November 22, 2016

Contact information: [email protected]

Dear President Mazey, Members of the Board of Trustees, and Faculty Senate,

We, the undersigned, believe the Trump administration’s proposed immigration policies pose a grave threat to BGSU’s mission of equity, diversity, and inclusion. Given these dire circumstances, we urge continued conversation and concrete action from the Faculty Senate and the BGSU administration.

A guiding belief at BGSU is that students and educators belong to a community of diverse scholars, which enables BGSU to be an inclusive learning and working environment and a leader in advancing knowledge and tackling societal needs. These ideals of building a welcoming, safe, and diverse environment are more important now than ever. Throughout the electoral campaign, Donald Trump has advocated aggressive and punitive measures against undocumented immigrants. His election as president presents deep challenges for our campus community. BGSU students, staff, campus employees, and their families are the targets of hate speech and harassment. There are members of our campus community who feel frightened and vulnerable, and who live in fear of deportation. President-elect “Trump has promised to deport unprecedented numbers of undocumented immigrants from the United States, including students, and to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which currently provides temporary deportation relief for undocumented youth and grants authorization to work in the US. Collaborating with federal immigration authorities is beyond the scope of BGSU's mission as an educational institution as well as a violation of the trust placed in both the university and the federal government by those here under the DACA program.

These attacks on immigrants and their families are a threat to our entire BGSU community. As faculty and members of the BGSU community, we call upon the university to immediately undertake measures to make the campus a sanctuary for undocumented and other students, staff, contract workers, and their families who have been targeted by President-elect Trump's proposed policies. We strongly encourage the Faculty Senate and university administrators to develop actionable steps for BGSU to provide a safe haven for all members of our campus community. In moving to ensure a safe and secure environment for education, research, and service, we join over a hundred universities and colleges across the country, among those Oberlin and Ohio State.

Concretely, we encourage the university to take the following actions:

- Affirm commitment to support and protect all of BGSU’s students and workers, regardless of their citizenship status, religion, ethnicity, or national origin;
- Affirm commitment to not cooperate with federal ICE authorities regarding deportations or immigration raids;
- Take steps to create a policy similar to that of UCLA and other campuses, whereby Campus Police will not engage in helping the federal government with deportations or inquiring as to the immigration status of students.
- Take measures to safeguard the personal information of all students and workers;
- Provide strictly confidential counseling services for undocumented students, DACA recipients, staff, workers, and their families regarding their situations;
- Require that on-campus recruiters from the Department of Homeland Security, Border Patrol, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement use civilian clothing, bring no weapons, and drive no official vehicles;
- Reaffirm the university’s commitment to create a campus atmosphere of respect by denouncing all hate speech directed at immigrant, minority, women, disabled, and LGBTQ students and workers, and by informing the campus of existing resources for reporting and responding to bias or hate incidents.

We recognize that these decisions require thoughtful planning and deliberation. We wish to partner with the university administration to develop a sanctuary plan that will meet the needs of all members of the BGSU community.