Agnes Scott College Supports Its Dreamers

Today, Agnes Scott College President Elizabeth Kiss announced that the Decatur college will join Emory University in supporting its DACA students.

Last week, a group of more than 700 Emory University students, 100 faculty members, and 17 campus groups sent a letter to their administration urging them to ensure that the private university will be a “sanctuary campus” where Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students – typically referred to as “Dreamers” – can continue their studies and receive need-based financial aid from the university, thus drawing the ire of state Representative Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs), who threatened declared, “There’s a raft of state taxpayer dollars for private institutions, and I’m very sanguine about being able to pass a piece of legislation that says if you’re picking and choosing which laws you’re going to follow, state dollars aren’t going to follow.”

Loss of state funds isn’t a concern for any Scottie Dreamers, asserted Kiss.

“Agnes Scott’s DACA students do not receive a penny of state or federal aid,” Kiss stated. “They are bright, hard-working young women who have played by the rules, graduated from high school and passed a criminal background check. They want to become citizens of their country and pursue the American Dream.”

Kiss then doubled-down on her insouciance towards Ehrhart’s sanguinity, noting that Agnes Scott’s DACA students “are able to go to college because they receive private scholarship support which we raise from donors and foundations, and scrape together the rest of their college costs through the hard work of their families in housekeeping, construction, agriculture, hospitality, manufacturing and the U.S. military.” Nor do any of the academically qualified, high-achieving Scotties take spots from any qualified American prospective students.

Emory President Claire Sterk hasn’t decided whether Emory will be a “sanctuary campus,” and neither did Kiss make such a declaration. Both presidents seem steadfast in their support for their Dreamers – although perhaps their endowments ($6.68 billion for Emory’s nearly 15,000 students; $258 million for 943 Scotties) mitigate any concerns regarding lost state funds.