Arlene Banuelos / The Triton
Chancellor Pradeep Khosla committed full financial support past the 2020 fiscal year to the UC San Diego Undocumented Student Center during questions and answers at an Associated Students (AS) council joint session.
Campus Wide Senator Itsi Sanchez-Rea asked about whether there will be funding to sustain the Undocumented Student Center after the phase-out of funding from the UC Office of the President (UCOP) in 2020.
“Is there a concrete plan to obtain the funding necessary to sustain the center and the resources undocumented students currently have?” said Sanchez-Rea.
Khosla responded that the UCOP fund commitment will not expire for another two years and that he will ensure there will be continued funding for the center.
“My commitment is to keep that [funding] category alive and make sure there is funding” said Khosla. “If there is something else or more funding needed, we will figure it out, but we have made a commitment to our DACA students and we want to make sure it stays that way.”
In 2016, UCOP committed a three-year plan for allocating a budget of $175,000 toward the Undocumented Student Center each year. An additional $100,000 dollars were funded towards financial aid grants. The entirety of $850,000 funds have already been raised. However, a renewal of the funding commitment is an uncertainty.
The Undocumented Student Center provides access to services such as graduate school preparation, immigration legal services and resources that help connect students within a wide supportive network. Undocumented students can also receive additional information about health care, workers’ rights, and other educational materials.
“The chancellor didn’t really answer my question and just told me that ‘he would figure it out when the time came,'” said Senator Sanchez-Rea in a message to The Triton. “He was correct in the fact that the UCOP funding will not run out until 2020, however I do believe that planning should start now considering the resources the center offers to students.”
The UCSD Undocumented Student Center could not be reached for comment.
Kathleen Lee is a contributing writer at The Triton. You can follow her at @Katleenlee
The headline was updated on Mar. 21, 2018 at 5:13 p.m. to clarify that Chancellor Khosla made a verbal commitment.
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$850,000 should instead be used to reduce class sizes by hiring more faculty and grad students. Or improve parking. Or safety. Or research opportunities.
It's backwards, foolish, and dangerous to teach students to have contempt for our democracy, laws, and way of life.