With this column by guest author Dr. Elizabeth Collier we begin to examine one of our nation’s most contentious issues: how we respond to immigration into the United States. We begin with Professor Collier's introduction of Catholic Social Teaching on migration and its impact on the core constituents of our colleges and universities--the students we teach. In the future we will explore how Catholic Social Teaching’s view of immigration impacts Human Resources and the culture of a Catholic university or college. We are pleased to welcome Professor Collier as author of this column. She is Assistant Professor of Business Ethics in the Brennan School of Business at Dominican University. Her teaching and research interests include Business ethics, Catholic social ethics and U.S. immigration law and policy.
Craig B. Mousin
Higher Education, Mission and Undocumented Students
Catholic institutions of higher education have a treasure trove of resources to draw from when considering how to concretely and practically live out their mission in the world. Catholic social teaching (CST) is one of these resources. Most often, when CST is taught or called upon for guidance, the focus of the lecture, book or discussion is on the foundational concepts of the teaching: human dignity, common good, preferential option for the poor, the three types of justice, solidarity, and the principle of subsidiarity. Although these concepts form the core from which much more specific reflection and writing on particular issues is drawn, rarely are people aware of the more in-depth development and reflection on particular topics.
One relatively unknown, but robust area of teaching within CST is on issues related to migration. The Catholic Church has developed a body of teaching and a network of direct ministries for people who are away from their homes for almost any reason—foreign students, refugees, internally displaced peoples, nomadic peoples, those who work with the circus, airlines or trucking companies, victims of human trafficking—anyone who is voluntarily or forcibly “on the move.” Additionally, various institutions within the church work for law and policy changes at local, national or international levels, in accordance with the official body of teaching that has developed on migration over the last half century.
Four of the rights enumerated above relate to one of the most contentious areas of public discourse in the U.S.: undocumented migration. The public rhetoric on this issue usually follows one of two paths. Proponents of migration tend to focus on the push/pull economic and labor factors that result in people seeking work in the U.S. even though there are often no legal means of doing so, which results in migration without legal permission to enter or to work. Those on the other side who want to restrict migration usually focus on the fact that the person broke the law when they entered without permission—they are “illegal aliens” in this view. Restrictionists believe that this shows disrespect of the law, which is detrimental to the respect of our overall legal system.
As seen above, CST does believe that states have a right to regulate their borders. This right comes with a caveat though. The concept in CST of human dignity places the human person in a position that precedes the state. The rights and dignity of the human person, his/her flourishing, and the systems that support or deny that, are at the center of the moral deliberation. CST looks at the many facets of undocumented migration and reflects on these complex realities in light of the whole of CST. How is human dignity realized or diminished? Are the laws governing this just? What is the impact on the many sending and receiving communities involved?
At the federal level many complex immigration bills have been proposed during the last five years, but none have passed both houses of Congress. Because neither side in the debate sees much hope for reform at the federal level, local initiatives have proliferated. Much of the media coverage of these initiatives has focused on places where anti-immigrant groups or people with financial interests linked with the prison industrial complex have provided resources to state and local communities for passage of laws and ordinances restricting almost any contact with a person who is undocumented. There are, however, many unreported, or underreported, stories about the work of many on behalf of the undocumented, particularly young people whose parents brought them here when they were children.
Catholic colleges and universities have a long history of serving immigrant populations. For some, that was the impetus behind their founding. Having taught at three Catholic universities in the Chicago area, I can attest anecdotally to the number of students who discussed the priority their immigrant parents placed on them attending a Catholic university. In the last several years Catholic universities around Chicago have worked on several different initiatives that relate to college-age students who are undocumented, but who have the skills and aspirations for education and a better life for their families. Catholic university presidents joined other institutions in supporting an Illinois Dream Act, designed to provide private scholarships and resources that will support undocumented students who want to pursue a college degree. Financial, academic and institutional support were given to graduate students in law and social work, and undergraduate students, all from different Catholic universities, for the development and implementation of a conference designed to educate their peers on immigration law, in depth Catholic teaching on migration, and training in advocacy efforts. (It exceeded expectations, with several hundred faculty, staff and students attending.) Universities have provided scholarships for those who would, if they were able to legalize, obtain access to college, but who are not presently eligible for federal student loans. Trustees, presidents, administration, staff and faculty have provided moral and other types of support for these students, including those who are arrested for non-violent protest. These are only a few of the many ways in which these institutions embody CST on migration. These activities also engage the participants in the deeper process of communion, conversion and solidarity described above.
Such support is not without significant risk. In light of the challenging economic conditions and the competitive college market, publicly engaging in support of a vulnerable, relatively voiceless group of people who are vilified by groups with extensive resources, could potentially cost an institution in everything from applications for admission to development opportunities, depending on how the media portrays such activities and the position of applicants, donors and others on migration issues. The mission of these universities calls them to nothing less, however. These activities are only a few of the many ways in which Catholic colleges and universities embody the tenets of Catholic social thought in the wider community and fulfill their mission and tradition.
Dr. Elizabeth Collier
August 29, 2011
The presence of immigrants at our universities and colleges will lead to questions regarding employment of students and immigration law’s employment compliance requirements. In subsequent columns, we will return to some of the issues raised by the intersection of Catholic Social Teachings and immigration law. In the meantime, we invite you to respond to this column through our blog at http://hr-forum-ccu.blogspot.com/ . We look forward to your responses.
We invite you to post links of your mission statements as well as HR and compensation philosophy documents on our blog if you would like to share them with our readers. This will permit a fuller discussion of how mission and CST influence the employment process. Please let us know if you would like us to link to any of your institution’s documents.
The opinions expressed in this column are ours alone and do not represent DePaul University’s or Dominican University’s.
You may find the link to Strangers No Longer at:
If you would like additional information on the history of the DREAM Act and state responses, see, Michael A. Olivas, The Political Economy of the DREAM Act and the Legislative Process: A Case Study of Comprehensive Immigration Refortm, 55 Wayne L. Rev. 1757 (2009) at:
http://www.law.uh.edu/ihelg/ab540/Olivas-political-economy.PDF