Editor’s note: The following is an open letter from the Asian Pacific Coalition at UCLA to University of California President Janet Napolitano, addressing a $5 million allocation she announced last month, which will go toward work-study positions and loans for undocumented students.
To Janet Napolitano, president of the University of California:
We, the Asian Pacific Coalition at University of California, Los Angeles, are a collective of 24 Asian American and Pacific Islander organizations. We are the official voice of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community on campus. Through our Principles of Unity, a code by which our organization abides, we stand for the right of underrepresented communities to access higher education. In particular, we are writing in support of the undocumented community and to urge that you direct your pledged $5 million, that are currently dedicated to loans and work-study programs, to other forms of financial aid for the undocumented community.
A decision to offer undocumented students more loans is troubling, as it ignores the struggles that they already face. For undocumented students, the pursuit of higher education is already a huge financial burden. Undocumented students are ineligible to receive many scholarships that require the applicant to have residential status. With student loans nationwide totaling more than $1.2 trillion, loans are problematic in themselves. Loans are especially hard to pay off for the undocumented community because of the complications of becoming eligible to apply for a job.
Of the approximately 11 million undocumented people in the United States, as estimated in 2011, roughly one million of them were Asian and Pacific Islanders. Asian and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing population in the United States today and represent the second-largest group of DREAMers.
Our histories are grounded in the immigrant and refugee experience, in which many of our ancestors have either escaped political persecution and wars in their home countries in the pursuit of freedom, or were in search of better opportunities promised by the American dream. Some have navigated toward the American dream through higher education, and as members of the workforce have contributed greatly to our economy. By offering loans instead of financial aid such as scholarships, you are currently creating more barriers forthe undocumented students in their journey toward higher education.
As John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, said in a hearing, undocumented students “are the ones who first learn English. They are the ones who learn American history and culture from school and their friends. It is our history and culture that they think of as theirs. And they are the ones who help their parents navigate bureaucracies, health care and jobs.”
To undocumented students, America has been what they call home.
We want you to fulfill the promise that you originally made. In your first public address as UC president, on Oct. 30, you stated that undocumented students “are students who deserve the opportunity to succeed and to thrive at UC.” In recognizing the right to higher education for underrepresented communities, we are demanding that the UC maintains its commitment to being a public institution that strengthens the academic achievement of students in communities throughout California. As the Office of the President manages the University’s public mission, you are directly accountable for the commitments made to ensure the academic success of all of California’s communities.
We stand in solidarity not only with undocumented Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, but with all undocumented students across the UC. We demand that you, Janet Napolitano, redirect the $5 million that you promised to dedicate to the undocumented community to scholarships to aid them in their pursuit of higher education.
Signed,
Asian Pacific Coalition at UCLA
Uyen Hoang
Director
Jazz Kiang
Assistant director of external affairs
Daniel Nguyen
Leadership development coordinator
Tony Tonnu
Social and cultural coordinator
Nicole Ngaosi
Academic affairs coordinator
Olivia Tran
LGBTQ programmer
Alice Giang
Asian Pacific Islander graduation coordinator
Heidi Leung
Administrative coordinator
Jimmy Nguyen
Co-community outreach coordinator
Jenny Chhea
Co-community outreach coordinator
Tiffany Mio Hamamoto
Alumni relations coordinator