On Tuesday, Apr. 1, Associate Professor of Art History Susan Jarosi held a one-hour meeting in Molly Root House for faculty, staff and students to help plan for Hamilton’s contributions to the April 17 nationwide event. Five professors, one staff member and two students were present at the meeting. For those who could not attend, a google form was sent out in an email from Jarosi on Mar. 31, which has already elicited responses from people across the college who want to get involved in planning, participate in the events on campus or contribute skills such as scheduling, media relations and publicity.
The National Day of Action for Higher Education is a “one-day action held on and around our campuses to renew this vision of higher education as an autonomous public good, and university workers as its most important resource,” the website for the event says. The parent sponsor of the event is the Coalition for Action in Higher Ed, and additional sponsors include the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Higher Ed Labor United and Scholars for Social Justice.
The organization is hosting a series of virtual events on April 17 for college communities to join, such as “College for All,” a political education and collective visioning session from the Debt Collective, “Why Sanctuary Campuses Now?” led by the Sanctuary Campus Network (SCN) and “Immigrants Rights Defense Workshop,” a workshop on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policing tactics and strategies led by attorneys.
Jarosi discussed the possibility of being published as a participating institution on the website and attending these virtual events with the participants of the meeting. One professor said that joining the virtual events “could be a way to feel connection across institutions and hear from activists on different topics.”
Another professor raised concern about the emphasis on Palestine across programming for the day, referring to virtual events like “Displacement: From Palestine to Mexico” and “Day of Action Palestine Webinar.” He felt that framing the discussion around broader themes of justice and on the general assault on higher education would be a more productive and inclusive approach.
A student at the meeting who was there representing Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Black & Latinx Student Union (BLSU) said that these student organizations have expressed strong interest in participating in the day of action.
The discussion moved to concerns about protecting international students from being detained by ICE in light of the recent attempted arrest of a student at Columbia University by immigration officials, the detention of a student by ICE at Tufts University on Mar. 25 and the arrest of four undocumented immigrants in Syracuse’s Wescott neighborhood on Mar. 27 by U.S. Border Patrol agents.
Participants of the meeting questioned whether there was a protocol if ICE was to arrive on campus. A student said that they understand the administration’s focus has been to stay in line with the law, but they did not think this seems like “a safe framework” anymore. Another participant said that nothing “substantive” has been determined by the administration on this topic, which they thought was “not reassuring to students who think they could be captured.”
A student introduced the possibility of Hamilton becoming a sanctuary school, a rising movement of educational institutions that call for protections to be put into place that ensure a safe environment for all students and “protect the rights of undocumented immigrants and other vulnerable populations.” The Sanctuary School and Safe Zone Movement argues that “schools and educational institutions do not have the legal authority or resources to engage in federal immigration enforcement and thus should not cooperate with federal agencies in their efforts to identify, detain or deport undocumented immigrant students,” according to Immigrants Rising.
Participants voiced concern about whether becoming a sanctuary school would make Hamilton a target, and if this would create a need for an immigration lawyer or require further legal support on campus. There was a conversation around the Board of Trustees possibly having to agree to this, but many did not believe that the Board was likely to sign on.
A student brought up Swarthmore College as an example of a school that has committed to being a sanctuary campus. A statement by College President Valerie Smith and the Board of Managers in 2016 declared their “intention to support all students in their quest to pursue their education without government interference.” Swarthmore pledges to “not voluntarily share student information with immigration enforcement officials,” to “not voluntarily grant access to College property to immigrant enforcement officials” and to “not support the enforcement actions of immigration officials on campus.”
Participants of the meeting widely agreed that these were good demands, and suggested using this as a model to propose to the administration and garner support among students and faculty. Jarosi said that this could be an initiative that is moved forward on the day of action, and participants plan to draft a letter based off of Swarthmore’s statement. This letter produced as part of the day of action would be framed as “protesting attacks on Hamilton’s core mission or core values.”
Participants plan to list several demands on the letter pertaining to threats to international students, the freezing of hiring or graduation programs that students have counted on to build their careers, freedom of speech, and academic freedom. Their goal is to keep the list of demands concrete and concise, drawing attention to impact on students and academic freedom on campus.
The meeting concluded with preliminary plans in place for Apr. 17. Participants hope to gather faculty, staff and students in a march across campus in the late afternoon and have additional opportunities for participation throughout the day. They plan to have another meeting on Monday, Apr. 14 to assign people roles and organize poster-making sessions.
Jarosi said that once reservations for the protest are confirmed, further details will be sent out to the Hamilton community.
