My Thesis

During my undergraduate work in Arizona, I became aware of (and opposed to) Proposition 300 that – amongst other things – forced public universities and community colleges to charge undocumented students out-of-state tuition. My experiences teaching, tutoring and generally interacting socially with undocumented students encouraged me to utilize my privileged status as an aspiring academic (a position of authority) to share the stories of these students and demonstrate that Proposition 300 was poorly crafted public policy which shattered the dreams of many bright young people and their families. Since that time, I have kept in touch with many of these students and know the actions they (and the university administration) are taking to resist or circumvent the law.

An exhaustive literature review on the academic success rates of undocumented students and college access for undocumented students has unearthed very little. Unfortunately, because of their immigration status and the obvious jeopardy they place themselves (and their families) in when revealing said status, there is a dearth of scholarship or even a mention of their existence. I have located a handful of recent dissertations (completed within the last 3 years) and a few articles.

Given the context of this project, an ethnographic study would be most appropriate but considering the short time span and daunting IRB clearance necessary to properly conduct such data collection methods, I believe a conceptual paper is in order. With that said, I would like to deconstruct Proposition 300 through a critical theoretical lens, demonstrating the illogical premises this policy is based on and the juxtaposition of the state keeping undocumented students at arms-length for the purposes of reduced tuition but welcoming such young people with open arms when encouraging them to join the military. This is but one component of an argument in which I hope will properly unpack Proposition 300 (micro) and help tease out more national/international (macro) issues dealing with youth, the postmodern western state and globalization.