Due to the heated rhetoric towards undocumented immigrants from President-elect Donald Trump, USC community members have lately been campaigning to make the campus a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. A petition to make the campus a sanctuary has been circulating around the school’s faculty and staff and already has more than 3,500 signatures.

The petition and the accompanying letter is addressed to President C. L. Max Nikias, Provost Michael Quick and Vice President of Student Affairs Ainsley Carry, who the signees hope will make USC’s campus a “safety haven” for potential deportees.

The letter, written by Professors, Chairman and Directors of USC departments, ask for a “public declaration of [the] university’s support for and protection of undocumented students, staff and their families on our campus.” They also ask that USC guarantee student privacy by refusing to release any undisclosed information about the undocumented residents on campus. Lastly, they ask that “USC refuse to comply with immigration authorities regarding deportations or raids.”  

The point of the letter was in part to portray the deep respect and admiration USC’s faculty and staff have for these minorities, while also asking faculty and staff to take action and help the belittled communities of the U.S.

Sarah Banet-Weiser, professor and Director of the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at USC was “gratified and relieved” upon hearing about USC’s desire to create a safety sanctuary for undocumented students and alumni. “USC claiming to be a sanctuary is crucial,” Banet-Weiser said. “The university should be a place for reflection, critical thinking and thoughtful action, and communicating to undocumented students that they are safe is key to those values.” Along with her Directorial duties, Banet-Weiser is also a professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at USC.

The fears of the USC community are largely prompted by the results of the recent presidential election. Throughout their campaign, President-elect Donald Trump and his Vice President-elect Mike Pence have been accused of fostering fear in minorities groups, particularly in people of races, genders, religions and sexualities that differ from their own. After they were elected into office Nov. 8, their desire for mass deportations in order to remove 11 million undocumented immigrants became more plausible.

The proposal is heralded by many as a means of restoring law and order, though it is derided as inhuman and unjust by critics. Furthermore, many of these critics assert that the planned deportations are motivated more by racial animosity than by economic concerns.