In-state tuition bill all wrapped up in affirmitive action push at U. of MD?

Update May 20th:   More at Blue Ridge Forum, here.

Update May 18th:  Check out Brad Botwin of Help Save Maryland being interviewed on the in-state tuition bill, here.

I’ve heard from parents that this is happening at the Univ. of Maryland, but now comes news that at least one professor there is admitting that students with no special “story” are at a disadvantage when applying for coveted spots at the College Park campus of the state university.

And, will the in-state tuition bill, recently signed by Gov. O’Malley, make it even harder for highly qualified (but with no special circumstances) Maryland citizen students to get into state colleges?

From Fox News (hat tip: Cecil Calvert):

This week, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley signed a bill to require the state’s public universities to give undocumented aliens — generally illegal — in-state tuition privileges.

The bill, known as the Dream Act, is already the law in ten other states, including California, New York, Texas and Illinois.

But critics argue that the bill will give illegal aliens better treatment than Americans and legal immigrants — thanks to existing diversity policies at universities.

University of Maryland (College Park) computer science Prof. James Purtilo told FoxNews.com that, during his time as an associate dean, he frequently saw admission officers favor students because of their “undocumented” status.

“They favor students with special circumstances. ‘Undocumented alien’ would be one of these special circumstances… They help fill out the diversity picture for the admissions office.”

“It was just the norm,” Purtillo added, “that obviously we need more of these students [undocumented aliens]… ‘this student has a real story to tell’ would be a common thing the admissions officers would say. Or that ‘they’re enriching the College Park experience.’”

University of Maryland spokesman Millree Williams said because admissions staff were either busy with commencement ceremonies or on vacation, he was unable to answer questions about the university’s affirmative action policies as of Tuesday morning.

Hispanics:  Don’t check the “white” box!

“Almost everyone who would benefit from the DREAM act would also benefit from affirmative action,” Steven Camarota, the research director for the think tank Center for Immigration Studies told FoxNews.com.

“A state school wouldn’t say, well, you’re a Dream Act kid, so you don’t get affirmative action,” he added. “I worked in admissions at a small college for a while (at Juniata, Pa.) and the affirmative action stuff just runs on auto pilot. If you check the box, you get put in the [affirmative action] applicant pool. That’s just how it works.
“We have to ask the question: Can you have mass immigration and affirmative action? Does that lead to a just social policy?”

Affirmative action benefits can be substantial. A study of selective universities by Princeton sociologists Thomas Espenshade and Alexandria Radford found that listing one’s race as “Hispanic” instead of ‘White” increased the likelihood of being admitted by the same amount as scoring an extra 130 points on the SAT. Compared to Asians, the study found, Hispanics receive a 240-point advantage.

Please read the whole article, there is some excellent information in it.

And read this too to better understand what is happening in our universities.  Richard Falknor at Blue Ridge Forum warned us two years ago about the so-called “cultural diversity” being mandated by the state legislature for Maryland colleges.   In my opinion, the instate-tuition bill is just one more piece of that Marxist plan.

See how our Maryland Senators and Delegates voted in 2008 for the cultural diversity initiative, reported in that same Blue Ridge Forum post:

The scandal is that last year seven out of fourteen Republican state senators voted for this dangerous diversity measure (two Republicans took a walk), and fourteen out of then-37 Republican delegates also supported it.

For further understanding of the situation we are in with Maryland colleges see the “Legal Roadmap” for strengthening campus diversity from our Attorney General (with further political ambitions) Douglas Gansler, here.

You can do you part to begin to halt The Plan by going to MD Petitions and signing the petition for a referendum in 2012 on in-state tuition for illegal aliens.

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