Thread: NC - Some NC Community College Leaders Want Immigrants

Some NC Community College Leaders Want Immigrants

The Associated Press
Published: Fri, Jun. 19, 2009 07:58AMModified Fri, Jun. 19, 2009 07:58AM

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Leaders of state community colleges say they want to reverse a ban on admission of illegal immigrants into the local North Carolina colleges.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Friday that some members of the state Board of Community Colleges said they favor reversing the ban on undocumented students. The ban has kept those students out of the state's 58 community colleges for the past year.

Board member Stuart Fountain says not allowing the immigrants to attend classes will create a "second-class citizenry."

The students would pay out-of-state tuition rates of about $7,000 a year.

A study commissioned by the system showed that South Carolina is the only other state that bans illegal immigrants.

http://www.newsobserver.com/1565/story/1575519.html

Comments (19)
Colleges want illegals allowed
'Second-class citizenry' feared
BY KRISTIN COLLINS - Staff Writer
Published: Fri, Jun. 19, 2009 02:00AMModified Fri, Jun. 19, 2009 05:14AM

ASHEBORO -- Some state community college leaders say they want to reopen their doors to illegal immigrants.

At a meeting Thursday, members of the state Board of Community Colleges said they favor reversing a ban that has kept undocumented students out of degree programs at the state's 58community colleges for the past year. It was the board's first public discussion of the issue since it exploded into a statewide controversy in late 2007.

Dr. Stuart Fountain, a retired Asheboro dentist who heads the board's policy committee, said the colleges should not stand in the way of any person who wants an education.

Who attended Thursday's meeting?The colleges board's Policy Committee has seven members:
Attended
Dr. Stuart Fountain of Asheboro
Jimmie Ford of Goldsboro
Anne-Marie Knighton of Edenton
Joanne Steiner of Wake Forest
Absent
Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton
Anita Powers of Wallace
Jim Daniels of Asheville

What's nextWhat's next
• The four members who attended Thursday will meet again Aug. 19. If they agree on a recommendation, they will take it to the full policy committee the same day.
• The full committee must agree on a recommended policy, which will be sent to the full 21-member board.
• The full board will debate and settle on a final policy.
• The policy will go through administrative code review, a state-mandated process that could take six to 18 months.
• The new policy becomes a permanent rule.

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"Without this option, we are creating a second-class citizenry," Fountain said, "a group of people who have no option but to go ahead and join a gang."

Other members agreed that educating undocumented immigrants would reduce their likelihood of committing crimes or depending on public resources.

"These young people are here with basically no fault of their own," said Joanne Steiner, a board member from Wake Forest. "I am highly opposed to creating a subculture of people who have no hope."

The four board members who attended the committee meeting at Randolph Community College agreed unanimously to draft a policy that would allow the admission of undocumented immigrants who graduated from U.S. high schools -- the same policy the UNC system uses.

As at UNC schools, the students would pay out-of-state tuition. The cost to out-of-state students is about $7,000 per year.

It was the board's first step toward crafting a policy since August, when they agreed to hire a consultant to study how other states handle the issue. The $75,000 study found that only one other state, South Carolina, bars illegal immigrants, and that students paying out-of-state tuition wouldn't burden taxpayers.

However, it will take several more months of meetings and discussion, along with a months-long administrative review, before any policy becomes final. It will be at least September before the full 21-member board, which includes Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton and state Treasurer Janet Cowell, vote on the policy.

The decision is sure to be politically dicey.

Activists who favor a crackdown on illegal immigration have promised noisy protests if undocumented students are admitted. And legislators could try to reverse the decision by passing a law that permanently bars illegal immigrants from the colleges.

Board members acknowledged that Thursday but said they felt that keeping an open door to all students, regardless of immigration status, was the right move.

"I just pray that they can afford to pay [out-of-state tuition]," said Jimmie Ford, a board member from Goldsboro.

Community college presidents, trustees and admissions officers who attended the meeting Thursday also voiced their support for allowing illegal immigrants to get degrees.

"It's not just these children," said Jean Groome, admissions director at Forsyth Tech. "It's the example set for their children and their children's children."


http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1575097.html

Related:

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-160123.html

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-160034.html

It is money into their pockets but out of the pocket of the NC Department of Education and NC taxpayers.

I agree with Richard. It's all about money. When colleges are found to have illegals enrolled they sould be fined heavily and that would remove the incentive to persue them. Of course they are going to fight for legalization so that they can circumvent that. That's where we come in and Roy Beck's bubblegum video that show's how illegal immigration and too much legal immigration will grow the population beyond our countries resources to support such a large population.