On Oct. 23, the leaders of Pitt’s faculty union presented a letter to the University administration to ask that Pitt commit to protecting international campus workers.
This request was a part of a larger campaign run by Higher Education Labor United, which involved over 100 faculty and grad student unions across the country.
The letter seeks protection against recent threats to international scholars’ immigration statuses, including ICE detentions, threats of ICE raids on campus and SEVIS terminations,
Among the actions requested in the letter are:
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Providing financial support for legal counsel
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Prohibiting federal immigration agents and their partnering local agencies access to non-public campus spaces without a signed judicial warrant.
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Refusing to participate in voluntary surveillance of community members
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Enabling flexible conditions for work completion for impacted faculty
Pitt’s administration responded to the letter, but it wasn’t made public.
The union, which is part of the United Steelworkers, hopes the letter will “form the foundation for an ongoing discussion about how our contract language might better protect international faculty.”
In addition, the Student Government Board this week unanimously passed a resolution that urged Pitt’s administration to “prohibit employees from voluntarily providing information or assistance to external entities that could harm members of the campus community, including in civil, criminal, immigration, or investigatory contexts.”
According to the Pitt News, SGB President Marley Pinsky said at the Nov. 18 meeting that the resolution stems from the current political climate, citing an increase in deportations without due process and anti-immigrant rhetoric.
“In light of nationwide patterns of xenophobic rhetoric, intimidation, arrests and deportations conducted without due process, the University must do everything in its power to resist federal attempts to seize protected information and disrupt campus life,” Pinsky said.
— Susan Jones
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