NYU students hold know your rights teach-in
New York, NY – On April 30, around a dozen students joined a teach-in hosted by the NYU Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in collaboration with the NYU Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) and the Omicron chapter of La Undidad Latina fraternity. The teach in informed students of their rights if they ever encountered ICE.
Jude Finkleberg, a member of NYU SDS, facilitated the teach-in. They introduced the first speaker from NYU SDS, Keerthana Rameshbab, who spoke in-depth on what to do whenever a student encounters ICE. They went over several scenarios, like if a student encountered ICE in public or at their homes or even at work possibly. In addition, Rameshbab provided various resources that students can rely on such as legal help from a university organization called the NYU Immigration Defense Initiative, red cards that students can hand ICE agents rather than speak to them, and a way to contact NYU SDS to mobilize community support for the student.
The next speaker from NYU YDSA spoke on how students should protect themselves at actions held by student groups. They emphasized the need for security marshals to maintain community safety and encouraged students at the teach-in to rely on marshals whenever they needed assistance. They also spoke on their personal experience as an at-risk immigrant student who has faced harassment from counter-protesters that threatened their own safety. They again emphasized the importance of security marshals to protect at-risk students like themselves from harassment from counter-protesters.
Finkleberg ended the teach-in by reiterating NYU SDS’ demands from their No Compliance with Trump’s Violence campaign. They demanded that NYU take active steps to protect their non-citizen students by not allowing ICE on campus, refusing to provide information on students to government institutions, and preventing any deportations of NYU students. They emphasized that NYU SDS will continue to fight until the administration meets their demands.