On Tuesday, May 27th, PSC members joined students and community allies to demand that the CUNY central administration ensure the safety and freedom of immigrants on campuses. Union leaders and rank and file members of the PSC’s Immigrant Solidarity Working Group met outside CUNY’s midtown headquarters to deliver a petition signed by more than 7,300 members of the CUNY community demanding “No ICE/DHS at CUNY.”
The federal government’s escalating attack on immigrants and non-citizens puts many CUNY students, faculty and staff at risk of detention and deportation, denial of fundamental rights, revocation of visas, and other violations of constitutional rights. ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has no place on CUNY campuses. They must not be admitted to campuses and should not be allowed to recruit at campus job fairs. The petition, addressed to Chancellor Matos Rodríguez and the CUNY Board of Trustees, was accepted by CUNY’s Senior Vice Chancellor for Strategy and Policy Implementation, Sascha Owen.
Credit: Paul Frangipane
Credit: Paul Frangipane
Credit: Paul Frangipane
Credit: Paul Frangipane
Credit: Paul Frangipane
Credit: Paul Frangipane
Credit: Paul Frangipane
“Every one of those signatures represents an organizing conversation, a political connection, and the creation of an alliance that is going to sustain our work,” said PSC President James Davis. “We have an immediate goal today to deliver the demands expressed on the petition. We need to see those demands enacted. But we have a longer term struggle, a goal of defeating a fascist administration.”
More than 3,000 faculty and staff, 3,900 students, and hundreds of CUNY alumni endorsed the petition and its three demands for the CUNY Central Administration. The demands of the petition:
- Refuse to capitulate to authoritarian demands that threaten academic freedom, free speech, faculty governance, free association, and our right to protest on campus; refuse to curtail CUNY’s commitment to racial, gender and other forms of diversity.
- “Time, place and manner” restrictions on campus speech have proliferated on CUNY campuses over the last year, and CUNY leaders invited NYPD riot police onto the Brooklyn College campus May 8th to break up a non-violent student-led protest.
- Provide emergency legal representation for any CUNY student or worker facing the threat of deportation or cancellation of visa.
- ICE cancelled the visas of 1500 international students throughout the country (dozens at CUNY), often for minor disciplinary infractions, and in some instances as punishment for political speech disfavored by the Trump administration. Facing almost 100 lawsuits and rising public opposition, the Trump administration has since restored the visas while it develops a framework for visa revocations.
- CUNY’s Citizenship Now! is currently offering emergency legal advisement and consultation for students, faculty and staff but they must do more.
- Ensure that no CUNY college will allow ICE and Homeland Security to enter or recruit on CUNY campuses.
- Border Patrol and other divisions of the Department of Homeland Security have been on campus at CUNY college job fairs this spring. Students and faculty protested their presence at John Jay College on February 25th. ICE has not entered a CUNY campus to enforce the Trump Administration’s program of mass deportation, and that must not happen. A NYC public high school student was detained last week outside their court appearance.
PSC Members Deliver Over 7,300 Signatures to CUNY: No ICE/DHS on CUNY Campuses!
Union leaders and rank and file members of the PSC’s Immigrant Solidarity Working Group met outside CUNY’s midtown headquarters to deliver a petition signed by more than 7,300 members of the CUNY community demanding “No ICE/DHS at CUNY.”
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