For the past several weeks, the MyGateway homepage has had a notice up that the University of Missouri - St. Louis is developing an administrative procedure to place registration holds on students who are not legally present in the United States.
This action is required by an act of the Missouri legislature, known as HB1549.
HB1549 imposes on the University of Missouri system the requirement that the University, whose finances are already reeling under a steep decline in the value of its endowment, act to inhibit its ability to collect tuition revenue from its students.
A student with a hold on his or her account cannot attend classes, or receive services; on the other hand, the University cannot charge tuition to such a student.
Thus the University's top line is compromised in the interest of conducting a mandatory witch hunt against immigrants who are trying to improve their lot in life.
HB1549, passed in May, has multiple provisions, all aimed at restricting the ability of immigrants to the United States, who are unable to give "affirmative proof" of the legality of their presence in this country, to contribute to the economic and intellectual advancement of the state of Missouri.
The most important provision of HB1549, as it relates to the University of Missouri system, states that "No alien unlawfully present in the United States shall receive any state or local public benefit," which is defined elsewhere in the section to include "postsecondary education."
Applicants for state or local public benefits "shall provide affirmative proof that [they are] a citizen or a permanent resident of the United States or … lawfully present in the United States … "
In response to that provision, the University of Missouri system has begun to impose what are known as "HB1549 holds" on student accounts. These "HB1549 holds" will be imposed when the registrar's office cannot confirm, electronically, that the student is legally in the United States.
Good luck with that. I tried to renew my automobile registration online last week, but the Missouri Department of Revenue could not confirm that I had paid my personal-property tax. How many students are going to have "HB1549 holds" placed on their student accounts because the data does not match up?
It is generally acknowledged that people who have a bachelor's degree, to say nothing of a postgraduate/professional degree, earn higher wages than people who do not have postsecondary credentials.
High wages also mean more consumer spending, without which there can be no economic recovery. In a time of near-universal economic collapse, public authorities should not enact policies which not only fail to serve the public interest, but work at cross purposes to the good of society.
Handicapping the development of the intellectual life of the state of Missouri in the interests of "getting tough" on illegal immigrants is not the way to go about enforcing federal or state immigration law.
HB1549 is wretched public policy. By enacting this knee-knocking, stomach-churning abomination of a bill, the Missouri Legislature has pitted itself against the University of Missouri system (and every other post-secondary school, public and private, in Missouri) their students, and indeed the people of Missouri.
Lawsuits apparently have been filed to block the implementation of some, or all, of the provisions of HB1549. The act should not have been passed in the first place. The Missouri Legislature should be ashamed of itself for having passed such a nasty, counterproductive bill. They have not served the people of Missouri well with this travesty.
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