A.R.E. OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLES COLLEGE OF LAW
RE: DISCRIMINATORY ADMISSIONS POLICIES REGARDING UNDOCUMENTED STUDENTS
January 8, 2010
Dear Peoples College of Law,
The Association of Raza Educators (A.R.E.) applauds your efforts to "bring legal resources to under-represented communities and train legal advocates to secure progressive social change and justice in society." [1] Furthermore, we are pleased to hear that progressive attorneys and advocates for the disenfranchised have come from your ranks. We embrace your stated goals of recruiting progressive law students who "have demonstrated a commitment to progressive social change."
However, we have received notice that an otherwise qualified student is currently denied admission to your school by virtue her immigration status. The Association of Raza Educators implores you to open your admissions to all students, regardless of immigration status, and pro-actively recruit working class, raza students who demonstrate not only progressive politics but a true commitment and record of advocacy for the rights of the disenfranchised.
There are an estimated 65,000 undocumented students that graduate from U.S. high schools each year, the bulk of whom have lived in the country for more than five years and are of Latino/a descent. Federal funds are denied to them, as are the majority of private scholarships. Yet a select few of these students, assisted by AB540 in California, have navigated through higher education, are now graduating, and seek to further their studies as social workers, teachers, attorneys, doctors, etc. Moreover, in your current admissions application, these immigrant students, despite being fully qualified and aligned with PCL's progressive mission, are denied admissions to PCL. Despite official PCL statements such as, "At the present time we are only able to take permanent residents, green cards or social security numbers," [2] or "All students at PCL as well as every other law school in California must register with the California Bar as a law student and this requires the student to have a legal right to be in the US," [3] undocumented students are, however, permitted to attend other accredited and unaccredited law schools and are doing so in increasing numbers. [4]
After repeated attempts by A.R.E. members and others to bring this issue to the PCL Board, the Association of Raza Educators now demands that this student, and others who may have been denied admissions to PCL, be formally notified that admissions to the Peoples College of Law is open to all students regardless of their immigrant status. Further, given the unsubstantiated statements by PCL Board members regarding why they cannot admit undocumented students, we are requesting that a letter of apology be written immediately to this student. Finally, we strongly suggest that PCL Board members and admissions staff receive cultural sensitivity training in working with undocumented students. We have every reason to believe that the way the situation is being handled, and the way PCL representatives have interacted with this student, discount the psychological terrorism that undocumented immigrants repeatedly encounter with school administrators and officials who many times do not understand their situation nor are looking out for their interests.
Sincerely,
The Association of Raza Educators, Los Angeles Chapter
NOTES
[1] General Information About Peoples College of Law.
http://peopleslaw.pbworks.com/about
[2] Formal email response by Interim Administrator to prospective applicant asking about the Social Security Number requirement on the Peoples College of Law admissions application, dated June 24, 2009.
[3] Formal email response by PCL Admissions Committee representative, dated September 22, 2009.
[4] The pretext that undocumented students are not allowed to take the California Bar is unwarranted, given the California Bar's official statement that "there is no requirement of citizenship or residency" to practice law in California. See
http://search.calbar.ca.gov/search?start=0&restrict=&client=default_frontend&site=public_collection&output=xml_no_dtd&num=10&filter=1&ie=&lr=&oe=&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&q=cache:BR8kpVocRNoJ:http://calbar.ca.gov/calbar/pdfs/admissions/Outside-Ed-Qualif.pdf+residency+requirement
A.R.E. OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLES COLLEGE OF LAW
