Dear Friends,
I wanted to share an update with you on the college’s responses to recent actions by the Trump administration that impact our community. Yesterday, we had our monthly Council of Presidents (“COPs”) meeting at the CUNY central office. Since we’re part of the CUNY system, many of the actions we take in response to the announcements, directives, and letters from Washington are determined by the chancellor and his team. I held off writing this note until today so that its contents could be as up to date as possible.
Though there is much to be worried about these days, my greatest concern is for our students, especially our immigrant students — you know well our role as a destination for foreign-born students in search of the education and training that will help them succeed in this country. It’s not hard to imagine the fear and anxiety many of them feel because of all the anti-immigrant rhetoric, highly publicized ICE arrests, and threats of mass-deportations. The president’s order to end Birthright Citizenship and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ January 17 ruling against the DACA program add to their stress and uncertainty. It’s enough to scare students from going to class, which is, sadly, what’s starting to happen, particularly in the TELC. Of course, most LaGuardia students are not themselves at risk of being deported, but many have friends and family members who live in fear of being apprehended, detained, and deported at any time. It’s a terrible and stressful situation.
Our strategy to support our immigrant students has been to give them abundant information, advice, and access to resources. Yesterday, for example, VP of Student Affairs, Alexis McLean and her team hosted a presentation in the Main Stage Theatre by Dr. Cynthia Carvajal, CUNY Director of Undocumented and Immigrant Student Programs. Many students, faculty, and staff attended the event. It followed weeks of regular communication to students from Alexis via email, social media, and EAB Navigate, along with the ongoing distribution of “Red Cards”.
In addition, Manny Romero, VP of Marketing and Communications, and his colleagues have been using the website and their weekly “Red Hawk Round-Up” student newsletter to share helpful information. Provost Billie Gastic Rosado has forwarded much of this information to faculty. VP Sunil Gupta has ensured that ACE students get our information blasts as well, although they have to be sent to them on a different platform. Ben Rohdin, VP for Enrollment Management, made it clear that international students were encouraged to apply for Spring I admission up to our standard deadline, and that, of course, they are welcome to apply for Spring II and Fall I, later this year. We will continue to do all we can to ensure that LaGuardia’s immigrant students feel safe, informed, and supported during these challenging times, regardless of their status. If you would like specific information and resources please visit the website, or contact Alexis or Manny. A good source of information is our “Know Your Rights” webpage, which you can access here: https://www.laguardia.edu/students/rebels-resources/know-your-rights/
At the workshop yesterday, several people asked about the college’s protocol should agents from ICE come to campus to apprehend a student. Our policy is the CUNY policy, and it’s quite clear. It has long been CUNY policy not to permit law enforcement officials to enter campuses except to the extent required by law. If law enforcement officers (ICE, NYPD, or others) seek access to the LaGuardia campus, they must present their credentials, give their reason for coming to campus, and present a judicial warrant or court order that must be appropriately verified by CUNY. LaGuardia Public Safety will contact the college’s counsel for verification of the information provided. Access to the campus will only be provided consistent with the terms of the warrant or court order, and the officers will be escorted by LaGuardia Public Safety to ensure that they only engage in actions consistent with the warrant or court order. An exception to this protocol is made in emergency situations. For example, if NYPD seeks to enter our campus in response to a 911 call, or is responding to a crime in progress.
If you have seen what is now being called the “Dear Colleague” letter sent last Friday by Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights of the US Department of Education, Craig Trainor, to colleges across the US, you will likely understand the anger, shock, and concern caused by policies of the Trump administration with respect to higher education. The Executive Committee of the LaGuardia PSC Chapter sent a Statement on Tuesday that clearly and forcefully outlines the concerns many of us share, particularly the degree to which some of these policies run contrary to the values we hold dear – diversity, inclusivity, fairness, academic freedom, opportunity, and more.
I note that the “Dear Colleague” letter is an expression of a point of view – of an expansive interpretation of the Supreme Court decision that ended affirmative action (SFFA v. Harvard, June 2023). But as a directive it has no force of law. As indicated in the letter, the Department will soon begin to attempt to enforce relevant statutes and regulations in accordance with its interpretation of SFFA. CUNY’s Office of General Counsel will advise us on how to respond in the weeks and months ahead as needed. I am confident that CUNY leadership will resist any threats to academic freedom, or to the founding mission and principles of CUNY, including how we serve our diverse student population. In the meantime, given the Trump administration’s attacks on DEI policies and initiatives, I urge us all to be supportive of LGBTQI+ students, faculty, and staff. Likewise, we must be supportive of people of color in our community, which is almost everyone, of course.
As if this were not enough, there are the administration’s attacks on federally-funded scientific research and other programs at US colleges and universities, and, seemingly, attempts to influence what and how we teach our students. On this last concern, I would note that in my view, American colleges and universities came to be, over time, the best-regarded higher education institutions in the world because of their long history of independence from government censorship and foundational guarantee of academic freedom. How sad that these unique, essential qualities of American higher education should be under attack.
Finally, I am concerned about possible impacts on LaGuardia’s fragile finances. Remember the administration’s attempt on January 27 to freeze about $3 trillion in federal grants and loans? That put Laura Bartovics, Director of our Office of Grant and Contracts, on edge since we have a number of multi-year grants from federal agencies. That the administration rescinded the directive was a relief, though now we face lengthy reviews, agency by agency, of grants and contracts that support important college initiatives. We’ll see how that plays out. Laura and I will work closely with PIs affected by possible changes to the federal funding that supports their work.
When I was a boy in short pants my parents would ship me off in the summer to stay with my grandparents in Ithaca, NY. (Early in his career, my grandfather was a professor of English Literature at Cornell, where he returned in his retirement.) To get me out of the house they enrolled me in the YMCA sailing camp on Cayuga Lake. While I never made it to the Navy, I picked up some helpful lessons, one of which is the importance of keeping one’s eye on the horizon. In a stormy sea a sailor has a choice: they can battle each wave one at a time, heaving up and down and side to side. While they may feel momentary control against a single wave, the risk is that when they eventually make it out of the storm, they find themselves dizzy, disoriented, exhausted, and perhaps even lost. A different approach, which I prefer, is to focus on one’s ultimate destination, ignoring as best we can the immediate gusts, waves, and rolls, in order to forge ahead, confident that together we can steer a true course and arrive safely at the place we know to be home – a journey whose success is all but guaranteed when we work together, care for one another, and remain devoted to the well-being of our passengers, in this case, of course, our students.
I’ll have more to say about all this (minus the maritime references) at Opening Sessions on March 5. In the meantime, please contact me at your convenience to share concerns, questions, and suggestions.
Best wishes,
Kenneth