Suzanne Roehrig

Suzanne Roehrig earned a high school diploma from Servite High School and a graduate degree from Wayne State University in 2003. Her career experience includes working as a teacher.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I’m a long time teacher and librarian. I started college 9 months pregnant and soon became a single mother. With no real skills to support my child and myself, I saw college as an opportunity to improve my life. But it came with an enormous cost: student loan debt. I have listened to working class students’ express their struggle to afford a college education. Enormous student debt has become normalized. There is plenty of money, but it’s going to wars and corporate tax breaks. The Working Class Party believes education is a right, and should be accessible to all and funded with no limitations.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Student loan debt: I have listened to working class students’ express their struggle to afford a college education.There is plenty of money, but it’s going to wars and corporate tax breaks.The Working Class Party believes education is a right, and should be accessible to all and funded with no limitations.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

The Working Class Party was established to voice the concerns of the working class. According to a former dean of admissions for MIT, the Pell Grant, which supports working class students, is facing a deficit of billions. Federal and state funding has been gutted and loans for graduate students have been slashed. There is enough money to fund a free higher educational system in this country. If free or minimal cost higher education can exist in other countries why not here? We must fight to redirect our tax money to where it meets our needs. If universities are truly a place of learning, exploration and debate, freedoms of speech, to assemble and protest should be essential rights on campus.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Eugene Debs: He believed education is a vital instrument for working class emancipation and political awakening.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Expanding access to college and allowing freedom of speech to include protesting on campuses. Expanding access to higher education means first addressing the cost of tuition, housing, transportation and affordable food. On the campus of WSU in 2024, the police shut down protests against the war in Gaza by the request of WSU. If universities are truly a place of learning, exploration and debate, freedoms of speech, to assemble and protest should be essential rights on campus. If elected along with students and faculty I would organize a fight for these rights.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Upholding the rights of students and faculty to protest and fighting to increase wages for staff and decrease the cost of education for students.

Suzanne Roehrig did not complete [the profile publisher]'s 2024 Candidate Connection survey.