Underground Undergrads

Friday, May 9, 2008

'The only thing that we have the power to do is speak out'
'Underground Undergrads' tells plight of undocumented students at UCLA.

By R. W. Dellinger

When Stephanie Solis turned 18, she learned from her parents something she could hardly fathom: She was an undocumented immigrant. That meant she couldn't vote or get a driver's license. But, most of all, she probably wouldn't be able to go to UCLA, where she had been accepted after working hard in high school to earn stellar grades.

Instead of feeling a sense of elation and independence, she felt isolated with all her future plans seemingly down the drain. As a result, her budding sense of identity suffered a deep psychic blow. The teenager couldn't help thinking that instead of entering adulthood, she would remain a permanent child never realizing her career goals and life dreams.

"When most teenagers have their 18th birthday, they think about how they're an adult now," recalled Solis, who is now 22. "But instead of having a sense of adulthood, I usually had a feeling of permanent childhood because, well, 'I can't drive, I can't vote, I can't travel, I can't work.' I didn't have an ID, so I couldn't even prove my age."

But the driven coed from a low-income family decided to go ahead and try UCLA anyway, even though she wasn't eligible for financial aid, student loans or most scholarships. And once there, she met other undocumented students in the same boat. It was going to be harder - a lot harder - but at least she wasn't the only struggling student in Westwood.

Solis took on multiple jobs, cleaning houses, making cardboard boxes - whatever she could physically do to earn money. Another coping strategy was taking quarters off school to work fulltime. Today she's a senior with a major in creative writing, and one of the 11 student and faulty editors of "Underground Undergrads," a new UCLA-produced publication unveiled at an April 30 press conference.

"I wish that I had this book as a resource on my 18th birthday, knowing about the possibilities and that I wasn't alone," she said. "This book is so important. This is the only real way that we can bring about change on this issue. Because we are afraid to speak out. We feel powerless.

"Also, we can't vote, so we can't really speak for ourselves politically," she added. "So the only thing that we have the power to do is speak out."

First class on undocumented

"Underground Undergrads," an 84-page glossy paperback, is the product of UCLA's first class on undocumented students: Immigrant Rights, Labor and Higher Education. Through in-depth interviews, firsthand accounts, personal histories,...(More)

More information on how to get a hold of the book