Public Deliberates Immigration at issues summit

On Tuesday, May 23, a Public Issues Summit was held at the College on the subject of immigration. The event, shepherded by William J. Ball, professor of political science, included a keynote address by New Jersey 14th District Assemblyman Bill Baroni followed by an open forum of deliberation shared by nearly 100 participants from New Jersey.

"This is the sixth summit in the series we have been running since 2003," noted Ball, who is also the director of the College's Leadership in Public Affairs Program. "Tonight’s topic had a special urgency, since immigration is now at the top of the national political agenda and major reforms are being debated in Congress. We offered people who have not been talking to each other a chance to find common ground among them on immigration policy tonight."

The format for the summit was unique. Attendees from around the state, many of whom had personal and/or professional expertise in the field of immigration, were seated randomly at round-tables. Each table was led by a moderator, who introduced potential approaches to varying issues of immigration and then encouraged dialogue amongst the participants. The guest pool had great depth that included immigration attorneys, advocates, first-generation immigrants, and political figures. Former TCNJ President Harold Eickoff was also in attendance.

Discussions were both thought-provoking and informative. Topics ranged from border patrol to guest-worker programs to remembering America’s heritage is a nation of immigrants. The scope of opinions and personal testament was broad, stemming from the study of historical trends, professional experience, and personal encounters involving family members. The moderator permitted conversation to last about 15 minutes on a subject before shifting to new material. Survey questions were also distributed and collected. The results will be provided to the National Issues Forums' for incorporation in national results on immigration forums.

The primary purpose of this event was to simply get people talking. As described in the deliberation ground rules provided by Ball, the summit was "designed to be a citizen-to-citizen collaboration addressing public problems without influence over the results by powerful interests and without declaration of winners and losers." This approach was echoed in Assemblyman Baroni’s opening remarks. He spoke of his mother, an immigrant of Irish descent, before discussing the importance of Americans being resolute in not repeating mistakes made throughout our nation’s history.

“There is a lot of talk about building a fence,” noted Baroni. “There is a lot of talk about building a wall. We need to talk about building bridges … bridges of dialogue and conversation. I don’t want America to ever be a place where people don’t feel welcome.”

The summit was sponsored by the College’s Leadership in Public Affairs Program, The Times of Trenton, and the Lawrence League of Women Voters and supported by the Princeton Area Community Foundation. The primary mission of the Leadership in Public Affairs program at TCNJ is to foster the development of leaders who will positively transform the processes of public life.