Chicago, IL,
30
January
2017
|
16:48 PM
America/Chicago

GSU joins national campaign to uphold and continue protections offered by DACA

Dear GSU Community,

I’m writing to reassure you that Governors State University remains committed to supporting our students who are undocumented immigrant residents.

There is a growing national concern that the protections afforded by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), initiated by a Presidential Executive Order in 2012, will be reversed. GSU supports the continuation of DACA protections.

Since the launch of DACA, nearly 750,000 undocumented U.S. residents have obtained renewable work permits and temporary protection from deportation. This group is known as the DREAMers, after the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) of 2010, and many of them are college students brought to the U.S. as very young children. By participating in the DACA process, they have placed their trust in the government and have enriched our college campuses and communities.

GSU’s President, Dr. Elaine P. Maimon, has joined more than 450 other college and university presidents in signing a statement supporting DACA and undocumented immigrant students. The statement seeks to ensure that the students in our classrooms, the student athletes on our teams, the leaders in our student organizations, the volunteers in our service programs, and their loved ones have sustained protections and are not once again burdened with fears and anxieties resulting from living in the shadows.

GSU will proudly continue to support our DREAMers. In 2015,we launched a website to serve as a clearinghouse for college-bound undocumented students. This resource outlines financial, institutional, and community resources for students and their families. In addition, programs and workshops are offered to educate faculty and staff on providing the necessary resources to assist undocumented students in pursuing and successfully completing their education at GSU. Many of the participating faculty and staff who serve as allies display a nationally adopted illustration that demonstrates support for DREAMers.

In July, following a sequence of national tragedies that affected all of us, President Maimon reminded us that “GSU is a family. And, like a family, we support each other. That will never change.” These words still ring true. Together, we must work to uphold our ideals that GSU, and our broader communities, are places where differences are embraced and respected.

If you have any questions or concerns about this matter, please contact me directly.

Yours truly,

Dr. Aurélio Manuel Valente
Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students

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