The United Campus Workers of Arizona organized a rally on the ASU Tempe campus Friday, calling on administrators to take measures to bar U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from campus.
Dozens participated, including UCWAZ members, ASU faculty, staff and students. Speakers from advocacy groups and Arizona legislators such as Rep. Brian Garcia and Sen. Lauren Kuby also joined.
"The amount of different types of people who are here shows how strong we are as a movement," Hayden Nguyen, a junior studying business and policy, said. "We have so many different people who are willing to stand up despite their different backgrounds."
In early March, the Undergraduate Student Government Tempe signed a resolution urging the University to not comply with ICE and limit its access to nonpublic spaces on campus.
READ MORE: USG Tempe urges University to protect student safety, limit ICE presence
The calls UCWAZ made were similar and included barring ICE from campus without official judicial warrants, ceasing to provide ICE with student and worker immigration statuses and facilitating accommodations and online learning for students who are deported or feel threatened with deportation.
Valerie Sillman, an attendee at the rally and a graduate student studying sustainability solutions, said while it is difficult to identify a specific measure that is going to cause a change in the situation, silence is not the answer.
"Every bit counts," Sillman said. "If this wasn't happening and there was just silence in the face of what the community is facing, that would be a very dire sign indeed."
Richard Newhauser, an English professor and a member of UCWAZ, co-authored an op-ed in February alongside another ASU professor for the Phoenix New Times. It called for ASU to demonstrate care, support and preparation in light of increased ICE activity.
"We (UCWAZ) just had enough of sitting back and not trying to do anything to change matters," Newhauser said. "So, it's time for us to take a stand and ask that the management of ASU also take a stand."
Tricia Redeker Hepner, the other professor who wrote the op-ed and senior associate director of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, said her position as a professor with the privilege of tenure allows her to show up for those who can not.
She said the University has a responsibility to create an environment where there is a free exchange of ideas and speech but also where everyone can demonstrate support for one another.
"It's a sad commentary that people like me are the ones, the only ones, who feel secure showing up," Redeker Hepner said, adding that she understands why community members who are not citizens or have family members who are not citizens might not feel safe demonstrating.
As the crowd moved toward the Fulton Center from Hayden Lawn, they chanted slogans including, "Are you listening, Michael Crow?"
"Protests, rallies, they're all a part of emboldening us in struggle and showing not only to Crow and the administration, but to other students and to ourselves, that when we get together, we can demonstrate and we can stand up for what's right," Nguyen said. "And eventually they become something they can't ignore."
Edited by Natalia Rodriguez, Senna James and Sophia Braccio.
Reach the reporter at dkovalen@asu.edu.
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Diana reports on ASU’s diverse community and culture for The State Press. She is pursuing a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication with a minor in Political Science. In addition, she is a reporter for The Cut Network and a radio host at Blaze Radio.
