Spring 2011 Issue - Lehman College

Coming Out of the
Lehman Freshman Travels to Capitol to Advocate for Change
Let’s call her Maria. A freshman, she was old enough
to understand the consequences of revealing her status as an
undocumented resident. Still, she wanted to do her part to support
the DREAM Act and try to remove some of the obstacles faced
by many thousands of students like herself who are not legal
residents.
She’s done more than just her part, not only lobbying in the halls
of Congress for passage of the Act but also publicly revealing her
status to both New York and national media. On campus, she became
a leader in organizing a group of students, both documented
and undocumented, to fight for reform.
“When I was a kid,” she says, “I knew I couldn’t travel outside of the
country, but I didn’t know how to describe my situation.” She came
to New York with her family from Colombia in 2001 on a tourist
visa, and they overstayed their visit. A talk with her high school
counselor, who told her how limited her educational and professional
options would be as an undocumented resident, made the
gravity of her situation clear.
Maria wasn’t sure what she could do to change these circumstances,
until she became involved with the New York State Youth
Leadership Council last summer, before enrolling at Lehman.
“The Council promotes awareness and helps students regardless
of their immigrant status, and they advocate for the DREAM Act,”
she says.
The proposed Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors
(DREAM) Act would provide undocumented students with the opportunity
to gain permanent resident status if they meet a number
of criteria, including at least five years of U.S. residence, a high
school diploma, and absence of a criminal record.
“It will open a pathway to citizenship for students like me,” says
Maria. “Maybe by blood we’re not Americans, but we consider ourselves
Americans as well.” Last December, she and other students
traveled to Washington to advocate for the DREAM Act and visited
the Senate to listen to arguments. “When we started hearing more
‘no’s’ than ‘yes’s,’ it was very hard. We all left crying.”
Although the legislation was not passed, Maria returned to campus
with a renewed spirit of activism. She and a group classmates who
founded the Lehman Dream Team invited speakers to campus to
raise awareness about the need for this legislation. On March 16,
they joined with other groups around the country to show that they
are “undocumented, unapologetic, and unafraid.” At a rally on the
campus quadrangle, covered by local print and broadcast media,
several students publicly declared their undocumented status for
the first time.
12 Lehman Today/Spring 2011
Students (above, and right) publicly
declare their undocumented status at
an event on campus in March. Professor
Alyshia Gálvez (left).
“The DREAM Team is about creating a safe space on campus for
undocumented students to be out and unashamed about their status,”
explains Latin American and Puerto Rican Studies Professor
Alyshia Gálvez, who is the DREAM Team’s advisor. “The students
are activists for the DREAM Act, fighting for a change in immigration
laws with the same dedication and diligence they apply to
their studies.”
Professor Gálvez supports the club’s efforts both to create a safe
space on the Lehman campus where undocumented students can
feel comfortable with being open about their status and to push for
reform of immigration law.
“When we graduate, we’ll have a diploma but what will we do with
it?” asks Maria. “We’re not here to take other people’s jobs. We
want to show that we will educate ourselves, and we’re not going
to let paperwork stop us from doing that.” Maria would like to major
in social work or psychology. She volunteers regularly with New
York Cares, where she works in soup kitchens, visits with sick
children, and helps to beautify public spaces.
“She came to the United States because her mother brought her,”
says Professor Gálvez, “but this is now the only home she knows,
and she should be able to stay, continue her education, work, and
contribute to our society.”
Interested in becoming part of the Lehman DREAM Team’s
efforts? Contact Professor Gálvez at alyshia.galvez@lehman.
cuny.edu.