Major Donors Pull Gifts From Florida Universities Over End of In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens
“I hope to see a commitment to equity and justice restored in Florida’s education policies”
These donors appear to be liberal partisans, based on the details in this story.
The College Fix reports:
Donors yank millions from Florida universities after ending in-state tuition for illegal immigrants
Two prominent Florida donors recently severed ties with Florida International University, Miami Dade College, and other institutions after the state stopped offering in-state tuition prices to illegal immigrants.
However, legal and policy experts told The College Fix that honoring the donors’ wishes to restore the tuition discount could expose the institutions to legal ramifications.
Over the summer, Miguel “Mike” Fernandez, a prominent South Florida philanthropist, withdrew $10 million from Miami Dade College and $1 million from Florida International University, saying the institutions should provide opportunities for all students, according to The Miami Herald.
“I cannot remain silent while thousands of Florida’s young residents are excluded from the opportunity to experience higher education,” Fernandez, an American citizen and immigrant from Cuba, wrote in a letter to Florida International, first published at The Miami Herald.
Criticizing Republican lawmakers’ immigration policies, Fernandez wrote that his donation will remain suspended “until there is a reversal of the recent policy in Florida that has increased tuition for children of undocumented immigrants by over 250 percent.”
“I hope to see a commitment to equity and justice restored in Florida’s education policies,” the Vietnam veteran and healthcare entrepreneur wrote.
Months prior, TheDream.US, a private scholarship program for illegal immigrants co-founded by the Secretary of Commerce to President H.W. Bush Carlos Gutierrez, also cut scholarships to eight universities, including Florida International, affecting over 600 students, The Miami Herald reported in April.
The program said Florida’s decision to revoke in-state tuition for illegal immigrants ran “against the values” of its mission.
Like Fernandez, TheDream also stated that it would withhold future donations if the schools continued denying in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.
Neither Fernandez nor the scholarship fund replied to multiple emails and phone messages from The College Fix, asking about the situation. The media relations offices at Florida International and Miami Dade also did not respond.
However, Florida’s higher education institutions are unlikely to comply with the donor’s demands given the looming risk of government retaliation, according to legal and educational policy experts who spoke with The Fix.
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Comments
Manufactured “protest.”
“…when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men…”
Giving in secret is nice, but those who give in exchange for recognition are not hypocrites, and Jesus was wrong to call them so. It’s their money, they choose to give it, and if they want recognition in return they deserve it. Any institution that refused such donations wouldn’t get many.
And as far as corporations go, the only business justification for spending shareholders’ money on charity is to buy goodwill, which in turn will boost revenues by more than the value of the donation. Any corporate board that gives the shareholders’ money away without milking it for all the PR it’s worth is stealing, and honest beneficiaries should refuse the money as stolen.
The verse is not about hypocrisy:
“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.”
Now, if you want to talk about hypocrisy, consider an announcement from these charitable gentlemen who donate for the education of illegal aliens, that because that education will now cost more, they will now donate less.
Furthermore, they are well aware that the institutions are not responsible for this policy, they are reacting to a change in government mandates. So not only is it a form of blackmail, but if you consider that they are taking negative action against the not-responsible in order to force a change in policy by those in power, one could in fact describe this as economic terrorism.
You’re the one who gave a quote calling people hypocrites, just because they don’t hide their giving. It’s your god supposedly saying this, not mine.
And no, it’s not “economic terrorism” to choose to give only to causes that do things you support, and not to those that do things you oppose. If a pro-“Palestinian” group opens a soup kitchen to genuinely feed the hungry, I’m still not donating. It’s my money, and I choose where to give it. “What each person sanctifies shall belong to him” Numbers 5:10 — i.e. when you dedicate something to God it’s no longer strictly yours to use it as you please, but you retain the right to decide where to give it. And you can derive any benefit you like from that choice.
You are misinterpreting the Scripture. Jesus didn’t call those who gave to get the praise of men hypocrites. He simply said that those who gave for the praise of men have gotten their reward, with the implication that they did not get much value for their money, because that is all the reward they are getting..
I’m not misinterpreting anything. Henry’s the one who supplied the quote, which calls such donors hypocrites. Does your text use a different word?
Even if Henry’s text is incorrect, and he doesn’t call them hypocrites, but he means what you say, he’s still wrong. It doesn’t matter that much why you help the poor. The main thing is that you do help them. They’re not helped any less because you did it for some benefit in this world. And God says repeatedly in the Bible that the reward for doing that is great and boundless. So even if you got some benefit in this world, the balance is stored up for the next world.
Pretentious puerile prattle
Hi, PPP, my name is Milhouse. Nice to meet you, PPP.
Would an alien be required to have an appropriate visa to go to a school or university? Maybe a student visa? Would that school be violating some law or regulations same as an employer being required to verify legal status of a job applicant? This is a question looking for an answer. The rest of my comment is why should taxpayers fund or support illegal aliens subject to deportation?
These donors will have to find universities in California to give their money to.
🙏
thoughts and prayers
The pertinent word in the head line is ILLEGAL
Florida will save far more than the amount of these pulled donations. Virtue signaling is oh, so tiresome.
Foreigners, legal or illegal, should pay at least the same rate as Yankees!
They aren’t Florida’s young residents. They are illegals from other countries who are currently in Florida illegally. We do not owe them dick, especially if they want to transition.