Dear HSU Community,
We have a simple message today for Dreamers. Humboldt State University stands with you, and we care about you. We’re going to keep doing all we can to help you succeed in school and become Humboldt alumni.
And we’re not alone. Leadership from across California, including the Governor and the heads of the state’s higher education systems, are committed to Dreamers as well. Read today’s CSU Chancellor’s statement here.
The protections offered by DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival, shouldn’t be an issue. It’s a program for individuals who were brought to this country as children–the Dreamers–who in most cases don’t know anywhere else as home. But earlier today, we heard about plans to rescind DACA. By doing so with no alternative solution in place, our government has created uncertainty and fear for hundreds of thousands of people, including thousands of college students.
Along with many of our faculty and staff, I’m frustrated by this short-sighted thinking of our leadership at the national level. I want America to do better. We need America to do better.
At HSU, we enroll nearly 100 Dreamers each semester. They represent what is best about our country, they are part of our national community, and we should be supporting them.
Voices from across our nation are speaking out and appealing to lawmakers for a solution, and in my role as HSU’s President, I will continue my advocacy. Late last week, I was in contact with our Congressman Jared Huffman, and I also reached out to both California Senators, urging them to make this a legislative priority. I have coordinated my efforts closely with the CSU Chancellor’s Office and other CSU presidents, and I joined hundreds of other educational leaders in signing a letter supporting DACA. I will continue to do everything I can in the weeks and months to come to support our students.
Please join me in standing with HSU’s Dreamers and offering them support and help. I hope you’ll also join me in urging members of Congress to work towards a long-term solution.
Students in need of guidance may contact an academic advisor or a campus support center. Information and resources from the CSU is here and a document from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center is here (pdf). The CSU Chancellor’s letter to campuses from earlier this year is here, and letters in support of DACA signed by the Chancellor and myself are here and here.
Sincerely yours,
Lisa A. Rossbacher, Ph.D.
President