[B]URLINGTON — More than 100 University of Vermont faculty and staff have signed a letter urging University President Thomas Sullivan to make a clear declaration of resistance to a ban on immigrants from seven Muslim countries to the United States.
Members of United Academics, the union representing over 700 UVM faculty members, wrote the letter.
Sullivan circulated a memo just days after the executive order. It stated the University “will continue, without exception, to steadfastly and vigorously support and protect members of our University community to the maximum extent allowed by the Constitution and federal and state.”
United Academics wants the president to take protections of immigrants a step further. The union is urging the UVM administration “to be diligent about protecting our students’ privacy and their personal records, including their immigration status, from external intrusion to the full extent possible according to the law.”
English Professor Nancy Welch signed the letter and helped circulate it to other faculty members.
“I want to see a pledge that the university will not comply or cooperate with any kind of orders to reveal the immigrations status of students or staff,” she said. “The kind of exclusion and sowing of fear from the executive order goes completely against the grain of what we stand for as academics and as a global institution.”
The letter cited several other University’s statements including Cornell University, New York University, and the University of Michigan. These statements pinpointed specific ways its administrators would continue to protect students regardless of their immigration status, and would not comply with requests for information on student’s immigration status.
President Sullivan responded to the faculty endorsed letter on Feb. 1 and sited a Dec. 9 memo regarding UVM’s status as a “Sanctuary Campus.”
UVM will continue, without exception, to support and protect all students to the maximum extent allowed by the Constitution and federal and state laws. For example:
• UVM admits students without consideration of whether they are documented or undocumented.
• UVM does not inquire about, or keep records of, whether a student is an undocumented immigrant.
• UVM does not and will not create a registry of students based on undocumented status.
• UVM Police, like all other state-authorized law enforcement agents, have no responsibility for enforcing immigration laws. UVM Police do not inquire about immigration status, do not detain individuals based solely on immigration status, do not arrest individuals based on immigration status, and do not disclose information regarding immigration status unless compelled by law to do so.
• UVM protects with vigor the privacy rights of students under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. UVM does not disclose private information about students without appropriate legal process, such as a subpoena or court order.
