A coalition of campus groups across the University of California that support undocumented students officially opposed the nomination of Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano as the next UC president, in a statement released early Thursday.
The groups said that Napolitano’s record numbers of deportations while working in her federal post would compromise the feelings of safety that undocumented students have on campus.
“Although Ms. Napolitano’s appointment as the first woman to lead the UC system is historic, we believe that a candidate’s relevance to our diverse student community is more important than any other quality,” the statement reads.
The statement also said that the UC Student Association’s previous press release about Napolitano, which praised her nomination, was not representative of the undocumented student community’s views.
UCLA’s Improving Dreams, Equality, Access and Success, a support group for undocumented students, signed Thursday’s statement. The president’s and external vice president’s offices of UCLA’s Undergraduate Student Association said they support the statement in solidarity, according to the press release.
UCLA’s Afrikan Student Union, MEChA de UCLA, Muslim Student Association and Samahang Pilipino student groups also said they support the statement, according to the press release.
The UC Board of Regents will decide on Napolitano’s nomination and set the new president’s salary at its meeting today at 1 p.m. Napolitano will be present at the meeting in San Francisco.
Compiled by Kristen Taketa, Bruin senior staff.
This is a bunch of crap. Napolitano is a fine choice for head of the UC, and the idea of her being punished for looking first for the needs of students here by legal means rather than putting them on the back-burner behind the needs of students who aren’t even legal here is appalling. My parents are both immigrants to the US, and came here each with no more than $300. They worked their way up legally to where they could send me to UCLA. They took pride in hard work, not handouts – in taking action, not being coddled. Napolitano has done wonderful work in the Obama administration, and I’m looking forward to seeing her in charge.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. I come from San Bernardino, which is a low-income city. So I don’t want to hear people complain that people don’t understand what it’s like. Because there’s a difference in facing challenges head-on and overcoming them and expecting a sense of entitlement because you’re facing challenges.
I agree with everything you said, though I feel for the students who are punished for the mistakes their parents made. Punishing a child for their parents’ mistakes is a little archaic.
LOL! Those groups will OBEY Fuhrer Obama. Notice how they are hating on Jan the Man Napolitano but give their Messiah a free pass.
My beef with her appointment has to do with her qualifications for this job. I can’t see how being the Secy of Homeland Security has anything to do with higher education? She doesn’t even have an impressive educational background herself. UCOP and the regents are useless.
Regardless of your opinions on Napolitano’s past record in an unrelated job, this is the least effective path students could take. Admonishing the Regents for their choice of appointment is one thing, but publicly condemning a new president and potential ally is another. There is no reason to direct all this animosity towards Janet Napolitano; no student resolution or letter is going to reverse the appointment, so the only rational course of action would be to start trying to work with her. Getting to yell about something can be fun, but it is not in the students’ best interest to start this relationship off on a bad foot. She may not be the most qualified for this position, but actions like that taken at the UCSA Congress this past weekend only serve to put us at a disadvantage.