Harvard University will not designate itself as a “sanctuary campus,” which would have shielded illegal immigrant students from federal immigration law, university President Drew G. Faust announced.
Faust, who was lobbied by students advocating for multicultural-aligned university policies, denied a request to transform Harvard into a campus where federal immigration officials with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency are banned from campus, the Harvard Crimson reported.
“[The sanctuary campus policy] also risks drawing special attention to the students in ways that could put their status in greater jeopardy,” Faust said during a Harvard faculty meeting. “I believe it would endanger, rather than protect, our students, and that is not something I am willing for this institution to do.”
“Sanctuary campus status has no legal significance or even clear definition,” Faust continued. “It offers no actual protection to our students. I worry that in fact it offers false and misleading assurance.”
Harvard history professor Walter Johnson and Anwar Omeish, the Director of External Relations of the Harvard Islamic Society, were two individuals on campus who previously held a rally at the university demanding a sanctuary campus policy.
Rally-goers for the sanctuary campus policy reportedly “discussed the pain and fear” students feel after President-Elect Donald Trump’s stunning victory to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, the Crimson reported.
“When we as faculty and when we as administrators admit these students as our students, we make a fundamental commitment to support these students so that they can thrive,” Harvard associate professor Sergio Delgado said at the sanctuary campus rally. “And whenever we fail at that commitment we’re not just failing those students, we’re failing this institution and we’re failing ourselves.”
Harvard is not the first university to openly reject sanctuary campus policies.
This week, the University of Illinois announced that it would not be implementing a sanctuary campus policy, citing that the campus resolution would do nothing to prevent illegal immigrants from being subject to follow federal immigration law, as Breitbart Texas reported.
John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.