Thursday, May 6, 2010

Shelton takes a firmly ambiguous stand on SB1070


In a memo sent to the campus community on April 29th, it began to look like UA's President Shelton was about to join the hoards of others opposing SB 1070- the new immigration law that would require the police to verify the immigration status of, well, anyone.

It looks like Shelton is about to denounce 1070, something over a thousand campus community members did at yesterday's protest: "On any given day there are literally hundreds of people here from around the globe. They come to our campus to learn, to collaborate in research projects, and to share the products of their own scholarship."

Sadly, the memo dissolves into political pandering.

Despite the fact that: "We have already begun to feel an impact from SB1070. The families of a number of out-of-state students (to date all of them honors students) have told us that they are changing their plans and will be sending their children to universities in other states," Shelton insists that UAPD will be extensively trained in how to enforce SB 1070 (as if they weren't busy enough with all the pot-smoking and loud partying that goes on around here.)

Although Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, Tucson City Council, and countless others have publicly opposed the law, Shelton has not taken a stand. Do you think he should? Send him an e-mail: robert.shelton@arizona.edu

2 comments:

Stephen said...

As an employee of the state of Arizona, President Shelton is not free to take a stand on issues such as SB1070 or Prop 100. However, it seems he did (wrongly) during his address to GPSC in March.

Sally Gradstudent said...

Several employees of the state have taken a stance on SB 1070, and Shelton has issued statements on various political issues in the past, such as gun legislation that would allow concealed carry on campuses.


Shelton did not advocate for one way or the other on Prop 100 in the GPSC meeting in March. As usual, the Wildcat erroneously reported that he did. What really happened is that he stated some facts (i.e. the university will sustain $41 million more in cuts if Prop 100 does not pass.) He did not, however, suggest which way anyone should or should not vote.