Campus protests supporting Dreamers seen across nation
Thirty-one professors from Harvard and other Boston-area universities were arrested last night in an act of civil disobedience against Donald Trump’s rescission of DACA. The Harvard Square demonstration echoed countless other university rallies across the nation this week which supported undocumented students and Dreamers.
Universities and college administrators have long been strongly supportive of undocumented students and policies that help them. This week, the University of California system filed a lawsuit challenging the end of DACA, while former US Education Secretaries called for legislation to legalize Dreamers and college presidents wrote op-eds defending undocumented students on campus.
The Harvard Square demonstration came about after some hundred faculty members from Harvard, Tufts, MIT, Wellesley, and Babson convened to brainstorm what they could do to support undocumented students. Harvard African and African American Studies professor Walter Johnson, who was among those arrested, spoke of a “moral responsibility” to stand up for Dreamers. As he said:
It just came to a point of crisis, both for the nation and for us. It seemed like it was time for us to jump off, and to try to both stand firmly with our students, to stand for justice and decency in the face of an unjust law, and to try and kick off a conversation about resistance between campuses in Boston and among faculty.
You can view photos of the demonstration below.
Also view just a sampling of the campus protests (including some high schools) that happened nationwide:
- Dozens protest on UVA Grounds against DACA repeal
- Oklahomans react to DACA announcement; those in program face few legal options (Oklahoma State University)
- Hundreds of UNM students, faculty stage walkout in support of DACA
- Photos: People in Reno protest rescinding of DACA (University of Nevada)
- Students in Southern New Mexico join statewide DACA walkout protest
- Here what Southern California’s Defend DACA protests look like (Cal State Long Beach, UCLA)
- Reactions to DACA Repeal: Protests, Walkouts, & Support From Surprising Sources
- President’s promise to end DACA stuns local immigrants and their supporters (Sonoma State University)
- Connecticut Students Protest DACA Reversal
- Iowa universities react to DACA decision, state they are standing behind their ‘dreamers’
- Hundreds of Denver students rally at Auraria Campus to protest Trump’s DACA decision
- The Latest: San Diego DACA protest draws 1,000
- Protesters gather at Ohio State over Trump’s threat to DACA
- Students march in Fort Worth in support of ‘Dreamers’: ‘The school’s got my back’
- Protesters block traffic at UMD’s ‘M’ circle to defend DACA
- Trump’s Decision To Rescind DACA Sparks Protests Across The Country
- DACA Done: A Day of Protests as Trump’s Cruelty Continues (Updated) (Portland State University)
- End to DACA prompts protests in Tucson
- Case students gather to protest DACA decision
- Group gathers for protest at Oklahoma State University as Trump rescinds DACA
- Students across the country stage walk-outs protesting DACA decision
- Hundreds of Denver students walk out in protest of DACA’s end
- Tensions high as UC Berkeley awaits Trump’s announcement of DACA’s fate
