University Program Offers Recommendations for Immigration Reform

In keeping with the University’s vision of being a great private institution dedicated to the public good, the Strategic Issues Program has always tackled controversial topics that have the potential to lead to positive change. The program’s most recent report has landed DU in the middle of one of America’s most divisive and important policy battles: immigration reform.

“Global migration is a fact of life in the interconnected economic world in which we live,” said Jim Griesemer, professor, dean emeritus of the Daniels College of Business and director of the Strategic Issues Program. “The panel’s No. 1 recommendation is that we look at global migration and immigration as an opportunity to be captured, not a problem to be ignored.”

The purpose of the Strategic Issues Program is to study a critical public issue and provide nonpartisan recommendations that raise the level of public awareness and provide a basis for informed policy deliberations. Past panels have tackled Colorado’s constitution, water future and economic future.

Each of the strategic issues panels is comprised of 15 to 20 citizens who spend the first five months of their endeavor “just listening” to speakers who address every facet of an issue, Griesemer said.

“This panel met every other week for four-and-a-half hours for five months, and they listened carefully to many perspectives,” he said. “By the time they began discussions, they knew a lot about the subject. It was a very informed discourse. It wasn’t just opinions or the latest buzz on talk radio.”

The panel’s final report was released Dec. 9, 2009, and is titled “Architecture for Immigration Reform: Fitting the Pieces of Public Policy.” Even before Arizona passed its controversial immigration law, the report had garnered significant media and legislative attention.

“We’ve had a tremendous response,” Griesemer explained. “We’ve distributed more than 8,000 copies nationally to leaders in every state and in Washington, including the White House administration and every congressional person. It takes a long time to penetrate Washington, but people are beginning to read the report.”

The report has been referenced by major media sources across the country, including ABC News, the Associated Press, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, CNBC, Huffington Post, Colorado Public Radio and even Homeland Security Today.

Griesemer said the goal of the Strategic Issues Program is not that policy makers pass legislation based word-for-word on a report’s findings. Rather, the program aims to frame a new perspective and generate productive conversation around controversial issues.

“We hope that people consider the issue in a more thoughtful way,” Griesemer said. “And if that happens, the University certainly will have achieved its fundamental mission of supporting the public good.”