New Orleans: Students rally in support of sanctuary campus policies at Loyola University
New Orleans, LA — On Friday, March 6, the Liberate and Unite New Orleans chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (LUNO-SDS) held a rally and speak-out event in support of adopting sanctuary campus policies at Loyola University New Orleans.
Earlier this year, on February 10, students from LUNO-SDS and the wider Loyola community delivered a letter of demands to Loyola president, Xavier A. Cole. In the letter were proposals for sanctuary-style policies that would demonstrably protect the student body. The only response that the students received ignored their demands and did not offer any concrete solutions to concerned and affected students.
At the rally, Loyola professor and member of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Dr. Pablo Zavala, spoke in support of the student protesters. In response to claims that ICE is no longer an issue in New Orleans, Dr. Zavala said, “There is a racist, xenophobic, capitalist war machine that is not going to stop for anything.” He continued saying, “Whether it’s ICE, whether it’s CBP, whether it’s DHS, whether it’s HSI or ERO – they are all part of the same war machine, and because of that we know that ICE kills!”
Also in attendance was LUNO-SDS member and Loyola student Chelsea Bandala. Bandala told the story of how her brother was detained by ICE and the university did nothing to stand by her. “This is greatly impacting me, and I feel it in my heart every single day, and do you know what Loyola did? They turned a blind eye.” In reference to Loyola’s efforts for designation as a “Hispanic-serving Institution,” Bandala added, “How will they claim to serve us, when they deny us our claims, when they deny us the policies that we are asking for?”
Lastly, Rosalina Framboise of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization stated, “The people whose research, whose tuition, and whose labor power this university, ought to have a say in how this university is run.”
Framboise concluded, “If the students want sanctuary campus policies, then we should have sanctuary campus policies. And if you want us to stop protesting, adopt the damn policy!”