Dear Editor,
I’d like to take a moment to respond to last week’s Letter to the Editor from College Republicans President Erik Jacobs. I think his response requires some fact checking.
First, in the Spring 2009, Temple College Democrats worked with Temple Student Government to pass a resolution in support of the DREAM Act, which stated the students of Temple were in support of this legislation. Like it or not, Mr. Jacobs, the student body does support the DREAM Act. I also remember being at that meeting, where I don’t remember Temple College Republicans, or any other students, speaking out against the TSG legislation. TSG has always held the doors wide open for student organizations to work on issues that they are passionate about–I suggest Temple College Republicans take the opportunity to do so.
I’d also like to clear up some of the misguided information Jacobs provided about the DREAM Act. While never directly stating so, it appears he would like our fellow Temple students to believe that non-citizens can move to the country illegally, fill out an application and come to colleges like Temple as in-state students.
This is not true. The DREAM Act allows students who were brought to this country as minors and lived here for at least five consecutive years the opportunity to obtain affordable higher education in America. These are our peers–people whose parents brought them into this country and who had no choice over their current residency status. It provides an easy path to citizenship for those students. They could be people we went to high school with, or maybe even met on the playground in kindergarten.
Temple’s mission statement reads: “Temple’s talented faculty and its broad curriculum of nearly 300 academic programs provide superior educational opportunities for academically talented and highly motivated students, without regard to their status or station in life.”
DREAM Act students did not have control over their current life situation, and I feel as though the DREAM Act fits perfectly into the university’s mission statement.
Just as Temple students rallied against Gov. Tom Corbett’s budget cuts in order to keep education affordable, the DREAM Act is another opportunity for Temple students to support our peers and friends in their quest for knowledge. This has always been what I’ve loved about Temple. We have a great sense of community, an impeccable moral compass and a need to help others succeed. I’m proud as a Temple Owl to support the DREAM Act and sincerely hope my classmates are with me. Everyone deserves to find their own acre of diamonds.
Sincerely,
Megan Chialastri
President Emeritus,
Temple College Democrats
Haha, liberals. I am new on this campus, and I just see idiocy all around me. Who is this person to say that the College Democrats speak for all Temple Students, let alone me? She probably didn’t read his letter, because it was correct. It’s pretty pathetic that the former president comes out of the woodwork to attack someone when they can’t get the current organization to do it for themselves. Illegal means illegal. They can get out of this country.
There are over 30,000 students at Temple University. I think it is rather spurious to claim that your organization and TSG represent the interests of 100 % of the student body. TSG is nothing more than a glorified debating society. It’s a place where people sit around smelling their own farts. Students know it’s irrelevant and it will continue to be irrelevant in years to come.
This is a typical case of someone warping and exaggerating another person’s words. She (the FORMER President) even used the words, “while not directly stating so”. When it comes to politics and you hear that phrase, it’s safe to stop listening there. Like Sir Pablo Sanchez and , mentioned in the above comments, it is a ridiculous claim that the College of Democrats speak for our whole student body. Thousands disagree, and everyone has their own voice. As far as illegals go, there is a reason they use the term illegal. They don’t belong in our country, and it is as simple as that.
You are all definitely part of temple college republicans. We are talking about real people stop being so callous. Stop attacking the small issues in her statement and try to argue the actual problem at hand. Stop being so hateful and try to help your fellow man.
Hateful? We are all ‘real people’ here, and its frustrating to see illegals and drug dealers and welfare recipients sucking up these funds that are being wasted on useless government programs. These funds are monies from our hard earned tax dollars and they’re being wasted on people who continue to put their hands out and continue to not help themselves. Illegal means breaking the law, and those who have done so should be placed on the same level as the rest of the criminals, and not be handed things for free! It’s not hateful to be discouraged when people continue to throw money at problems and not actually solve them. I’m sick of the liberals calling the conservatives names like hateful and racist instead of offering up actual information and resolutions!
Now I completely believe, and think it foolish to believe, that Temple College Democrats speak for Temple students. But in technical terms doesn’t TSG speak for Temple students just as the United states congress speaks for Americans? Please do correct me if I’m wrong, I’ll apologize in advance for my ignorance on the complete make up of TSG, but I do know that we elect, at the very minimum, the executive body of it.
R. Ross Crawford