On Tuesday, April 15, the letter below was sent to the Board of Trustees and top administrators on behalf of 463 UNC-CH faculty, staff and graduate student workers.
As members of the faculty, staff and graduate student workforce at UNC-Chapel Hill, we condemn the targeting of and threats to deport UNC-CH's international students, staff and scholars.
In light of the unjust revocation of six UNC-CH students' visas on April 8 and in anticipation of more of the same, the UNC-Chapel Hill faculty, staff and graduate workers who have signed this statement call on the UNC-CH administration to support students, staff members and scholars at risk. At a moment when the future of higher education is in peril, our institution has obligations beyond doing no harm. If we fail to protect international students, staff and scholars, we jeopardize the safety and academic freedom of all members of the UNC-CH community and the university itself.
We demand that UNC-Chapel Hill's leaders:
- Maintain the enrollment and positions of international students, scholars and staff members whose visas have been revoked and allow for the continuation of their coursework, research and material support.
- Provide legal counsel for all students, staff members and scholars whose visas have been revoked.
- Take legal action to stop termination-without-due-process of students’, staff members’ and scholars’ visas and related legal statuses.
- Provide immediate notification to the affected members of the Carolina community of any changes in their legal status and ensure reliable and timely communication with all international students, staff and scholars.
- Follow AAUP’s guidelines for general counsels including those on protecting personally identifiable information of individual students, staff or scholars.
- End the university’s voluntary cooperation with agencies facilitating student staff and scholar deportations.
— Sara H. Smith, Professor of Geography; Michael Palm, Associate Professor of Communication and Karen Booth, Associate Professor of Women's and Gender Studies
