Students, Chicano Youth & Broad Intersection of Undocumented People Demand Sanctuary Campuses (11/16/2016)

A walkout & demonstration was held today at Columbia University to remind the institution that students want a #SanctuaryCampus. According to students, it was the "largest protest ever at CU-with over 600 students, faculty, and administrators".

La Cartita --- Autonomous university campuses exist in México - why not in the United States? It appears that many are concluding campuses need to be free of the undue influence of a dictatorial presidency be it Democrat or Republican. Students at Columbia University protested the racist rhetoric of the President elect, but also demanded sanctuary campuses in conjunction with a nationwide protest led by COSECHA, an offshoot of the farm workers movement.

LUCHA, a local student led initiative to protect Chicano & Latino communities, was among those demonstrating today. The student protest was in part represented by the letter to Columbia' University President Bollinger and Provost Coatsworth:

We stand with a national movement led by students to assert campuses as sanctuary spaces. We urge you to act expeditiously to make Columbia a sanctuary campus and protect the most vulnerable members of our community who have called Columbia home. We must live up to the University's commitment to diversity, justice, and inclusion.

The letter invoked ICE's internal understanding of sensitive spaces from which it can not carry out deportation orders. According to the letter, the university campus would "disrupt[s] our core mission of education and the promotion of civil discourse, by undermining our commitment to all students, regardless of their immigration status". Finally, the letter reminds Columbia's president of his past support in the form of statements towards undocumented students. In 2010