Penn’s Undergraduate Assembly passed a resolution calling on the University to clarify its policies and reaffirm its commitment to its undocumented, immigrant, and international students and employees.
Credit: Chenyao LiuSeveral student and faculty groups sent a letter to University administrators calling on Penn to clarify its policies and reaffirm its commitment to undocumented, immigrant, and international students and employees.
The letter — addressed to Interim Penn President Larry Jameson, Provost John Jackson Jr., and the Faculty Senate Executive Committee — comes amid growing concerns regarding recent executive orders from the White House imposing stricter immigration policies. The letter was sent on Feb. 20 and signed by the Executive Committee of Penn’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, Penn’s Undergraduate Assembly, the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access and Leadership Student Council.
“Now, in this moment of heightened risk, we call upon you to reaffirm Penn’s commitment to freedom of expression and to expand its commitment to include protections of undocumented staff and workers as well as those community members on F-1, J-1, and H1-B visas—and to make clear that Penn will not cooperate in any way with these unjust policies of intimidation and deportation,” the letter read.
A request for comment was left with a University spokesperson.
The letter says that previous messages by the University “did not go far enough in addressing the climate of fear and uncertainty these orders have created” and called on Jameson to more explicitly communicate Penn’s position and response to federal immigration policies.
“In this moment, it is imperative that university leadership offer unequivocal reassurance and a concrete commitment to protecting those most vulnerable. Specifically, the university must publicly clarify its stance and the steps it will take regarding cooperation with the federal government in the enforcement of these executive orders,” the letter read.
In particular, the statement calls on the University to clarify “campus policy with regard to working with federal immigration authorities” and questions whether Penn administration has plans to inform students, faculty, and staff about their privacy rights — including who they should contact in the event that they are approached by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
The statement also asks whether Penn will designate certain “private/limited-access spaces” where ICE agents cannot enter without a valid warrant and if Penn will provide legal support and representation to individuals who are “faced with visa or deportation problems.”
In January, 1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump announced a reversal of a policy that previously declared “sensitive locations” such as schools, churches, hospitals, colleges, funerals, and rallies off-limits for ICE raids.
In November 2016, shortly before Trump took office for his first term, then-Penn President Amy Gutmann announced that Penn would be a “sanctuary” for undocumented students and that the University would not allow ICE raids to take place on campus.
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