UGBC student senators voted to consider the petition presented last week by Quinten Dragstedt, MCAS ’28, as a “limited initiative” during the Senate meeting Tuesday night.
“[The vote] was passed, and next steps are deliberations with the Senate leadership team, taking in considerations and feedback from all of you,” said Reagan Marino, UGBC vice president and MCAS ’26.
Under a provision in UGBC’s constitution, any student petition that garners 250 or more signatures can be presented to the Senate as a “limited initiative” for a vote. Dragstedt’s petition, which gathered 354 signatures, urged UGBC to issue a statement expressing solidarity with those affected by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sighting near campus last month and to condemn its presence.
The vote passed 23–3, with the 3 opposing votes cast by student senators Ned Teal, MCAS ’27, Bubba Curran, MCAS ’29, and Craine Gelia, MCAS ’29.
Since the initiative passed, Marino will work on implementing it with the committee chairs—Cristina Gregory, academic affairs committee chair and MCAS ’26; Addie Weiss, student life committee chair and MCAS ’27; and Will Rafti, intersectionality committee chair and MCAS ’27.
“It would be between the four of us to decide what the next steps are,” Weiss said.
Dragstedt will receive updates throughout the week in anticipation of next week’s Senate meeting, according to Marino.
Rafti and Anika Obrecht, student senator and MCAS ’26, discussed plans to consult with an immigration attorney to make legal resources for students affected by ICE more digestible.
“The goal is that we could hold [an event] with someone who can properly facilitate it, provide those educational resources, then also run some simulations so students can have a better understanding of what they should do in actual scenarios,” Obrecht said.
These scenarios, led by a lawyer with relevant expertise, would aim to educate students on how to handle interactions with ICE, Obrecht said.
“We’re putting on a space for students to come and hear these resources in a more digestible manner and have a trusted person—whether that’s someone from campus or this lawyer that we have—speaking for us,” Rafti said.
According to Obrecht, the event will be advertised to all students, not just international students, because anyone could potentially find themselves in a situation involving ICE.
“I think regardless of what you feel your vulnerability to ICE is, there are situations where we could all be put in,” Obrecht said. “It matters regardless of your immigration status that you know what to do in that situation.”
Obrecht hopes to host this event in mid to late November.
Later in the meeting, Sophie Wong, international student representative and MCAS ’28, presented a draft of a UGBC survey for international students—developed in collaboration with the Office of International Students and Scholars—intended to assess the effectiveness of Boston College’s support for international students.
“We’ve been trying to tailor transitional academic resources for students who came from a non-U.S. high school curriculum, because we have heard a lot of feedback and students voicing their concern,” Wong said in a statement to The Heights. “We hope to get better feedback on how helpful international student orientation and programming is and to better reformat some of our resources.”
