SPRINGFIELD – Residency proof requirements are too stringent for non-citizens to run for university student trustee, the University of Illinois argues, so House Democrats pushed through an effort to make it much easier.
Current Illinois law requires a student trustee to show all of the following:
- evidence of the student's Illinois residency for at least the previous 6 months
- evidence of the student's current, valid Illinois driver's license, and
- evidence of the student's valid Illinois voter registration
But if Governor Rauner signs SB 2204 into law, only one of the above documents will be required in order to qualify to run for student trustee in Illinois. The bill passed the Illinois House Tuesday and passed the Senate in April.
The legislation came about because a person in the U.S. illegally that was attending the University of Illinois-Chicago wanted to run for student trustee could not provide all three of the required proof of residency documents.
It's a step in the wrong direction, opponents say, to erasing America's borders and welcoming more and more persons into the country while ignoring federal and state immigration laws.
The U of I is pushing the bill because they say it will enable more students to be elected student board of trustee members; relax requirements that have discouraged students from running in the past; encourage more diversity representation on the University of Illinois board of trustees.
SB 2204 passed the Illinois House Tuesday in a 61 to 49 vote:
The Illinois Senate passed the legislation in April with only four "Nays" and 18 "No Votes" – persons that did not want a vote that could be painted negative by the Senate Democrats on their records.
