Because of a failure to comply with senate procedures, Associated Student Body senators withdrew an draft resolution Tuesday that recommended university officials make campus a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants.
Universities nationwide, including Florida International University and Swarthmore College, submitted similar petitions in the last month requesting their campuses become sanctuaries.
Before the bill made it to the student body senate floor, activist groups including the Our State Flag Foundation and Mississippi Rising Coalition shared leaked images of an early draft on Facebook.
The Associated Student Body did not discuss the resolution during its Tuesday session but did release a statement later explaining why the proposed legislation was rejected.
ASB’s letter said the publicly leaked documents exist only in draft form and have yet to be passed by the ASB Senate Committee on Rules or the ASB Senate as a whole.
“ASB’s executive leadership wants to reinforce the importance of properly following procedures to ensure that in the future, legislation drafts contain correct information and are not released until approved by the ASB Senate Committee on Rules,” the letter reads.
Drafts of the petition circulating online compromised the proposed legislation, as they lacked necessary ASB approval.
The circulated draft names ASB Sens. Allen Coon, Terrius Harris and Emily Hoffman as authors, as well as UM NAACP President Tysianna Marino and African Caribbean Association President Dominique Scott.
The draft includes a request that the university “refuse all voluntary information sharing with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)/ Customs and Border Protection (CBP) across all aspects of the university to the fullest extent possible under the law.”
The resolution also proposed the university offer online classes to deported or imprisoned immigrant students and encouraged administrators to protect immigrant students from housing discrimination.
Additionally, the authors asked the university to commit to ongoing dialogue with the students, their families and the community about additions to university policy and support for community efforts that protect immigrants.
Coon posted on Facebook Tuesday night to address the rejected resolution.
“This resolution used an online petition, authored by UM faculty members, as its model,” Coon wrote. “During the drafting process, I failed to abide by appropriate legislative procedures; as a result, the resolution has been withdrawn. I accept full responsibility for this mistake.”
Chancellor Jeff Vitter released a statement via Twitter about the withdrawal of the legislation Tuesday.
“I am aware of the resolution drafted by a few Associated Student Body Senators and some student organization presidents calling for the university to become a sanctuary for undocumented members of our community,” Vitter said. “As chancellor, my responsibility is to administer and operate the university within applicable federal and state laws, as well as the policies and procedures established by the Board of Trustees of Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning.”
According to the Washington Post, Brown University Spokeswoman Cass Cliatt rejected a similar request for a sanctuary campus. She said after consulting with a legal team, schools are not able to deny law enforcement agencies access to their campus.
“Based on consultation with legal counsel, we understand that private universities and colleges do not have legal protection from entry by members of law enforcement or Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” Cliatt said.
Supporters of making the university a sanctuary campus created an online petition before the resolution was drafted. Hundreds of UM community members have signed the petition.
