Months of immigration protests culminated in a showdown with Stanford University’s President Marc Tessier-Lavigne on May 25. As President Tessier-Lavigne was set to deliver a keynote address at a public service barbecue, four members of Stanford Sanctuary Now (SSN) stormed the stage, taking control of the microphone.
According to The Stanford Daily, a member of the event staff was forced to “physically wrestle the microphone out of the student’s hands,” in order to return to the regular schedule of events.
SSN describes itself as “a coalition of students, staff, faculty, and community members committed to making Stanford a pro-immigrant, pro-Muslim, anti-racist university.” Group affiliates include the Immigration Liberation Movement, Stanford student government, the Center for African Studies, and the Silicon Valley Workers Project.
Additionally, the organization has offered events such as “Rapid Response Training,” the purpose of which was to train “first responders through the Bay Area to show to up wherever Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) threatens immigrant communities.”
One of the ultimate goals of SSN is for Stanford University’s administration to declare the school a “sanctuary campus.” Activists were outraged in February when President Tessier-Lavigne, after meeting with SSN members for two hours, decided against designating Stanford a sanctuary campus.
In April, SSN made a series of demands to Stanford including that the school “refuse to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in all lawful ways,” “scale up financial and legal support to social justice organizations and activists,” and “encourage campus workers to organize for their mutual protection.”
Also included was the demand to “set up undocumented.stanford.edu website to serve as a compilation of resource(s) for prospective Stanford applicants who may be undocumented.”
SSN activists marched in a “May Day Rally” on May 1, intended to pressure Stanford to adopt its list of demands. In one post, activists are pictured holding a banner that reads“Stanford Sanctuary Now. Protect Immigrant Workers, Students + Families.”
On Wednesday, President Tessier-Lavigne addressed SSN’s concerns in a “Letter to the community on undocumented students.”
“This continues to be a time of uncertainty and fear for many people who are undocumented,” he stated, expressing that Stanford “will not participate with other agencies in any immigration enforcement action unless legally compelled to do so.”
Continuing, the President addressed the concerns of SSN, capitulating to the group’s demand to create an “undocumented.stanford.edu website.” The website states that, “Stanford will use institutional funds to meet the full demonstrated financial need of those undocumented students who are admitted.”
Red Alert Politics reached out to Stanford Sanctuary Now, but they declined to comment.
“Students in the Stanford Sanctuary Now (SSN) group have been very active on this subject,” President Tessier-Lavigne remarked.
