The ASUO Senate passed a resolution supporting in-state tuition for undocumented Oregon residents Wednesday. The issue known as tuition equity is currently being debated in the Oregon Legislature.
Discussion about the resolution was overshadowed by an offhand remark about immigrants from Sen. Tyler Scandalios that resulted in a confrontation between the senator and ASUO President Sam Dotters-Katz after the meeting.
After presenters from the Oregon Students of Color Coalition spoke on behalf of the resolution, Scandalios asked whether “undocumented” was synonymous with “illegal.” Presenters responded by calling the latter term “archaic” in conjunction with immigration.
“If you jump the fence, you’re breaking the law,” Scandalios responded after discussion began again.
Many present responded to the remark with laughter, but presenters made clear their discomfort.
“If I were a student who does not have documented resident status, I would feel pretty flipping uncomfortable right now with some of the things that are said under people’s breath,” OSCC board member Kari Herinckx told the Senate.
Scandalios stared at his computer screen for much of the rest of the meeting and abstained from voting on the resolution, which passed with one other senator abstaining and one voting “no.”
Dotters-Katz returned after his update and sat on a table staring at Scandalios until the end of the meeting. When the meeting finished, Dotters-Katz approached Scandalios before senators left the table and leaned over the seated senator to demand an apology for the comment.
“It’s a delicate, delicate issue and you showed no delicacy, no sensitivity,” Dotters-Katz told Scandalios.
Scandalios’ fellow senators asked Dotters-Katz to take the conversation outside the EMU Board Room rather than conduct it in public. Scandalios agreed to apologize to the students who had presented.
Afterward, Scandalios said he was sorry for the remark, which he called “uncouth,” but not the sentiment behind it.
“Both words are loaded,” Scandalios said of “illegal” and “undocumented,” a word he said “evades the issue that something illegal has occurred.”
Several senators approached Scandalios to speak about the comment after Dotters-Katz left, including Sen. Lidiana Soto, who was born in Mexico. She said she would be open to educating Scandalios about the issue.
“I had over five other senators come up to me and say, ‘You were right to bring up the point,’” Scandalios said.
Dotters-Katz released a subsequent statement condemning Scandalios’ remark. “The fact that this kind of ignorance still exists among some student leaders shows that we still have a lot of work to do,” the president said.
Sen. Demic Tipitino, who cast the lone “no” vote, said he felt the resolution does not serve current students’ interests. “I talked to a lot of students who are against this,” Tipitino said.
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