Chronicle of Higher Education: Florida Legislature to Consider Banning Aid to Students From 6 Countries Listed as

By JULIANNE BASINGER

A Florida legislator has sponsored a bill that would ban state financial aid to college students who are citizens of six nations on the U.S. State Department's list of countries that sponsor terrorism.

State Rep. Dick Kravitz, a Republican from Jacksonville, said on Sunday that in considering how Florida spends its money in a tight economy, he was disturbed by the idea of state funds being used to help educate students who are nonresident aliens from those countries.

"These people do have to go back, and whatever they learn here is going to be used for their country," Mr. Kravitz said. "I felt as though those dollars, which we needed, would be better spent on taxpayers in Florida and their children."

The bill (HB 31), which was placed last Thursday on the Florida Legislature's agenda for consideration, would bar state aid from going to college students from six countries: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, and North Korea. Cuba, which is also on the State Department's list, was removed from the bill through an amendment.

Florida has a large Cuban population. The state's colleges and universities used $308,717 to provide financial aid to students from countries on the federal list in 2001 and 2002. If passed, the measure sponsored by Mr. Kravitz would go into effect in July.

"We're going to find out if we're going to give them the money to potentially use against us, or if we're going to give it to our kids," he said. But Muslim students in Florida say that the bill unfairly discriminates against them.

"What he's saying is if you're born in Libya or Syria, you're more likely to be a terrorist than anyone else," Hadia Mubarak, president of the Muslim Students Association at Florida State University, told the Associated Press. Mr. Mubarak did not return a telephone message on Sunday seeking further comment.

http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/04/2003040703n.htm

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