TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

The California Dream Act -- which grants illegal immigrants access to state financial aid at public universities and community colleges -- has proven to be contentious throughout the state. And it appears Cal State Bakersfield is no exception.

A heated debate about the Act on a longstanding, politically themed message board for CSUB employees has been raging, and led one participant to be asked by campus officials this week to stop circulating a petition on campus aimed at overturning the law.

Shelly Eick, a budget analyst at CSUB, posted a message for employees saying she had petitions in her campus office to get a referendum on the November 2012 ballot to overturn the Act. An hour later, sociology instructor Gonzalo Santos responded that it was illegal for her to do so on campus.

Then it got ugly.

"May I suggest you invite your fellow raving xenophobes to meet off-hours at some convenient location not your office -- say, the John Birch Society office, or the KKK one. I bet the petition will be a hit there!" Santos wrote. A xenophobe is someone fearful of what is foreign, particularly people of foreign origin.

"You have fallen off your left-wing rocker to think I would associate with such a group," Eick wrote back. "As for your continuous use of the word 'xenophobe' toward myself and other Republican/Conservatives in this forum, I do not fear or hate foreigners. To assume either of these things about me when you do not know me makes you look foolish."

As debate continued, campus officials this week asked her to stop campaigning on campus.

And she did.

Eick said she simply didn't know it was against the rules.

"Had I known, I never would have thrown it out there," she said.

CSUB spokesman Rob Meszaros said she was in violation of Government Code 8314, which states that it is "unlawful for any elected state or local officer, including any state or local appointee, employee, or consultant, to use or permit others to use public resources for a campaign activity." This includes petitioning.

"Freedom of speech is fair game," Meszaros said. "But it's clearly prohibited for people to campaign using state resources."

The California Dream Act was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in October and starts in 2013. It makes illegal immigrant students with good academic standing and in the process of applying to legalize their immigration status eligible for state grants, campus-specific grants, and fee waivers in the community college system, for example.

Republican lawmakers and conservative groups attacked Brown for signing the Act, calling it a waste of taxpayer money and that it sent a message that violating the law is OK. Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-San Bernardino, is leading the referendum drive to repeal it.

Proponents say the Act allows high-achieving students who want to become citizens the opportunity to attend college.

The message board was developed in the mid-1990s as a virtual political forum. It's a free-speech email bulletin board, Meszaros explained, where faculty and staff can voice their political opinions, and comments, outside of company time.

Santos, who said he's been participating in the political message board since it was developed, said debates can become "very heated."

"And that's fine. That's par for the course," Santos said, adding that debates on war and gay-rights have gotten much more heated than the Dream Act debate.

But Santos said he became concerned in this case because the petition was stationed in her workplace, visible by students, staff and faculty who may not agree with it.

"You can't do that in a public institution," Santos said. "It's an infraction that illustrates a lack of sensitivity."

Eick said she didn't gather any signatures on campus but has collected a half-inch thick pile of signed petition papers so far throughout town.

Meanwhile, the Dream Act debate continues online.

"We all learned you can't do that," Santos said. "And we're back to debating."

"That's what's great about America," Eick said. "That's what free speech is all about."