We stand together with Boston College President, Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., who has signed an open letter (along with 435 other college and university presidents and chancellors) urging the continuation and expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. This program protects the over 700,000 individuals who entered the United States as undocumented immigrants when they were children, by ‘granting them two-year renewable work permits and deferral of deportation proceedings. This program is under threat from President-Elect Donald Trump, who has said that he will end the program.
The text of the open letter is below:
The core mission of higher education is the advancement of knowledge, people and society. As educational leaders, we are committed to upholding free inquiry and education in our colleges and universities, and to providing the opportunity for all our students to pursue their learning and life goals.
Since the advent of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in 2012, we have seen the critical benefits of this program for our students, and the highly positive impacts on our institutions and communities. DACA beneficiaries on our campuses have been exemplary student scholars and student leaders, working across campus and in the community. With DACA, our students and alumni have been able to pursue opportunities in business, education, high tech and the nonprofit sector; they have gone to medical school, law school, and graduate schools in numerous disciplines. They are actively contributing to their local communities and economies.
To our country’s leaders we say that DACA should be upheld, continued, and expanded. We are prepared to meet with you to present our case. This is both a moral imperative and a national necessity. America needs talent – and these students, who have been raised and educated in the United States, are already part of our national community.
They represent what is best about America, and as scholars and leaders they are essential to the future.
We call on our colleagues and other leaders across the business, civic, religious and nonprofit sectors to join with us in this urgent matter.
Ellen Winner, Chair, Department of Psychology
Kevin Kenny, Chair, Department of History
Michael J. Naughton, Chair, Department of Physics
Franck Salameh, Chair, Department of Slavic and Eastern Languages and Literatures
Michael Resler, Chair, German Studies Department
Franco Mormando, Chair, Romance Languages
Sarah Babb, Chair, Department Sociology
Kendra Eshleman, Chair, Department of Classical Studies
Hideo Konishi, Chair, Department of Economics
Robert Meyerhoff, Chair, Department of Mathematics
Ethan Baxter, Chair, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences
Amy Boesky, Chair, English
Michael Noone, Chair, Music Department
Susan Shell, Chair, Department of Political Science
Claude Cernuschi, Chair, Art, Art History, Film
Richard Gaillardetz, Chair, Theology Dept.
Marc Snapper, Vice Chair, Department of Chemistry
Lisa Cuklanz, Chair, Communication Department
Crystal Tiala, Chair, Theatre Department
Sergio Alvarez, Chair, Computer Science Department
Featured Image Courtesy of Matthew Bellico
