Experts discuss illegal immigrants, education

The FedEx Global Education Center was alive with discussion Thursday evening when experts gathered to debate and discuss the issue of illegal immigrants and their access to higher education in North Carolina.

The Parr Center for Ethics sponsored the panel discussion, titled “Undocumented Immigrants in America: Access to Higher Education,” which brought together scholars with a variety of backgrounds to discuss issues surrounding immigration.

The presence of experts with differing opinions was intended to make the discussion more ideologically representative.

But one of the invited conservative panelists was unable to attend, and some students and experts said the discussion felt unbalanced.

The panelists discussed a variety of issues, including the morality of denying illegal immigrants access to higher education, the challenges posed to school systems by a flood of non-native English speakers, the complexities of citizenship and the issues surrounding second-generation students with illegal immigrant parents.

The panel was composed of six members:

n?Paul Cuadros, assistant professor of journalism at UNC;

n?Hannah Gill, assistant director of the Institute for the Study of the Americas at UNC;

n?Noah Pickus, director of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University;

n?Niklaus Steiner, director of the Center for Global Initiatives at UNC;

n?Ron Woodard, director of the nonprofit group N.C. Listen;

n Ron Bilbao, senior undergraduate student and founder of the Coalition for College Access.

Deborah Weissman, director of clinical programs at the UNC School of Law, moderated the discussion.

Woodard, the most conservative voice in the discussion, said he felt alone in his viewpoints.

“I feel like I’m one against six,” he said.

Caudros, who also authored the summer reading book, “A Home on the Field” — which tells the story of his experience coaching a high school soccer team of immigrants — said he believed the discussion went well but would have benefited from the presence of an additional conservative voice.

 Junior international studies and political science major Natasha Prados said she also thought the panel could have used a better ideological balance.

“It would have been nice to see more equal representation of viewpoints,” she said.

 But Prados said participants made a noticeable effort not to dominate or attack the singular conservative panelist and maintained a respectful discussion.

“Everybody was looking to promote discussion, not to sling arrows.”


Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.