Deal signs “sanctuary campus” funding revocation bill into law
It was one of the most contentious pieces of legislation of the 2017 session but it is a piece of legislation no more. Governor Deal has signed into law the bill which revokes state funding for colleges and universities that provide safe havens for illegal immigrants.
The bill came on the heels of publicity regarding Emory’s creating a sanctuary city-like environment on campus, where students would be protected from federal authorities seeking to detain and deport those here illegally. Pundits initially considered it just a threat and even the AJC gave it a 25% chance of passing.
But with State Representative Earl Ehrhart at the helm, and several powerful co-sponsors, the threat became a reality.
This isn’t the first time there were threats of funding revocation. Ehrhart previously led the charge on investigations and tribunals for those facing sexual assault allegations on campus and threatened to pull funding for colleges who didn’t provide due process under the law.
And on the federal level, just Thursday, Senator Rand Paul said Congress should pull funding on universities that just “one set of speech.” He was referring to the U.C. Berkeley debacle with Ann Coulter. Berekely was also threatened by Trump in February after the Milo incident.
With money at risk, schools are now working around official sanctuary campuses and instead offering resources, much like Agnes Scott College, which publicly stated the college will help students who have been granted temporary protection from deportation.
Funding revocation will undoubtably continue to be held over the heads of those pushing politics to the forefront of education. As always, the government giveth, and the government taketh away.
About Author
Jessica Szilagyi
Add a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
One word conspicuously missing from the text of HB 37: warrant.
Well, I can understand the first one because we have to protect our poor men from preliminary investigations aka ‘tribunals’ (what a QUAINT and spooky word!).
What I don’t understand is why the motive for this is not more clear. Indeed, it should be listed in the preamble of the code: It is about avoiding educating brown people.
As if we were a border state and this was an issue. You used to all hate the naggers and now that you have been raised with some and realize your hate rhetoric won’t fit for the nagger community, you all have shifted to the ‘Messican community.
I reckon if you just GOT to fear, hate and loath as a group, the smallest group is always the easiest. 38 out of 1000 lack some arbitrary paperwork because they crossed an imaginary line on a map. Oh. My. God. They’re gonna kill our dogs for tacos!
38 out of 1000. 7th in the nation because we rely on their skilled and semi skilled labor. White kids ain’t learning to roof, or to plumb, or to create perfect landscaping. They are too busy paying back student loans, or, due to the crappy way our government treats and talks about people who didn’t win the land lottery when they were randomly born, feeling the hate too.
It’s always easiest to blame others for one’s self imposed misery.
Remember “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”?
That did not just pertain to ‘white men’, y’all.
Which agency is responsible for enforcing this law? No one seems to have a clue.
I asked the sponsor and co-sponsors of the bill, as well as members of both the House and Senate committees on Higher Education.
The author of the bill, Rep. Ehrhart, said “Any agency with knowledge of a violation.”
(Presumably this includes the Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Ports Authority???)
Rep. Jesse Petrea (a cosponsor of the bill) said the Board of Regents would enforce it.
Rep. Matt Dubnik said the Board of Regents and/or the Attorney General’s office.
Rep. Terry England (a cosponsor of the bill) said he thought the Attorney General’s office would enforce it.
Senator Blake Tillery said he thought it would be a budgetary decision made by the legislature during the appropriations process.
I called Governor Deal’s office and they couldn’t give me an answer, and told me to call my state representative. When I told them that I already contacted my state representative and she didn’t know, they recommended I call the Board of Regents.
I contacted the Board of Regents, and they said they are not responsible for enforcing the law.
I contacted the Attorney General’s office, and they told me the Board of Regents is responsible for enforcing it. (see above).
I called Speaker Ralston’s office, and they told me to call the Office of Legislative Counsel. I called the Office of Legislative Counsel, and they told me they cannot answer questions to the public, and they told me to contact my legislator or the author of the bill (see above).
I called the Lt. Governor’s office and they told me that it would be enforced by the Attorney General’s office, in conjunction with the Board of Regents and the Georgia Student Finance Commission.
No one has a clue.