OUR TAKE What's Cindy Carlisle thinking?
June 13, 2008

This week, CU Regent and Colorado Senate candidate Cindy Carlisle dropped a small bombshell in the midst of an otherwise bland Senate District 18 campaign: if elected, she said, she would introduce a bill allowing undocumented students the opportunity to attend college -- with conditions attached -- at in-state tuition rates.

It's just the sort of thing that, with any amount of thought at all, will get the gears smoking in even the most bleeding-heart liberal's brain. Wouldn't it be great to be the kind of community with enough compassion for the human condition that even people who came to the United States and remain here illegally can get a world-class education for just a fraction of what it would cost someone from, say, Kansas?

Then again, what about that hard-working kid from Kansas who has done everything right, never broken the law, studied hard with the singular purpose of getting the opportunity to attend the University of Colorado after high school? She's still going to have to pay out-of-state rates, which could mean staying home and attending KU (God forbid). Is it fair to make our own law-abiding citizens pay full price for something an illegal immigrant can get on sale?

Carlisle's decision to make a statement about such a controversial issue has to be chalked up, at least in part, to pandering to the quintessential Boulderite who at times has more compassion than common sense. She talked in the pages of the Daily about a young Salvadoran woman from an impoverished, war-torn, earthquake-stricken village who befriended Carlisle's daughter. The young woman was valedictorian of her high school class, but had few opportunities back home, so Carlisle and her family sponsored the girl's education in Colorado, where she enrolled at CU's International English Center.

Carlisle says the woman did very well there, and soon enrolled in college, but not at CU or any of the state's premier institutions. She couldn't afford the tuition, so instead had to attend Front Range Community College. She got an associate's degree and was later accepted to Regis University in Denver.

It's a heartwarming story to be sure, but it doesn't reflect the real challenges of the bill Carlisle said she will propose. Not only would any such legislation be unfair to U.S. citizens, but also to legal immigrants who have to jump through all sorts of hoops to enter this country and stay here for any length of time. Why allow undocumented immigrants the opportunity to jump ahead in line?

So why would Carlisle bring such a hot-button issue into the campaign? While her opponent, Rollie Heath, has been talking about TABOR reform, the economy and other nuts and bolts issues facing the legislature, Carlisle is trying to appeal to the liberal base of Boulder with what amounts to a fringe issue.

Maybe it's because talking about such an issue just might get her elected here in Boulder. Carlisle's proposal would give the undocumented children of undocumented workers the same tuition rate granted to citizen children of undocumented workers. Such laws are already on the books in ten other states.

Carlisle says she'd also like to make available scholarships to attend Colorado schools for qualified non-citizens and to undocumented high school graduates. Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico do this today.

On her Web site, Carlisle goes even further, saying "Colorado political leaders must keep the pressure on Washington to still the xenophobic hysteria, suppress the nativist bigotry, and fulfill the federal responsibility to enact comprehensive immigration reform." It's not the kind of thing that would fly in most parts of the state, but here in Boulder it just might give Carlisle the edge.

http://www.coloradodaily.com/news/2008/ ... e-time-to/