Savings Plan. We’re one of the few states that haven’t done that. There are 34 other states that allow a $5,000 tax deductible for families that make contributions to the 529 College Plan. And it is a powerful incentive I think for families to start saving early.

FG: How will you ensure students can find affordable housing and a job in the Commonwealth after graduating from college?

MC: The other part of my plan involves regional economic development. When kids come to school in Boston and Cambridge particularly, there is always going to be that high demand because we have such a concentration of not just undergraduates, but law schools and medical schools, but what I think we also can look at is across Massachusetts…we have an enormous opportunity. If we invest in better rail, like the South Coast Rail that we need to complete from New Bedford that would hook New Bedford up to Boston and to be able to, with smart growth, invest in housing and transportation…so people can get good jobs, they can buy a house, they can build equity and still partake in, part of my plan is investing in our creative economy also.

We have an array of options. We obviously need to provide more affordable housing in our very densely populated Boston and Cambridge, and there are ways to do that. I look forward to working with [Boston] Mayor [Martin] Walsh more on that. But also to make sure that all students know what great opportunities are in the MetroWest region and the South Coast and certainly on our North Shore.

FG: How did your experiences at BU shape your career?

MC: I loved law school. I took a year between college. I graduated from Williams in 1975. I spent a year actually living on Martha’s Vineyard, and I did some substitute teaching, I did some waitressing, and when I started law school at BU in 1976, I couldn’t be more excited. I really wanted to be a child lawyer. I found that my fellow students and my teachers at BU were terrific. I threw myself into it. I got involved in moot court activities. I was on our national moot court team, my second year into part of the third year, and I felt I got a very good education and good friendships that came out of that experience at BU. I’m proud to see we just did ribbon-cutting for a new law school. I will say, as great as the education was, the best thing about the law school was not the building. We were in that tall, tall building. But the friendships and lifelong relationships there have been terrific.

FG: What makes you the best candidate for college students?

MC: I, myself, had the opportunity not only to go to a good college, but also to get further education in law school that let me pursue my personal dreams. It gave me a good, solid foundation to do well here in Massachusetts. I believe every kid should have that choice. And that’s true for K [kindergarten] thru 12. It’s good for opportunities in two-year colleges and four-year schools. And look, Massachusetts’ strength is in a knowledge economy. I think students can understand that I’m going to invest in schools, in them, in good education, because not only is it good for them. It’s good for our economy in the future in Massachusetts.

FG: What should college students be most concerned about in this election and going forward?

MC: For students who are here, who vote here, because they want to stay here, they should be looking at the contrast between what I propose for economic development and in business and education and frankly what my Republican opponent proposes. He has a typical Republican playbook of, give tax breaks to corporations and hope that it trickles down. We actually know that doesn’t work, and we know that we are doing better than many states here in education. Our investment in those jobs and workforce…is what’s going to move us ahead, not tax breaks for corporations. And if you look at my willingness to invest in kids and their education, I would hope students and folks here who want to live here will see I will be a great governor.

FG: Several universities across the country have enacted new policies for responding to sexual assault on college campuses. What other steps would you take to make sure campuses are safe for students across the Commonwealth?

MC: I served as district attorney in Middlesex County, so during those years…I actually started to work with the colleges around developing protocol that would be fair reportings for acquaintance rape or sexual assault, making sure that colleges understood although they have an obligation to all their students, they have a particular obligation to people who… have been victimized. And I still think we have work to do on that. The additional issue around schools, for instance, like BU or Harvard [University], that although you have your campus, you are in the middle of a big urban area, it means making sure the school coordinates its safety for armed robbery or gun violence or drug use and drug sales with the local police so that the school itself can provide for students and their parents the sense that they will prevent crime and provide ways for accountability whether it’s on campus or in the community if people have been victimized.

I feel very strongly we have tough gun laws here in Massachusetts, but we do have too many illegal guns on the streets, and I committed, as I have with the new gun law we just passed in Massachusetts that I worked on, working with our new mayor, Marty Walsh, to make sure that for BU students particularly, that Boston continues to be I think a relatively safe city, but we have to be attentive to our students. They are in our care here, and as we look at keeping later trains, later hours for people to be out and about to enjoy the city, we also are going to have to increase the ways we provide for public safety.

FG: How do you plan to vote on the ballot question about the casino repeal?

MC: I have said I will vote no to repeal casinos. We have made an investment in moving forward on this. I think we put together a statute and a plan that maximizes the economic opportunity and I hope minimizes some of the social ills, but it is up to voters.

FG: If there’s one thing you want your constituents, and particularly college students, to know about you, what would it be?

MC: Education has been key for me. It’s been so important in my life, even as a young woman to be the first in her spot to go through all four years at Williams College, to have a chance to go to law school. When I graduated from law school, my dad gave me a plaque that said, ‘Sometimes, the best man for the job is a woman.’ And particularly, as we see students as our future, and making sure that we provide safe, affordable and important learning experiences for them is really something I’m tuned into, that is important to me and I see as really the key to our future here in Massachusetts.