Dawn Bonker
Jerry Price, Ph.D., vice chancellor and dean of student affairs at Chapman University, has edited a new journal on the increasingly timely topic of undocumented college students.
“Understanding and Supporting Undocumented Students”
(
Jossey-Bass
, an imprint of Wiley) covers the vast concerns related to the subject, from law and policy to the day-to-day life challenges faced by undocumented students.
“One of the biggest issues is that students who are undocumented feel they have to operate in the shadows,” Dr. Price said.
But if students have legally applied and qualified for admission to a school, it behooves administrators to support those students because they are typically remarkably diligent and focused, Dr. Price suggests in the journal introduction.
“Any campus would be lucky to have more students with these qualities,” Dr. Price writes.
Among the articles included in the journal is one co-authored by DeAnn Yocum-Gaffney, assistant vice chancellor of student affairs and associate dean of students at Chapman University. Her article includes the case study of “Oscar,” a student who excelled at Chapman University and has since entered a Ph.D. program but cannot yet obtain a driver’s license because of his undocumented status.
Dr. Price’s book arrives just as the
California Supreme Court ruled this week
that undocumented students who graduate from state high schools can receive in-state tuition at California’s public universities and colleges. As the former dean of students at University of Texas-Pan American, Price has first-hand experience with many undocumented students, but notes that it is no longer just a border-state subject.
“It’s certainly topical in California,” but it’s increasingly relevant elsewhere, he said. “We’re seeing more and more states far from the border that have immigrant groups who are living there.”
The journal is part of the publisher’s New Directions for Student Services series, several of which have been edited by Dr. Price.
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