By David M. Greenwald
UC Davis – As UC Davis “strives to create, foster, and maintain an environment that provides support for students to feel safe, supported, and respected” the ASUCD Senate unanimously passed a resolution: “Resolution asking for the end of the use of the terms ‘illegal’ and ‘alien’ when used to denigrate immigrants, reify superfluous legal language, or deny all UC Davis members equal access to resources and support.”
According to the resolution, “the campus is committed to fostering mutual understanding and respect among staff, faculty and students” and, at the same time, “the University acknowledges the acute need to remove barriers to the recruitment, retention, and advancement of students, faculty, and staff from historically excluded populations who are currently under-resourced.”
The university has committed to “unequivocal” and “longstanding” support for undocumented students and states in its Principles of Community that it “affirms the dignity inherent in all of us and strives to maintain a climate of equity and justice demonstrated by respect for one another.”
The resolution argues that “the ‘A-word’ and ‘I-word’ have an isolating, disorienting, and dehumanizing effect disproportionately impacting students from immigrant backgrounds.”
Moreover, they write, “undocumented students at UC Davis have expressed their concerns with peer students, staff, and faculty using the ‘A-words’ and the ‘I-words’” and add, “the ‘I-word’ is a legally inaccurate personal descriptor to ascribe to individuals beyond one’s self, since being out of status is a civil rather than criminal infraction.”
Statements statements collected through social media and word-of-mouth by AB 540 (regarding undocumented students’ exemption from paying nonresident tuition) and the Undocumented Student Center in response to the question, “How do you feel when you hear the word ‘illegal’ or ‘alien’?” reveals that a member of the community feels that the words are “hurtful and insensitive.”
Another member of the community said they feel these words make them feel “worthless and invisible” and others have said that these words are “dehumanizing,” and they do not feel comfortable when others use those terms.
Kevin R. Johnson, Dean of King Law School at UC Davis, affirmed in the University of Miami Inter-American Law Review that the concept of the “alien” “bears the social consequences of reinforcing nativist sentiments toward members of new immigrant groups while influencing U.S. responses to immigration and human rights issues.”
The Biden administration, in the U.S Citizenship Act on February 18, 2021, writes that “the bill further recognizes America as a nation of immigrants by changing the word “alien” to “noncitizen” in our immigration laws.”
At the January 20, 2021, Board of Regents meeting, the Office of the President affirmed that “the University of California needs to continue awareness of the needs of the University’s undocumented immigrant community members, combined with advocacy at the University, state and national levels for immigrant-just policies to continue UC’s support of undocumented students.”
Pablo G. Reguerín, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, and Renetta Garrison Tull, Vice Chancellor of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in a statement put out on April 09, 2021, affirmed their commitment to the undocumented community by stating, “Our dedication to our undocumented community is unwavering, and we are prepared to be responsive in overcoming barriers to student success.”
The resolution concludes, saying “we affirm the dignity and human rights of all persons, believe no human being is ‘illegal’ or ‘alien,’ and urge faculty, staff, and students to use language that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion” and ASUCD “urges that all administration, staff, and faculty complete UndocuAdvocate Program for Educators (UPE), a training offered through the AB 540 and Undocumented Student Center on campus, to gain a better understanding of undocumented and immigrant student experiences and to create a more accessible, equitable experience for undocumented and immigrant students at UC Davis.”
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Support our work – to become a sustaining at $5 – $10- $25 per month hit the link:
My neighbors that have been bullying the Venusian tending the illegal pot grow in my backyard greenhouse are going to be very disappointed hearing this news.
Y’know what would really help, Joe? Decide on a number, even a really big number, on how many people can immigrate, and then support and enforce that. And create a worker program so workers can come here legally and not have to endure a death-defying (or fatal) trek across the border to work nor concern of being deported. But neither Dems nor Repubs have ever fixed this even when they could have – because having the issue does them more good politically then solving the issue. And so the people suffer and the politicians continue with relatively meaningless gestures like making words illegal.
One time I agree with Alan… better check my thermometer
Actually Alan had better check his.
In 2013 an immigration reform bill that was a bipartisan compromise passed the U.S. Senate and would have been signed by President Obama. Why did it not get to his desk?
God bless the man who tells us 😐
I assumed that anyone who would say
would be familiar with the history of immigration reform legislation in this country.
Speaker Boehner, following the Hastert Rule, refused to allow the bill to come to the floor of the House for a vote. A minority of Republicans and a majority of Democrats would have voted for it, according to reports at the time. But the very conservative R caucus was opposed and the Hastert Rule prevailed.
That was the last, best chance we had for immigration reform passing Congress and getting signed into law. And that one is entirely on the Republicans. Basic analysis at the time was that they were so afraid of their Tea Party base that they refused to allow it to move forward.
Hastert Rule – Wikipedia
Note Hastert’s party affiliation… yet, it is not a “rule” according to him, but a ‘guideline’… a usurpation of power… unconstitutional… if ANY Republican or Democrat invokes it, they should be removed from office, in disgrace… and criminal charges, up to, and including, treason should be considered…
Just one person’s opinion…
How anybody could be admitted to university being undocumented or illegally living in USA .
It is my understanding that by the new law illegals would be renamed to “undocumented noncitizen ” Sovietization of America is in progress . New Normal
THANK YOU UCD!
For saving my family the money we had set aside to put our son through your corridors!
Going to pay for an education somewhere else instead of a brainwashing at home.
I guess I’ll point out two things:
A. That was an advisory vote by ASUCD, not binding and not by the university
B. I’ll be curious to know which school you will send your son too, it will probably have to be out of state or private.
Third:
C. UCD has record numbers of applicants. So I don’t suspect they’ll be hurting by your move.
Without borders, there is no country. Without countries there is no way to have laws, unless you think there should be one world government or some nonsense.
The fact that people will commit crime is no reason to not punish them, or attempt to stop them. We don’t just let people murder each other because people are always going to do it anyway Having a war on people murdering each other does not make it worse for everyone. And allowing every illegal alien who wants to enter the USA to enter does not make it better for everyone. It makes it better for those outside the USA who want to live here. But that’s not what the American government should be concerned with at all.
This is just one person’s opinion.