14 November 2016 Morton O. Schapiro, President Daniel I. Linzer
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14 November 2016 Morton O. Schapiro, President Daniel I. Linzer, Provost Patricia Telles-Irvin, Vice President for Student Affairs Philip L. Harris, Vice President and General Counsel Re: Northwestern Sanctuary for Undocumented Immigrants Dear President Schapiro, Professor Linzer, and Vice Presidents Telles-Irvin and Harris: We the undersigned faculty, staff, alumni, and students of Northwestern University write in the wake of Donald Trump’s election as president of the United States to declare our commitment to the safety and dignity of all students and workers in our community. We petition the university to declare Northwestern a sanctuary for undocumented students, workers, and their families. Mr. Trump has declared his intention upon taking office to immediately begin deportation proceedings against millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States, and to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that provides relief for deportation for hundreds of thousands of young people in the United States, including many Northwestern students. If these policies are enacted, they will prove disastrous, subjecting students and workers who are integral to our community to punitive measures, and countering Northwestern’s stated commitment to “the personal and intellectual growth of its students in a diverse academic community.” We are dismayed at the wave of hatred that has swept across the nation since the election, including threats of deportation against Latina/o youth, bullying of Muslim and LGBT youth, incendiary graffiti and vandalism, and hateful comments directed at students of color on our own campus. In light of very real and immediate threats faced by members of our community, as well as the environment of fear that the election has created, we ask the university to take the following steps: ● Issue a public statement reaffirming the university’s commitment to support and protect all of its students and workers, regardless of their citizenship status, religion, ethnicity, or national origin; ● Reaffirm current admission and financial aid policies regarding undocumented students; ● Guarantee student privacy by refusing to release information regarding citizenship status; ● Take steps to protect the visa status and funding of international students; ● Refuse to comply with federal authorities regarding deportations or immigration raids; ● Reaffirm the university’s commitment to create a campus atmosphere of respect by denouncing the hate speech directed at immigrant, minority, and LGBTQ students and workers, and by informing the campus of existing resources for reporting and responding to bias or hate incidents; ● Repair a weakness in current university structure by creating an administrative mechanism for reporting hate and bias incidents to appropriate state and federal agencies. Only a few months ago, President Schapiro co-authored an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times defending the principle of safe spaces on university campus. And months earlier he declared Northwestern’s commitment to offering undocumented students the same support offered to its citizen students. Northwestern now has an opportunity to put those words into action by creating a legal sanctuary for its students. Doing so would not only show Northwestern’s commitment to our own campus, but also our solidarity with local communities, as Evanston and Chicago have both affirmed their status as sanctuary cities. While we believe that people of good will can hold diverging political beliefs, we also believe that the safety of students and workers is absolutely essential to create the climate of free inquiry that the university should foster. This is not a time to wait and see how federal policies develop. To the contrary, it is a time to unflinchingly affirm our core values and to work proactively to safeguard the wellbeing of our community with every resource at our disposal. We ask that the university act now to fulfill its mission of “sustaining a safe and healthy Northwestern community.” Respectfully, John Alba Cutler, Associate Professor, English and Latina/o Studies Ana Aparicio, Associate Professor, Anthropology and Latina/o Studies Harris Feinsod, Assistant Professor, English & Comparative Literary Studies Jorge Coronado, Associate Professor, Spanish & Portuguese Geraldo Cadava, Associate Professor, History Rebecca Johnson, Assistant Professor, English & Middle East and North African Studies Nathalie Bouzaglo, Associate Professor, Spanish and Portuguese Kasey Evans, Associate Professor, English and Gender & Sexuality Studies Jules Law, Professor of English Emily Maguire, Associate Professor, Spanish & Portuguese and Latina/o Studies Alejandra Uslenghi, Assistant Professor, Spanish &Portuguese-Comparative Literary Studies Juan Martinez, Assistant Professor, English Kelly Wisecup, Assistant Professor, Department of English Julia Stern, Professor, English Antonio Papanikolas, Doctoral Candidate, English Frances R. Aparicio, Professor Harrington Weihl, PhD Student, English Hi'ilei Julia Hobart, Postdoctoral Fellow, Kaplan Institute Susan E Phillips, Associate Professor of English Devin O'Shea, MFA Graduate Student Reginald Gibbons, Professor Susannah Gottlieb, Director, Comparative Literary Studies Michelle M Wright, Professor of African American Studies & Comparative Literary Studies Chris Abani, Board of Trustees Professor of English and Comp Lit Caitlyn Doyle, Doctoral Candidate, Comparative Literary Studies Tessa Cavagnero, PhD Candidate, Comparative Literature and Classics Jessica Winegar, Associate Professor, Anthropology Eloisa Bressan, PhD student in Comparative Literature and English Jonas Rosenbrück, PhD Candidate, Comparative Literary Studies Mark W. Hauser, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology Andrew Kim, Doctoral Student, Anthropology Micaela di Leonardo Professor, Anthropology, Performance Studies Bonnie Etherington, PhD Student, English Wendy Wall, Professor, English Kathryn Catlin, PhD Candidate, Anthropology Beatriz O. Reyes, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Anthropology, Global Health Studies Doug Kiel, Assistant Professor, History and Kaplan Institute Marianne Hopman, Associate Professor, Classics and Comparative Literary Studies Raevin Jimenez, Doctoral Candidate, History Patrick Noonan, Assistant Professor, Asian Languages and Cultures & Comparative Literary Studies Francesca Tataranni, Professor of Instruction, Classics Kimberly Seibel, PhD Student Katherine E. Hoffman, Associate Professor, Anthropology and Middle East and North African Studies Arbeena Thapa, PhD Student, Anthropology Emily Updegraff, Director of Operations, Physics & Astronomy Stephen Sullivan, PhD Student, Anthropology Erica Weitzman, Assistant Professor, German Sabrina Jaromin, PhD Candidate, Comparative Literary Studies Noran Mohamed Daniel H. Garrison, Professor Emeritus, Classics Ashley Ngozi Agbasoga, Doctoral Student, Anthropology Ira S. Murfin, Doctoral Candidate, Interdisciplinary PhD in Theatre & Drama Beth Derderian, PhD candidate, Anthropology Hector Carrillo, Associate Professor, Sociology, Gender & Sexuality Studies and Latina/o Studies Arif Camoglu, PhD Candidate, Comparative literature and English Alícia Hernàndez Grande, PhD Candidate, Theatre and Drama Laura Brueck, Associate Professor of South Asian Literature and Culture Liz McCabe, Lecturer, Chicago Field Studies Toby Altman, PhD Candidate in English Literature Jennifer Nash, associate professor of African American studies and gender and sexuality studies James Mahoney, Professor and Chair, Sociology Mary Pattillo, Harold Washington Professor, Sociology and African Amer Studies Susanna Sacks, PhD Candidate, English E. Patrick Johnson, Carlos Montezuma Professor of Performance Studies and African American Studies Mark McClish, Assistant Professor, Religious Studies Nick Davis, Associate Professor, English and Gender & Sexuality Studies Amy Glazier-Torgerson, Class of 2015 Brannon Ingram, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Jillana Enteen, Associate Professor of Instruction, Gender & Sexuality Studies and Asian American Studies David Boyk, Assistant Professor of Instruction, Asian Languages and Cultures Hugh Montag, PhD Student, Economics Nasrin Qader, Chair, French and Italian Steven Epstein, Professor of Sociology and John C. Shaffer Professor in the Humanities Robert L. Nelson, Professor, Sociology Aaron Norton, Visiting Assistant Professor, Gender & Sexuality Studies and Sociology Joanna Grisinger, Associate Professor of Instruction, Legal Studies Claudia Castillo, PhD Student, HDSP Anna Parkinson, Associate Professor, German Department Susan Pearson, Associate Professor, History Amanda Herrera Makeda Austin Josef Barton, Professor emeritus, History Christopher Leatherwood, PhD Student, Learning Sciences Ijun Lai, PhD Student, Human Development and Social Policy Robert Launay, Professor, Anthropology Elizabeth Trubey, Associate Professor of Instruction, English Emily Altman, Program Assistant Kate Masur, Associate Professor of History Jennifer L. Bivens, alumna and current staff (student enterprise systems) Ruth Martin Curry, PhD Candidate, Comparative Literary Studies Alissa Baker-Oglesbee, graduate student Debra Thompson, Assistant Professor, Department of African American Studies Galya Ruffer, Center for Forced Migration Studies EP Nelsen, PhD student, Psychology Myrna Garcia, Assistant Professor of Instruction in Latina and Latino Studies/Weinberg Adviser Galya Ruffer, Director, Center for Forced Migration Studies Anna Parkinson, Professor, German