SOUTH BEND — Should the University of Notre Dame become a “sanctuary campus” to protect undocumented students in case President Donald J. Trump eliminates Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program that allows many undocumented young people to work and continue their schooling in the United States without fear of being deported?
Members of the Notre Dame faculty senate say yes.
The senate, an elected body representing professors, on Monday passed a resolution calling for the Rev. John I. Jenkins, university president, to declare the campus a sanctuary. It passed by a vote of 20-1, plus one abstention.
Jenkins replied to the faculty senate with a note saying he is going to consider the matter in the next few weeks and will respond to their resolution, Notre Dame spokesman Paul Browne said Friday afternoon.
Notre Dame accepts undocumented students who meet the academic qualifications for admittance to the university, and first enrolled DACA students in 2013. About 40 undocumented students currently are enrolled, Browne said.
Those students will be adversely affected if the federal government eliminates DACA, said Ben Heller, a professor of Romance languages and literatures and a faculty senate member who wrote the initial draft of the resolution. “If (DACA) is taken away, that would be a tremendous loss,” he said Friday.
The resolution urges Jenkins to declare the university a sanctuary campus and adopt several provisions, including: affirming that undocumented students are full members of the campus community who will be protected; not allowing federal authorities or agencies to be on campus for enforcement purposes without a warrant; and not sharing information about undocumented students with those agencies unless required by a subpoena, court order or warrant.