Time was when such icons of N.C. public life and progressive politics as UNC President Emeritus Bill Friday and former Gov. Jim Hunt set a standard for Democratic politicians aspiring to higher office. In April 2005, Hunt and Friday and several legislators, including a few Republicans as well as Democrats, were proposing allowing illegal immigrants to attend public colleges in North Carolina at in-state tuition rates. Undocumented students who spent four years in and graduated from N.C. high schools, and who qualified academically for admission, could attend at in-state rates. There were some undocumented students attending some campuses at out-of-state rates, but no one seemed to know how many there were. The higher rates for out-of-stte tuition were thought to be a big barrier.
But then-Gov. Mike Easley said he thought federal law would prohibit their attending at in-state rates, though a number of other states allowed it, and after Rush Limbaugh ridiculed the idea, it died in the legislature.
Two years later, when the immigration debate had heated up somewhat, Easley offered another view: admitting illegal aliens to public colleges at out-of-state rates made sense because it at least didn't cost the state any money out of pocket and because it would give them some training to perform work if and when they became legalized citizens. Easley thought illegal immigrants ought to be required to go to school, in fact.
But in the 2008 election, the state Community College system changed its policy to bar illegal immigrants at any price. Among those driving the policy change was then-Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue, running for governor. She won election narrowly last fall.
After more than a year of study, the system's governing board last month reversed itself once again, voting to allow illegal immigrants to attend at out-of-state rates as long as they didn't take the place of any legal students. Still opposed to admitting illegal immigrants are Gov. Bev Perdue, as well as Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, now a member of the community colleges board, though they haven't worked hard to keep them out. Still, illegal immigrants evidently won't be allowed to enroll before next fall, though.
Democrats such as Perdue and Dalton generally hold in high regard the views of a former education governor such as Jim Hunt or a lion of American higher education such as Bill Friday. But on the issue of illegal immigrants in public colleges, their view is more in line with Republicans in the legislature who hope to push legislation next year to prohibit the admission of undocumented students.
That puts Perdue and Dalton at odds with the 2005 views of Friday and Hunt on this one issue, and complicates their chances of becoming known as education governors, if they want to earn that recognition. But it's also worth noting this verity: Friday and Hunt don't have to run for re-election.
