nia hospitials and clinics now encouragenillegal aliens to claim residency innCalifornia so that their facilities cannclaim Medi-Cal reimbursement.nThe San Diego suburb of Encinitas,nonce a peaceful middle-class communitynknown for its beautiful beachesnand gardens, is reportedly now kneedeepnin vagrants, panhandlers, squatternvillages, and crime as a result of Mexicannand Central American immigration.nTen years ago the Central Valleyntown of Merced had no Asian refugees.nNow one fifth of its population,napproximately 12,000, is composed ofnLaotian Hmong, 80 percent of whomnare on welfare. The town of SantanMaria suffers the same problems. Butnwhen Santa Maria Mayor GeorgenHobbs last year stated the obvious, thatnhis city has “a Mexican problem,” henwas denounced as insensitive, alarmist,nracist, and nativist. Like quotas, affirmativenaction, gay rights, and issues ofngender, immigration has become annintellectual no-man’s land wherencareer-conscious scholars and prudentnpoliticians must either tread lightly orndare not tread at all.nSo let us tally the record. In virtuallynevery Western and Southwestern statenillegal aliens can receive free legalnadvice and free medical services, includingnpregnancy care. The CitynUniversity of New York in 1989 lowerednthe tuition for illegal aliens. Illegalnaliens in New York City, as in manynother cities, can also legally demandnboth housing and education. In OctobernCongress decided that, despite ourncurrent budget woes, another two hundrednthousand immigrants should possiblynbe allowed in annually. Last MaynWashington set the potentially explosivenprecedent of giving asylum to anChinese couple who wanted to defynChinese law by having a second child,nthus adding birth control to the growingnlist of “injustices” that now warrantnentry to our country. And illegal aliensnwho actually want to become Americanncitizens — why any of them wouldnwant to limit their entitlements bynopting for citizenship is beyond me —ncan now enroll in the 40-hour cramncourse the federal government has establishednfor aliens to prepare for theirncivics, U.S. history, and English proficiencynexam. What this amounts to is anPrinceton Review of citizenship fundednby millions of tax dollars.nLuckily for themselves, members ofnCongress and Beltway think tank executivesnwill not have to suffer the consequencesnof their policies and actions.nInstead, it is the blacks and Hispanicsnand other struggling minorities whonwill have to suffer the heightened competitionnfor jobs and low-cost housingnthat results with every new wave ofnimmigration. It is the citizens of thenSouthwest and of Southern Californianin particular, who will have to watchncrime, disease, and welfare skyrocket inntheir communities because Washingtonncares most about votes of specialninterest lobbies. And it is the cities andncommunities of the Pacific Northwestnthat also will suffer from immigrationnand migrations, migrations not of illegalnaliens but of the scared and frustratednSouthern Californians who are trekkingnthere to escape the ravages ofnwhat they once called home.nThe “Okies” of the 1930’s took tonthe road when they realized theyncouldn’t count on Washington to leavenntheir plight. The “Okies” of then90’s have come to the same realization.n— Theodore PappasnNo MAJOR CITY in this countrynconcedes that its major hospital is anpest-house, or that its museums displaynjunk, or that its symphony orchestransqueaks. Nor are cities satisfied withninadequate schools. In medicine, thenarts and music, politics and government,nand primary and secondary education,nthere is good but no “best.” Yetnwe take for granted that, in higherneducation, there really is a “best,”nwhich can be measured by pollingncollege presidents and deans. Thatnconception yields the fiction that ournelite universities are national ones,nwhereas the undergraduate programsnof our state and municipal universitiesnare second class. But American life isnlived at home, in the cities, and in thenstates. We are a nation of regions, anpeople of localities; we have no Paris ornLondon to set the standard.nWhen we conceive higher educationnat the undergraduate level to bennational, we contradict our character asna nation. In Europe, even with thenvarious ministries of culture and nationalncultural centers, higher educa­nnntion is local. Providing dormitories andnplaying fields for large numbers ofnyoung people who are far from home isnuncommon. University students ordinarilyngo to schools in their own citiesnfor the baccalaureate degree. (Oxfordnand Cambridge are exceptions, alongnwith Uppsala and Lund. But the rule isnmostly local: London or Helsinki ornKoln or Bologna.) Here in America,nhowever, large numbers of students arendetached from their homes and communitiesnto form cities of transients.nAmerican higher education is made upnof Brigadoons; it takes place outside ofnthe context of normal life — of work,nhome, and family. True, the municipalnand state universities attract homebodies.nBut however accomplished thenfaculties and able the students, thenexcellent regional and state universitiesntake second place to what are dubbednthe elite colleges and universities ofnnational prominence. The state-supportednand state-sponsored universitiesnare rarely mentioned on such lists, andnwhen Berkeley, Ann Arbor, or ChapelnHill do make it, it is always with anvague nod to “the great unwashed” ornto the “great rival” of Harvard, whichnis “Podunk College.” In higher educationn”best” means national, whether ornnot the education is good, the faculty isnaccomplished, or the environmentnnurtures excellence or even mentalnhealth. We all know that best is best.nAmerican higher education institutionalizesnsnobbery.nWhen people imagine that higherneducation can accomplish its goalsnthrough elite national institutions —nand the rest be damned — they make anquite substantive error. For the selfstylednnational universities sever thenvital connection between learning andnliving, between learning and working.nThe national university removes thenyoung from home and family andncommunity in the theory that, in thesenformative years, where one has workednand lived and is likely going to worknand live no longer serves a purpose.nBut education only works when itnserves a purpose, when the university isnanswerable to the community for thenhere and now of students’ lives. Whenneducation is not answerable it becomesnsurreal.nStudents pay a heavy emotionalnprice for the sense of having beennchosen to live among the elite: theynJANUARY 1991/7n