Thread: Texas State U. Follows ‘Sanctuary Campus’ Trend

Texas State U. Follows ‘Sanctuary Campus’ Trend

5

TSU

by MERRILL HOPE 1 Dec 2016 San Marcos, TX 89

Texas State University students hopped on the collegiate “sanctuary campus” bandwagon, petitioning their administrative leaders to declare the school a safe haven for illegal alien students, staff, and community members.

So far, nearly 800 students, alumni, faculty, employees, and others signed a petition created on November 23, according to KVUE. Petitioners urged the San Marcos-based university to adopt “sanctuary campus” policies and uphold the controversial 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, signed into law by President Obama via executive order.

“Our vision of a sanctuary campus involves actively and vigilantly protecting Texas State University’s most vulnerable populations through administrative policies. Events both locally and nationally have demonstrated a need for Texas State University to strengthen its commitment to diversity,” states the petition.

The document embraces the typical go-to buzzwords of ardent social justice warriors, calling the campus a “Hispanic Serving Institution” that values a diverse population, inclusiveness, a global perspective, and a sense of community.

The petitioners support DACA protections. They criticize Texas State officials over hypothetical future actions that could repeal and deport the illegal immigrant students enrolled through the DACA program.

Nationally, the U.S. president-elect and his administration have discussed deporting millions, creating a national registry for Muslims, and repealing the Obama administration’s order on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Texas State University’s administration has not adequately communicated how it will respond if such actions occur.”

The lack of communication regarding DACA is particularly concerning. Undocumented students with DACA are extraordinarily vulnerable due to the information they have provided to the government. The DACA order safeguards students from deportation, grants them work authorization, and enables them to obtain drivers’ licenses. While it is unclear whether or how quickly government agencies will take action against students with DACA status, the potential threat of deportation will certainly have deleterious effects upon individuals and the university community at large.

The petitioners assert that university administrators and the Associated Student Government must take action to remedy their commitment to diversity by declaring the campus “a sanctuary for undocumented students, workers, and community members” and refuse to release student information to anyone. They also want policies that allow DACA students, if arrested, detained, and/or deported, to complete their college degrees online.

Although the crux of the petition leans heavily on protecting DACA students, the Texas State U. newspaper traced the document’s inception to “hostility and hate speech” on campus and recent threatening “vigilante” fliers posted on campus attributed to alleged Trump supporters and an unrelated student’s tragic suicide. For this, petitioners request the university shores up protections, counseling services, and advocacy networks to better serve “underrepresented” student body populations such as “immigrants, blacks, LGBTQIA, Muslims…”

The petitioners task the Associated Student Government with creating a committee that would devise multiple unspecified solutions address “the needs and concerns of vulnerable populations affected by potential immigration policies.” This think-tank would report its findings to the student body in a timely manner and must enact the best policies while complying with the university’s legal obligations.

On Tuesday, petitioners presented the signed document to university President Denise Trauth at a Bobcat United Roundtable hosted by the student government, according to the University Star. Student Julia Estrada, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), attended and told the campus newspaper: “As a Latino-serving institution devoted to diversity, it should be our objective to represent all students, including undocumented ones.”

The push for sanctuary campus status comes in response to President-Elect Donald Trump’s immigration proposals that include building a wall along the U.S. southern border and banning sanctuary cities, also a longstanding priority for Texas lawmakers. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick placed it as a top initiative for the state’s upcoming 85th Legislature. Breitbart Texas recently reported state Senator Charles Perry (R-Lubbock) filed SB 4, a bill to eliminate sanctuary cities in the Lone Star State.

Last year, Governor Greg Abbott signed into law the toughest border security bill of any U.S. state. He called for the end of sanctuary cities in Texas after admonishing a Dallas County Sheriff for easing back on immigration holds for jailed immigrants. Abbott made clear sanctuary city policies will “no longer be tolerated in Texas.”

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2016/...-campus-trend/

I don't understand my state.

http://www.alipac.us/f12/texas-first...act%92-268620/ (In 2001)

Gov. Rick Perry signed it into law.

Originally Posted by nntrixie

I don't understand my state.

It's because like California, you have too many illegal aliens in it. We have to help you secure the border and deport these illegal aliens and get them out of your state and our country.

University of North Carolina, UNC faculty meeting discusses possibility of 'sanctuary university' for undocumented students

BRINLEY LOWE | PUBLISHED 11/16/16 1:04AM
Sixty-three UNC staff, faculty, alumni and students squeezed into a small classroom in Dey Hall Tuesday morning to discuss how to support undocumented UNC students.

Julia Mack, a Spanish professor and an event organizer, said she thought only four people would show up to the event — the professors who organized it.

“It’s not in the numbers that you count the support — it’s in commitment and heart and spirit,” she said.

The group discussed asking the administration to reaffirm its anti-discrimination policy and releasing a statement saying UNC should become a sanctuary university in the future.

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“The reason why almost everybody who was here was here was because this is personal,” Mack said.

“This is family. This reaches where I keep my heart and so you don’t turn your back on someone who calls for help when they’re somebody that close.”

Mariá DeGuzmán, director of Latino/a Studies and another organizer, said House Bill 318 — a North Carolina bill signed by Governor Pat McCrory in October 2015 that outlawed sanctuary cities — does not directly prohibit sanctuary universities.

“Whether (University administrators) do that or not is a totally different question, but as you all know, the desire of the people is something that gets recorded and spread around and it has more than symbolic weight ... because laws are made and unmade,” DeGuzmán said.

Federico Luisetti, chairperson of the Department of Romance Studies, said he sent an email reaffirming his department’s commitment to anti-discrimination to the chairpersons and the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences two days ago — and has yet to receive a reply.

He said UNC has an anti-discrimination policy, which prohibits discrimination based on national origin, among other characteristics.

“I can’t imagine this University not reaffirming its own anti-discrimination policy,” Luisetti said. “You don’t have to affirm something revolutionary or anything.”

Mack said she sent an email to the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Chancellor, the Provost and the Board of Trustees asking them to reaffirm the policy and encouraged others in the room to follow suit.

Meeting attendees discussed safe spaces for undocumented students and the possibility of allies wearing physical markers — such as safety pins, which were a sign that a person identified as an ally to vulnerable populations in Great Britain after the country voted to leave the European Union in June 2016.

Alejandro Escalante, a religious studies doctoral student, said he attended the meeting because the topic hits close to home for him.

“I have friends who are undocumented here at this University, and the sort of scaremongering that’s happened since Nov. 9 I think has really impacted them and their anxiety levels,” he said.

“I think any person who’s been watching the news or reading the newspaper has seen the impact of this election on families who are in fear of being separated, children who are in fear that they will go home and their parents won’t be there. I think that this is not just a political issue — it’s something that impacts real people and real lives.”

@lowebrinley

university@dailytarheel.com

http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/...ented-students

NC illegal immigrants demand FREE college tuition