University of California president earmarks $5M to help students living in US illegally

SAN FRANCISCO — University of California President Janet Napolitano said Wednesday she is devoting $5 million to provide special counseling and financial aid for students living in the U.S. illegally, a move aimed at disarming critics who worried she would be hostile to the small but vocal student population.

The former Homeland Security Secretary announced the initiative in her first public address since she became head of the 10-campus university system a month ago — an evening appearance in San Francisco organized by the Commonwealth Club. She also pledged $10 million for recruiting and training graduate students and research fellows.

“Let me be clear. UC welcomes all students who qualify academically, whether they are documented or undocumented,” she said in prepared remarks released by her office before the speech. “Consider this a down payment — one more piece of evidence of our commitment to all Californians.”

Napolitano said the money would be used “to support these students with resources like trained advisers, student service centers and financial aid,” but did not immediately offer details about its source or possible conditions on its use.

University officials estimate that out of a total student population of 239,000, the system enrolls about 900 students who were brought into the country illegally as children, a group of immigrants known as “Dreamers” because of the stalled U.S. Dream Act that would give certain youth a path to permanent residency.

As part of a bill signed by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, California this year started allowing students who are not legal U.S. residents and are therefore ineligible for most types of federal financial aid to apply for state grants and scholarships.

Via: Washington Post

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'Militaristic' Napolitano hit with laundry list of demands from liberal UCal groups

She is going to do to the California Universities what she did to this country.  Ruin it.

Janet Napolitano's experience dealing with terror threats while secretary of Homeland Security may come in handy at her new gig as president of the University of California system, where liberal students have already presented her with a list of wacky demands.

A letter endorsed by nearly a dozen student groups includes the phrase: “We demand that you implement the following across the UC system.” Those demands include making the system a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants, barring the use of system funds or resources going to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement (which Napolitano oversaw in her previous job), impose mandatory sensitivity training on campus police and prohibit police from interfering with student demonstrations.

“As people of color, queer, undocumented, womyn (sic), and allies within the UC system, our work is to ensure that the UC is inclusive to our communities ..."

- Letter from student activists to incoming UCal President Janet Napolitano

“As people of color, queer, undocumented, womyn (sic), and allies within the UC system, our work is to ensure that the UC is inclusive to our communities and that the UC system lives up to its mission ‘to serve as a center of higher learning,’” reads the letter, which was initially published on DreamActivist.org Sunday.

It goes on to cite Napolitano’s “specific experience in managing militaristic entities” as reasons why they are “uneasy” about her taking over the system. Napolitano, who oversaw the deportation of 1.6 million illegal aliens during the first term of President Obama, last month became the first woman appointed to head the sprawling system.

Via: Fox News

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‘Big Sis’ Napolitano Bad Choice for UC

With its 10 campuses, nearly 200,000 staff and $20 billion annual budget, the University of California system is emblematic of the state government that pays a portion of UC’s bills: enormous, unruly, overly expensive, steeped in politics, dominated by unions and other special-interest groups and plagued with controversy.

California voters in 2010 turned the reins of government over to Jerry Brown, who has — despite his whimsical rhetoric — governed as the ultimate status-quo politician, protecting the state bureaucracy from reform.

Likewise, the UC regents have decided to choose a status-quo candidate as president, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Regent Sherry Lansing said in a statement that some might find Napolitano to be an “unconventional choice,” but that’s incorrect. Napolitano is as conventional a choice as you could make to run a large bureaucracy, even if she has no serious academic experience.

Based on her tenure in the federal government, she will be an advocate for higher spending, expanded unionization and more of everything that has undermined the university system.

Just when the UC system needed someone who might implement competitive reforms and focus on cost-cutting, the regents turn to a Washington insider more apt to keep federal funds flowing and student aid primed than to stretch the large budget already in place.

The University of California has been embroiled in many scandals in recent years. In one case, administrators enriched themselves, their friends and lovers, even as they were hiking tuition rates for students.

Via: California Political Review

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