A petition circulating around the University of Minnesota is calling for administrators to declare the school a “sanctuary campus.”
Dozens of similar petitions are dispersing thorugh college campuses nationwide, asking that school leaders protect undocumented students and community members from deportation.
The petition asks University President Eric Kaler and other officials to pledge their support of those who “may be increasingly vulnerable to changes in policies … and the violence targeting immigrants and refugees.”
The Minnesota Daily estimated that more than 1,000 students, faculty members, alumni and staff had signed the petition as of Sunday afternoon.
Minnesota Student Association President Abeer Syedah drafted the petition and will send it to Kaler and other administrators on Wednesday, according to the document.
“What I explained to the Office of the President was [that] we as a student body and we as a Gopher community are not about to debate any community member’s right to stay or be here on this campus,” Syedah said.
The University’s Office of the General Counsel is looking into the legality of the petition’s requests, she said.
University officials didn’t comment on the petition’s language or specific requests, but said, “the University is closely following the many discussions that represent a variety of positions on our country’s current and future immigration laws.”