By Editorial Board
Arizona Republic
When it comes to dumb, divisive stunts, the case of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the University of California-Irvine deserves special recognition.
It’s about intolerance, political correctness on steroids and plain old-fashioned selfishness.
Here’s what happened:
UC Irvine planned to include the Border Patrol in a career fair. The agency offers decent-paying, professional jobs that some students might have been interested in pursuing.
But other students freaked. They collected more than 650 signatures on a petition saying the Border Patrol’s presence on campus was a “blatant disregard to undocumented students’ safety and well-being.”
The student body president said allowing the agents on campus for the job fair would send a message “that undocumented students are not welcome.”
The school has about 500 undocumented students – and, sure, some of them might have avoided the Border Patrol booth.
That’s how it goes in the marketplace of ideas. Any campus bristling with opposing viewpoints will have something going on that some students find unappealing. But you don’t ban cheeseburgers to protect the feelings of the vegetarians.
Besides, the Border Patrol was looking for recruits, not people to apprehend.
