The Clipboard: Pol aims to oust foreigners from state colleges

From an article¹:

Bay State students who hail from seven terrorism-sponsoring nations would be summarily ejected from public colleges and universities under a new Republican bill that sparked accusations of a witch hunt from Islamic activists and civil libertarians. (link)

What the HELL?!

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Complete text of the article, Pol aims to oust foreigners from state, by Elisabeth J. Beardsley and David R. Guarino

Bay State students who hail from seven terrorism-sponsoring nations would be summarily ejected from public colleges and universities under a new Republican bill that sparked accusations of a witch hunt from Islamic activists and civil libertarians.


``If Saddam wants to send Uday or Qusay over to go to UMass-Amherst, I would like to say we don't accept them,'' said House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, who filed the controversial legislation.

The bill, which faces an uphill battle through the House and Senate, would deny a taxpayer-funded education to citizens of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Cuba, North Korea and Sudan.

Those seven countries have been identified as terrorism sponsors by President Bush's State Department.

Modeled after a similar proposal in Indiana, Jones' bill would ban any new state college enrollees from the blacklisted countries - and force existing students to finish the semester and pack their bags.

Students could avoid being kicked to the curb by disavowing their homeland and converting to United States citizenry, Jones (R-North Reading) said.

At least 42 current students would face expulsion under the bill, including 18 from Iran, 10 from North Korea, six from Sudan, two from Libya, and three apiece from Cuba and Syria, according to data provided by higher education officials.

No Iraqi nationals are currently enrolled at the 15 state colleges, 29 community colleges or the five campuses of the University of Massachusetts, officials said.

Student activists cried foul, saying it's un-American to blindly padlock the schoolhouse doors over free-floating fears of terrorism.

UMass Boston Student Senate President Tuan Pham, a Vietnam native who's lived here for 17 years, bluntly branded the bill as ``wrong.''

``As an immigrant I know what it means, the value of an education,'' Pham said. ``The United States is not a country where we should deny access to public higher education.''

Islamic activists protested that the bill smacks of an anti-Muslim witch hunt.

``That's the problem in right wing circles nowadays - they view all Muslims as suspects,'' said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Jones insisted he's only targeting evildoers - disputing the anti-Muslim allegation by pointing to the list's inclusion of non-Islamic nations like Cuba and North Korea.

``This is a pretty exclusive list, and I don't think you get on that list by shooting spitballs across the table at UN meetings at Colin Powell,'' Jones said.

UMass officials reacted coolly, saying the school takes ``tremendous pride'' in its international students while noting that federal civil rights law bans discrimination over national origin.

The university has complied fully with new federal rules requiring schools to track foreign students, officials said.

``We're very cognizant of those (security) responsibilities, but also cognizant of the rights people have once they enter the United States,'' said UMass spokesman Robert Connolly.

Civil libertarians also took Jones to task, saying no proposal ``this extreme'' has surfaced in any other state.

``Albert Einstein wouldn't be allowed to go to a state college under this because he was from Nazi Germany,'' said Norma Shapiro of the ACLU of Massachusetts. ``It's a foolish overreaction.''

reference=http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/stud05292003.htm