Hofstra continuing education draws retirees - Katti Gray, Newsday

Gather people of varied professional backgrounds and many years of life experience in one room and there are bound to be some opposing points of view. For instance: "If you stop [immigrant] children from going to school, eventually they cannot get a job. An underclass that's not educated still needs to eat," said Phyllis Stern, rising to her feet in a Hofstra University auditorium and elaborating on why she believes Alabama's recently passed immigration controls are ill-advised. "The feds ought to keep that kind of law off the books," said Simon Shink, 78, agreeing with Stern, who is 71. Then Richard Bernstein, 62, weighed in. "Words have meaning," he said. "They're here 'illegally.' That's the problem." His was the lone opposing view among a group of retirees at a Tuesday morning "News & Views" session, a student-led discussion that is part of the curriculum for Hofstra's Personal Enrichment in Retirement, or PEIR, continuing education program at the university in Hempstead.