In recent years, immigrant rights organizations, students and social activists have called on U.S. higher education institutions to get behind state and federal legislative measures, such as the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform. While legislative action on immigration reform policies has been very limited, colleges and university campuses at least proved to be friendly places for discussion among those debating and advocating reform.
In the wake of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address during which he proclaimed that “leaders from the business, labor, law enforcement, faith communities … all agree that the time has come to pass comprehensive immigration reform,” higher education leaders appear to be joining the coalition of those behind immigration reform.
“I think we’re seeing a different type of coalition this time. I’m seeing more colleges and universities join the fight for immigration reform,” says Dr. Darrell West, vice president and director of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution think tank.
Last week’s open letter by three prominent college leaders sent to more than 1,200 university and college presidents urging their support for “immigration policies that will help attract and retain the world’s best and brightest” sent a clear message that higher education leaders are ready to join the reform coalition that President Obama noted in his State of the Union speech.
In their joint letter, Cornell University president David J. Skorton, Arizona State University president Michael M. Crow and Miami Dade College president Eduardo J. Padrón invite fellow college presidents to bring “attention to one of the biggest challenges facing our colleges and universities: How U.S. immigration laws impact our ability to attract, retain, and educate the world’s leading minds.” They wrote that on April 19 the three will host major events on their respective campuses to demonstrate that immigration drives innovation and leads to the creation of American jobs.
“Too often, however, our ability to educate and our ability to innovate are
frustrated by U.S. immigration laws. Particularly in the innovation-rich fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), we train many of the brightest minds of the world, only to have those students sent abroad to compete against us because our immigration laws do not provide a viable path for them to stay,” the letter states.
