Ronald Kahn, a political science professor at Oberlin College, lashed out against Proposition 187, which seeks to restrict social services for illegal immigrants in California.
The speech, "Proposition 187 and the Rights of Illegal Immigrants -- the Supreme Court and Social Change" was given to about 100 students and professors in the Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences.
Voters in California approved Proposition 187, which would deny educational and health service rights to undocumented immigrants, in November. Its constitutionality is currently being questioned in court.
"We don't know what [illegal immigrants'] rights are or what their rights will be," Kahn said. "It's really whether our nation can meet the challenge of multiculturalism."
"Proposition 187 is terrible," he said.
The debate over whether or not to implement the proposition is a debate that Kahn said he expects to continue for a long period of time.
"Proposition 187 would have the effect of breaking apart the immigrant community," Kahn said. "People will say, 'I got here legally, and you didn't.'"
Although Kahn said he is unsure what will happen if the proposition makes its way to the Supreme Court, he made it clear that "the justices don't like overturning past laws."
"The court is not just a product of the political philosophies of who's on it," he said.
Kahn used statistics to show how divisive the proposition could be.
For instance, he said 20 percent of students in California speak a language other than English and 33 percent of all students in San Francisco speak limited English.
One problem with the proposition is that a verification system for legal citizens could lead to legal citizens of color feeling discriminated against, Kahn said.
Teachers, health care providers and social service workers would have to take on the responsibility of enforcing the proposition, Kahn said.
"Proposition 187 raises unbelievable questions of rethinking structural inequality," he said.
Kahn said fear is at the basis of the debate about the proposition. He said legal citizens are scared of illegal immigrants taking their jobs and benefits.
The proposition "is a product of certain politics but also a reality that affirmative action categories are seen as what some people get and what others don't."
Kahn used the term "cumulative inequalities" to denote the integration of race, sex, gender and socioeconomic discrimination collectively.
"Affirmative action is so visceral because the tendency is for us to see what we overcame and what you didn't, and then feel superior," Kahn said.
Kahn also used the term "interpretive community" in reference to legal scholars, political analysts and journalists who are informed of public policy and legal issues related to the proposition.
"The interpretive community will come up with new ideas [about the proposition] having seen the 'street,'" he said. "We are going to have to make sense of the future difficulties in society."
"At a certain point there is a life of a law that in the future it just wouldn't make sense anymore," he said.
In addition to the social ramifications of the proposition, Kahn said the political ramifications are also important.
"The Democratic party has great fears -- the proposition is a vehicle by which the Republicans ran against them," he said.
Proposition 187 and "other propositions bring you voters who have given up on politics but haven't given up on nativism," he said.
