Rachel Spacek/Nevada Sagebrush The Latinx Student Advisory Board at the University of Nevada, Reno holds a silent demonstration to protest for making UNR a sanctuary campus on Thursday, Dec. 8 in the quad. During the demonstration, President Marc Johnson agreed to have a meeting with LSAB.

Rachel Spacek/Nevada Sagebrush
The Latinx Student Advisory Board at the University of Nevada, Reno holds a silent demonstration to protest for making UNR a sanctuary campus on Thursday, Dec. 8 in the quad. During the demonstration, President Marc Johnson agreed to have a meeting with LSAB.

Despite pressure from several student groups and faculty members, President Marc Johnson remains hesitant to declare the university a sanctuary campus. Last week, Johnson signed a petition to protect the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program; however, he has not followed the lead of other college presidents across the United States and declared the campus a sanctuary campus.

Over 28 colleges and universities throughout the United States have put out statements saying they will not enforce federal immigration laws or consent to immigration enforcement activities or share confidential student information such as immigration status with the federal government unless required by court order.

Among these sanctuary campuses are Portland State University; Reed College in Portland, Oregon; Wesleyan University in Middleton, Connecticut; Pitzer College in Claremont, California; the University of Pennsylvania; Connecticut College; Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania; Columbia University in New York City and all 23 California State University campuses.

Several other universities, including Washington State University and Princeton University, have affirmed their commitment to protecting undocumented students by promising to support DACA, like Johnson, but have not officially declared themselves sanctuaries.

DACA students are undocumented students who came to the U.S. before they turned 16. Under the program, these students are given permission to attend school in the U.S. and are given a work permit and a Social Security number.

Officials in Texas and Georgia have threatened to cut funding to schools that designate themselves as sanctuary campuses, said a Fusion news report.

These threats are reflective of the threats made by President-elect Donald Trump during his presidential campaign. During the campaign, Trump said he would defund sanctuary cities in his “first 100 days” in office. Sanctuary cities are cities dedicated to protecting undocumented immigrants. Some sanctuary cities include Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.

Nevada officials have not threatened to cut funding to UNR, but several students and alumni have expressed a negative reaction to the idea of the university becoming a sanctuary campus.

“I think that the bigger it gets, the more of a negative reaction we’re going to get from it because there are people outside of the community and outside of the university that do not understand the issue completely,” said Jeffrey Dominguez, president of LSAB. “Some of the faculty were talking about how if the university were to become a sanctuary university by title, that might anger other donors or people saying, ‘Hey, this is a public university, what are you doing?’ I think the bigger it gets, the opposition will come out, and that is fine because I think it is a conversation we need to have and we want to gain support, but it is also something we want to change people’s minds about and introduce that topic into their heads so we can learn from each other.”

The Latinx Student Advisory Board has been putting pressure on university officials to declare UNR a sanctuary.

“We all know someone who is undocumented and we feel that it is an injustice to try to say that students shouldn’t be allowed to pursue an education, especially if they’ve been here for so long, and it is unimaginable for our community and it is unjust,” Dominguez said. “At the very basis, we know students, faculty and staff that will all be affected by his [Trump’s] policies, so we really want the university to take into consideration the diverse population because, even if I am not a DACA student, I know someone who is going to be affected and that greatly affects my life. It is just really important for us that the university stands with those who pay tuition and those who are part of the community and the system of higher education.”

LSAB led a silent demonstration Thursday, Dec. 8, to call on the university to declare it a sanctuary campus. During the demonstration, the marchers dropped off a petition with over 1,000 signatures to make the university a sanctuary campus.

The petition states, “As students of a university that serves many of the groups who were targeted and denigrated during the President-Elect’s campaign, we write with urgency to request that you make our campus a sanctuary for our students, our staff, our faculty and their family members who face imminent deportation.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers cannot enter the campus without permission of the university, which means that UNR can protect undocumented individuals. Given that many students, staff and their families are directly affected by this issue, we urge the university to develop a protocol for the University of Nevada, Reno, to serve as a sanctuary campus, placing restrictions on law enforcement.”

During the petition drop-off segment of the silent demonstration, Johnson met with some marchers and agreed to hold a meeting with LSAB this week to discuss the sanctuary campus option.

Nevada officials have not threatened to cut funding to UNR, but several students and alumni have expressed a negative reaction to the idea of the university becoming a sanctuary campus.

“I think that the bigger it gets, the more of a negative reaction we’re going to get from it because there are people outside of the community and outside of the university that do not understand the issue completely,” said Jeffrey Dominguez, president of LSAB. “Some of the faculty were talking about how if the university were to become a sanctuary university by title, that might anger other donors or people saying, ‘Hey, this is a public university, what are you doing?’ I think the bigger it gets, the opposition will come out, and that is fine because I think it is a conversation we need to have and we want to gain support, but it is also something we want to change people’s minds about and introduce that topic into their heads so we can learn from each other.”

The Latinx Student Advisory Board has been putting pressure on university officials to declare UNR a sanctuary campus.

“We all know someone who is undocumented, and we feel that it is an injustice to try to say that students shouldn’t be allowed to pursue an education, especially if they’ve been here for so long, and it is unimaginable for our community and it is unjust,” Dominguez said. “At the very basis, we know students, faculty and staff that will all be affected by his [Trump’s] policies, so we really want the university to take into consideration the diverse population because, even if I am not a DACA student, I know someone who is going to be affected and that greatly affects my life. It is just really important for us that the university stands with those who pay tuition and those who are part of the community and the system of higher education.”

LSAB led a silent demonstration Thursday, Dec. 8, to call on the university to declare it a sanctuary campus. During the demonstration, the marchers dropped off a petition with over 1,000 signatures to make the university a sanctuary campus.

The petition states, “As students of a university that serves many of the groups who were targeted and denigrated during the president-elect’s campaign, we write with urgency to request that you make our campus a sanctuary for our students, our staff, our faculty and their family members who face imminent deportation.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers cannot enter the campus without permission of the university, which means that UNR can protect undocumented individuals. Given that many students, staff and their families are directly affected by this issue, we urge the university to develop a protocol for the University of Nevada, Reno, to serve as a sanctuary campus, placing restrictions on law enforcement.”

During the petition drop-off segment of the silent demonstration, Johnson met with some marchers and agreed to hold a meeting with LSAB this week to discuss the sanctuary campus option.