Susan Svrluga, a higher education reporter for the Grade Point Blog of the Washington Post, reported that teacher union leader, Randi Weingarten, and Sara Goldrick-Rab, the founder and director of HOPE Lab support President Obama’s free community college initiative. Randi Weingarten is the American Federation of Teachers, AFT, leader, and Sara Goldrick-Rab’s research lab pursues affordable higher education. Sara is also a University of Wisconsin-Madison educational policy studies and sociology professor, and serves on the higher education policy council of AFT. Both Randi and Sara who are strong advocates of the free community college initiative shared that the City University of New York experienced success in an identical program.