The RHA, GSG and SGA presidents released a joint statement Wednesday voicing their support for all university students regardless of immigration or documentation status.
“As an institution of higher learning, this campus has always prioritized the fundamental freedoms of all students; the universal right to education; and the ability of our students, staff, and faculty, to exchange ideas, share best practices, and conduct innovative research,” the statement reads. “Many of you — and us — fear that these values are now being endangered.”
The statement addressed a campus that hosts a diverse student body. There were 1,311 international undergraduate students and 3,567 international graduate students as of fall 2016, according to the university’s Office of Institutional Research Planning and Assessments. And as of the fall semester, there were 113 students attending this university under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a 2012 executive order that protects young people who came to the United States as children from deportation and allows them to work and study in the country.
Twenty students also attend this university under the Maryland DREAM Act, which allows students who meet certain qualifications to receive in-state tuition, university President Wallace Loh wrote in a Jan. 31 email to the campus community.
The students came up with the idea for the statement at their joint Residence Hall Association, Student Government Association and Graduate Student Government leadership meeting on Feb. 2, and authored the letter over the weekend. The letter, which the groups distributed on social media, urges the student body to “remain fearless, to stand up and speak out.”
“It’s a general affirmation of our role as student governing body members, as student leaders, and as representatives who want to ensure that we’re best representing all our constituents, including those that are most marginalized,” RHA President Steven Chen said. “We want to fight for their rights as well as for their fair share of resources.”
The letter “applaud[s] that resources have been made available to students,” but the leaders also “hope that this is only the beginning of a long commitment of our administration and our community,” they wrote.
SGA President Katherine Swanson said the SGA wanted to let students “know that we’re here for them.”
“We know there are people that need our help, and we’re not sure what we can do for them,” Swanson said. “There is something needed from us that we’re not giving them — we want them to know that they can ask us for it.”
GSG President Stephanie Cork wrote in an email that she “was really happy” to collaborate with Chen and Swanson.
“The SGA, GSG and RHA have really formed a strong partnership this year,” Cork wrote.
The RHA also shared an infographic that “outlines many services University of Maryland provides surrounding inclusivity and diversity” on its Facebook page.
The infographic, which includes resource information from the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, cites resources available in the Graduate and Undergraduate Legal Aid Offices, the Counseling Center and the Memorial Chapel.
“[The infographic is an] easy way for students to recognize what resources are currently available on campus,” Chen said. “And then from there we’re going to continue to push the university to provide even more resources in support for students of all backgrounds, and anyone who is marginalized.”
