Jeanfromfillmore
03-27-2010, 12:21 AM
Course gets an ‘F’ from Barletta
A Temple University course focusing on illegal immigration battles in Hazleton irks the city’s mayor.
By Andrew M. Seder aseder@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
A Temple University course focusing on the illegal immigration battles waged in Hazleton has drawn the ire of Mayor Lou Barletta.
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Course_gets_an__lsquo_F_rsquo__from_Barletta_03-27-2010.html
War in Hazleton: Main Street Meets the Global Village” is a general education course taught by professor Lori Zett of the school’s Latin American Studies department.
Part of the course description states: “The cultural and political repercussions of this migration are causing upheavals in communities both large and small all over the world. Our course will study one such small, but by no means insignificant, community here in Pennsylvania, about 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia. Using a multi-media, multidisciplinary, multi-cultural approach the instructors will encourage students to understand one small community in the context of a global problem.”
An e-mail request for an interview with Zett did not receive a response on Friday and efforts to reach her by phone were unsuccessful.
It’s not the idea for the course that has Barletta, who has one daughter enrolled in the Philadelphia school and another who previously attended, upset. It’s part of the course description and syllabus, which describes Barletta’s view of the city as, “not one community but two, speaking different languages, with different customs and with a fierce mutual distrust. Many observers believe that this state of Balkanization will be the national destiny of the U.S. in the next generation.”
Barletta voiced his displeasure Friday at what he perceives as false descriptions of the city and himself.
“I am deeply disappointed that they would allow such a biased and untrue characterization of myself and the city of Hazleton. Hazleton is a great city with good people and wonderful neighborhoods. Like any city, we have faced our share of challenges and we have dealt with them accordingly. We don’t profess that we live in a utopia, but the idea that we have been Balkanized or live as if we are two communities is just not true.”
Barletta said the course, which has been taught for the past year, is doing a disservice to the students in the classroom and to the people of the city of Hazleton. He said the title of the course itself is an injustice to the men and women of the armed forces.
“There’s no war here. I don’t see any tanks in the street,” Barletta said.
In 2006, Barletta introduced an ordinance making it illegal for employers to knowingly hire illegal aliens and for landlords to knowingly rent to them. Hazleton City Council passed the Illegal Immigration Relief Act and Barletta signed it into law.
The law was challenged in federal court, which deemed it illegal. It was appealed to the Third District Court of Appeals, which heard the case in 2008 but has yet to issue a ruling.
The court battle is part of the course but Barletta said the course is mixing up the issues of legal and illegal immigration, one of which Barletta supports, the other he’s on a crusade to prevent.
“I have never said once that I am against immigration. I am against illegal immigration. Let’s never confuse illegal immigration with legal immigration. It’s unfair to those who came here through the proper channels,” Barletta said.
“The claims made by this professor are unsubstantiated and completely false. I hope to have the opportunity to set the record straight.”
He will next Wednesday.
Barletta has been invited to a forum with Zett and Temple Law Professor Jan Ting, who specializes in immigration law. The debate will take place at 5:30 p.m. at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law Moot Courtroom. It is presented by the Temple Law Republicans.
Class on Pa. town's immigration fight draws fire
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jLALuGV4LPJRqnQml8D3mgFNgQjwD9EMG9N83
By KATHY MATHESON (AP) –
PHILADELPHIA — When David Lopez came to college in the big city, the immigration tensions in his small Pennsylvania hometown seemed a world away.
So he was surprised to find the discord had followed him 80 miles from Hazleton to Philadelphia. His community was being spotlighted in a Temple University class, "War in Hazleton: Main Street Meets the Global Village," just four years after it became ground zero in the national debate on illegal immigrants.
"It gets really intense in there some days," Lopez said of the course.
The class has drawn the ire of Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, who said he was never asked for any input or to address the students. Barletta, who blames an influx of illegal Hispanic immigrants for a deteriorating quality of life in the struggling former coal town, fears the class is unfairly portraying him as anti-immigrant and anti-Latino.
"I'm surprised and bewildered how a taxpayer-funded school could offer a course without interviewing one of the main principles that the course deals with," Barletta said this week. "There's no way that this course is not being slanted in one direction, which is unfortunate for the students, if that's the case."
Barletta championed a law that targeted landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and businesses that employ them. The law, one of many enacted by local leaders who thought the federal government wasn't doing enough to combat illegal immigration, was thrown out in court. The city is appealing.
Professor Lori Zett said the class provides context, history and background to help students understand why illegal immigrants come to the U.S. It uses Barletta's law as a starting point to examine immigration policy, the global economy and Latin American culture.
Zett noted that courses are often taught without personal appearances from principles, who may be long dead or simply inaccessible, but acknowledges she should have contacted Barletta earlier. The two will meet at a forum next week.
"I just thought he wouldn't be interested, so actually we're all very excited that he is interested," Zett said. "I think he'll find when he comes on the 31st, most of my students will completely agree with him."
The course was proposed last year by Zett and Temple professor Frank Leib, whose family has strong roots in Hazleton. Leib said he hoped the course would include field trips to his hometown, where students could walk the streets, talk with people and interview the mayor. Zett, who has taught the course for two semesters, said field trips were nixed because of logistics and finances.
The class does get first-person perspectives from students like Lopez and Kayla Hartz, both 18-year-old freshmen from Hazleton. They describe the town of 30,000 as bitterly divided over immigration, with no room for shades of gray; both said the class has opened their eyes to issues never discussed at home.
But Hartz feels some legitimate complaints about immigrant-related problems in Hazleton — such as overcrowded schools — don't get much support from Zett or other students.
"People need to actually experience Hazleton before they point the finger," Hartz said.
Terry Halbert, who oversees Temple's core curriculum, said the course represents an effort to teach modern, relevant issues even as the subjects evolve.
"We're trying to find courses that are connected to ongoing controversies or issues that are topical," Halbert said. "I think we're trying to teach our students to keep pace with a complicated and constantly changing world."
Barletta, though, criticized the course's "War in Hazleton" title, saying it's "disrespectful" to military members. Zett agreed it was "a little aggressive" and said she might change it.
The mayor also objected to an early course outline describing Hazleton as a Balkanized community filled "with a fierce mutual distrust." That language is not in the current syllabus.
Barletta, a Republican congressional candidate whose two daughters attended Temple, will meet Zett, a dual U.S.-Italian citizen who spent many years in Venezuela and Colombia, on Wednesday at a forum sponsored by the Temple Law School Republicans.
Organizers originally invited Barletta as part of a series of meet-and-greets with GOP hopefuls, but proposed the forum when they found out about the Hazleton class.
The event, "War in Hazleton: A Forum on U.S. Immigration Policy and its Effect on a Small Town in Pennsylvania," will also feature law professor Jan Ting, who specializes in immigration issues.
Temple, a quasi-public university, has about 37,000 students.
A Temple University course focusing on illegal immigration battles in Hazleton irks the city’s mayor.
By Andrew M. Seder aseder@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
A Temple University course focusing on the illegal immigration battles waged in Hazleton has drawn the ire of Mayor Lou Barletta.
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Course_gets_an__lsquo_F_rsquo__from_Barletta_03-27-2010.html
War in Hazleton: Main Street Meets the Global Village” is a general education course taught by professor Lori Zett of the school’s Latin American Studies department.
Part of the course description states: “The cultural and political repercussions of this migration are causing upheavals in communities both large and small all over the world. Our course will study one such small, but by no means insignificant, community here in Pennsylvania, about 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia. Using a multi-media, multidisciplinary, multi-cultural approach the instructors will encourage students to understand one small community in the context of a global problem.”
An e-mail request for an interview with Zett did not receive a response on Friday and efforts to reach her by phone were unsuccessful.
It’s not the idea for the course that has Barletta, who has one daughter enrolled in the Philadelphia school and another who previously attended, upset. It’s part of the course description and syllabus, which describes Barletta’s view of the city as, “not one community but two, speaking different languages, with different customs and with a fierce mutual distrust. Many observers believe that this state of Balkanization will be the national destiny of the U.S. in the next generation.”
Barletta voiced his displeasure Friday at what he perceives as false descriptions of the city and himself.
“I am deeply disappointed that they would allow such a biased and untrue characterization of myself and the city of Hazleton. Hazleton is a great city with good people and wonderful neighborhoods. Like any city, we have faced our share of challenges and we have dealt with them accordingly. We don’t profess that we live in a utopia, but the idea that we have been Balkanized or live as if we are two communities is just not true.”
Barletta said the course, which has been taught for the past year, is doing a disservice to the students in the classroom and to the people of the city of Hazleton. He said the title of the course itself is an injustice to the men and women of the armed forces.
“There’s no war here. I don’t see any tanks in the street,” Barletta said.
In 2006, Barletta introduced an ordinance making it illegal for employers to knowingly hire illegal aliens and for landlords to knowingly rent to them. Hazleton City Council passed the Illegal Immigration Relief Act and Barletta signed it into law.
The law was challenged in federal court, which deemed it illegal. It was appealed to the Third District Court of Appeals, which heard the case in 2008 but has yet to issue a ruling.
The court battle is part of the course but Barletta said the course is mixing up the issues of legal and illegal immigration, one of which Barletta supports, the other he’s on a crusade to prevent.
“I have never said once that I am against immigration. I am against illegal immigration. Let’s never confuse illegal immigration with legal immigration. It’s unfair to those who came here through the proper channels,” Barletta said.
“The claims made by this professor are unsubstantiated and completely false. I hope to have the opportunity to set the record straight.”
He will next Wednesday.
Barletta has been invited to a forum with Zett and Temple Law Professor Jan Ting, who specializes in immigration law. The debate will take place at 5:30 p.m. at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law Moot Courtroom. It is presented by the Temple Law Republicans.
Class on Pa. town's immigration fight draws fire
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jLALuGV4LPJRqnQml8D3mgFNgQjwD9EMG9N83
By KATHY MATHESON (AP) –
PHILADELPHIA — When David Lopez came to college in the big city, the immigration tensions in his small Pennsylvania hometown seemed a world away.
So he was surprised to find the discord had followed him 80 miles from Hazleton to Philadelphia. His community was being spotlighted in a Temple University class, "War in Hazleton: Main Street Meets the Global Village," just four years after it became ground zero in the national debate on illegal immigrants.
"It gets really intense in there some days," Lopez said of the course.
The class has drawn the ire of Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, who said he was never asked for any input or to address the students. Barletta, who blames an influx of illegal Hispanic immigrants for a deteriorating quality of life in the struggling former coal town, fears the class is unfairly portraying him as anti-immigrant and anti-Latino.
"I'm surprised and bewildered how a taxpayer-funded school could offer a course without interviewing one of the main principles that the course deals with," Barletta said this week. "There's no way that this course is not being slanted in one direction, which is unfortunate for the students, if that's the case."
Barletta championed a law that targeted landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and businesses that employ them. The law, one of many enacted by local leaders who thought the federal government wasn't doing enough to combat illegal immigration, was thrown out in court. The city is appealing.
Professor Lori Zett said the class provides context, history and background to help students understand why illegal immigrants come to the U.S. It uses Barletta's law as a starting point to examine immigration policy, the global economy and Latin American culture.
Zett noted that courses are often taught without personal appearances from principles, who may be long dead or simply inaccessible, but acknowledges she should have contacted Barletta earlier. The two will meet at a forum next week.
"I just thought he wouldn't be interested, so actually we're all very excited that he is interested," Zett said. "I think he'll find when he comes on the 31st, most of my students will completely agree with him."
The course was proposed last year by Zett and Temple professor Frank Leib, whose family has strong roots in Hazleton. Leib said he hoped the course would include field trips to his hometown, where students could walk the streets, talk with people and interview the mayor. Zett, who has taught the course for two semesters, said field trips were nixed because of logistics and finances.
The class does get first-person perspectives from students like Lopez and Kayla Hartz, both 18-year-old freshmen from Hazleton. They describe the town of 30,000 as bitterly divided over immigration, with no room for shades of gray; both said the class has opened their eyes to issues never discussed at home.
But Hartz feels some legitimate complaints about immigrant-related problems in Hazleton — such as overcrowded schools — don't get much support from Zett or other students.
"People need to actually experience Hazleton before they point the finger," Hartz said.
Terry Halbert, who oversees Temple's core curriculum, said the course represents an effort to teach modern, relevant issues even as the subjects evolve.
"We're trying to find courses that are connected to ongoing controversies or issues that are topical," Halbert said. "I think we're trying to teach our students to keep pace with a complicated and constantly changing world."
Barletta, though, criticized the course's "War in Hazleton" title, saying it's "disrespectful" to military members. Zett agreed it was "a little aggressive" and said she might change it.
The mayor also objected to an early course outline describing Hazleton as a Balkanized community filled "with a fierce mutual distrust." That language is not in the current syllabus.
Barletta, a Republican congressional candidate whose two daughters attended Temple, will meet Zett, a dual U.S.-Italian citizen who spent many years in Venezuela and Colombia, on Wednesday at a forum sponsored by the Temple Law School Republicans.
Organizers originally invited Barletta as part of a series of meet-and-greets with GOP hopefuls, but proposed the forum when they found out about the Hazleton class.
The event, "War in Hazleton: A Forum on U.S. Immigration Policy and its Effect on a Small Town in Pennsylvania," will also feature law professor Jan Ting, who specializes in immigration issues.
Temple, a quasi-public university, has about 37,000 students.