Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud on Tuesday again declined to declare the university a “sanctuary campus,” but said the university is committed to inclusion of all students.

He also said he has called on the University Senate and university experts to examine each of President-elect Donald Trump’s future immigration policies, and hinted that the university will not allow Trump’s rhetoric on immigration to influence its own values.

The sanctuary campus movement — a relatively undefined term, generally implying colleges will protect undocumented immigrant students in various ways during the Donald Trump presidency — has spread across the nation following the election.

The SU Graduate Student Organization passed a resolution on Nov. 30 calling for SU to declare itself a sanctuary campus. Earlier that month, hundreds of students marched across the SU and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry campuses in support of sanctuary campuses and protecting undocumented immigrants.

Syverud on Tuesday said “it’s not exactly clear” what a sanctuary campus status would mean.

Syverud said because the university is subject to federal laws and a recipient of federal student aid, SU cannot make designations that conflict with state or federal mandates. The chancellor first hinted on Dec. 7 in a news release that the university would not be declaring itself a sanctuary campus.

But, Syverud added, the university’s policy “has been and will be” to not collect or voluntarily share information regarding students’ immigration statuses.

Syverud has also previously voiced his support for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, and did so again Tuesday. The program, which was started by President Barack Obama, allows some undocumented immigrants living in the United States who entered the country as minors to have a renewable period of deferred action from deportation.

The chancellor added SU as a signatory to a formal written commitment supporting DACA on Nov. 17.

“We have to do everything we reasonably can for our students, regardless of immigration status, subject to the very limits of the law,” he said.

Student Association President Eric Evangelista said after the address that SA does not have an official position on the sanctuary campus issue. However, he added that SA will be re-examining a resolution on Monday regarding whether SA would support a sanctuary campus declaration at SU.

A bill titled “Call for Syracuse University To Be a Sanctuary Campus” was submitted to the SA assembly in early December, but couldn’t be voted on because the SA officials had not looked over the bill before the meeting.

Evangelista added that he thinks Syverud’s remarks regarding a sanctuary campus at SU — that the university cannot support a declaration — were fair and true.

“As much as we like to be, you know, more idealistic, we do have to be cognizant of what legally and what politically is best for the university,” Evangelista said.

Published on January 17, 2017 at 8:52 pm

Contact Sam: sfogozal@syr.edu | @SamOgozalek