Ohio University faculty members have begun to address possible measures to protect those under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program after a movement to establish “sanctuary campuses” took root across the country.
Across the country, higher education administrations have begun to take provisions to protect the confidentiality of a student’s immigration status amid discussions from President-elect Donald Trump and his cabinet appointees about potentially discontinuing the program.
“Sanctuary campuses,” such as Reed College and California State University, have promised not to assist the government in collecting information necessary to deport DACA-protected individuals.
The Obama administration enacted DACA in 2012 to protect childhood immigrants from deportation, allowing undocumented and DACA documented immigrants to attend colleges and universities. DACA also allows immigrants to register for a renewable, two-year work permit that defers deportation for that period of time.
Some colleges and universities in Ohio, such as Oberlin College, have taken steps to protect immigrants and identify resources, such as referrals to legal experts, for immigrant students, according to a statement from Oberlin President Marvin Krislov. The college has not deemed itself a “sanctuary campus,” however.
At last month’s Faculty Senate meeting, OU President Roderick McDavis addressed the national concern for universities and colleges to protect students under the program.
“DACA has enabled many students to attend Ohio University to pursue the transformative education that we provide,” McDavis said at December’s Faculty Senate meeting. “These sons and daughters of undocumented immigrants have not broken any laws. They were brought to this country as minors through no fault of their own and have not caused any trouble. We have accepted them as students at our university; they are valued members of our community.”
McDavis said it was premature to take the step of declaring OU a “sanctuary” university until there are changes to federal law. There are many ways the new federal administration could impact the university, he said.
After McDavis presented at December’s Faculty Senate meeting, he signed a statement along with 595 other administrators around the country to establish support for students protected by DACA. The petition stated the program needs to be upheld and expanded, as it is a “moral imperative and national necessity” to allow access to education for American immigrants.
Loren Lybarger, an associate professor of classics and world religions, and Paul Patton, a faculty senator and assistant professor of anthropology and food studies, started a petition for OU faculty in an effort to secure support for DACA students.
That petition calls on Faculty Senate to urge administrators to reaffirm the university’s commitment to ending discrimination against immigrants by adding a category of immigration status to OU’s harassment policy and to counsel people about immigration issues, Faculty Senate Chair Joe McLaughlin said.
That petition will be brought to Faculty Senate as a resolution Jan. 9 as it met the requirement of 150 faculty signatures.
“I imagine there might be questions on implementation and what it means to extend anti-harassment (protection), especially (to) undocumented immigrants, as there’s certain legal limits. We very carefully avoided any reference to sanctuary campuses,” Lybarger said. “To offer sanctuary in any meaningful way, that could cause us to break the law. We didn’t want to make promises we couldn’t keep, in other words.”
A group of 80 faculty members is working within its legal limits to strengthen policies to protect student identities.
That faculty network serves to put an organizational structure in place, and the resolution signals to administration and the wider community that OU faculty are prepared to act on behalf of fellow colleagues, students and staff who are vulnerable, Lybarger said.
“There is a legal foundation here. We just wanted to clarify this especially in the aftermath of the election and the way anti-immigrant rhetoric was a part of the campaign. We felt need to indicate that the faculty have resolved to support their students and colleagues, especially those who are Muslim or those who are undocumented or DACA documented students,” Lybarger said.
Protecting the confidentiality of DACA students would be one responsibility of adding immigrants to OU’s anti-discriminatory policy, especially in regard to concern for DACA documented or undocumented students, Patton said.
OU has offices on campus with confidential services, such as the student health center and the dean of students’ office. Patton said those office have found ways to institute confidentiality policies, and there’s no reason to believe the office trusted with DACA issues wouldn’t be able to do the same.
“On a symbolic level, one of the most important thing is that the petition offers the opportunity for our community, our university community, to say no to discrimination, to say no to harassment,” Patton said.
