Anti-ICE protestors removed during public comment at Board of Governors meeting

Protestors were escorted out by security after waving signs and shouting at board members who refused to answer questions on protecting undocumented students at a Board of Governors meeting Thursday.

As nationwide immigration crackdowns raise concerns of immigration enforcement coming to campus, members of the Adjunct Faculty Union and the Rutgers chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) called for sanctuary campus protections, which would require immigration enforcement to present a judicial warrant before entering designated areas on campus.  

During the questionnaire portion of the meeting about student fees, speakers told the board that students do not feel safe attending classes without protections from immigration enforcement, and the board has a responsibility to create practical policy to make its students feel safe.

Speakers also called for the University to end contracts with companies that work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including Hilton Hotels, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and GlobalX Airlines.

“You can’t expect your students to be socially inclined and not bat an eye at the millions of blood dollars you accept on our behalf,” one speaker said. “The pressure is rising and time is running out. Who do you really serve?

Board chair Amy Towers criticized speakers for misusing time intended for student fees. Multiple speakers responded that their concerns about immigration enforcement relate to student fees when tuition supports companies that collaborate with ICE. Protestors also claimed to have exhausted all other means of getting an audience with the board and its members.

After the registered speakers concluded their remarks with minimal responses from the board, members of the audience began shouting at the board and chanting to shame their inaction.

“Chancellor Conway, President Tate, look me in the eyes and tell me I don’t belong here, tell me my parents don’t belong here.” one student shouted to the board shortly before being removed. “You pride yourselves on diversity, yet all of your students of color, your international students, they’re scared to speak up, they’re scared about their visas, they’re scared if they even qualify anymore.”

At least nine protestors were removed from the meeting for shouting, chanting, and holding up signs after being told to remove them. Others were removed for leading chants against immigration enforcement and the board. One claimed to have been threatened with arrest. “It started because I was holding up a sign and this police guy came over and he was like, ‘You can’t have a sign in here.’ Like, since when is it illegal to hold up a sign, right? But they just kept saying, you need to get out or we’re gonna arrest you.” 

One attendee during the meeting said that this was the first time in her thirteen years of attending Board of Governors’ meetings where signs were confiscated. 

The remaining demonstrators turned their backs to the board, then left the meeting early to protest the board’s refusal to answer questions.

After being escorted out of the meeting, one demonstrator told WRSU, “We didn’t really expect them to ever listen to us. The message was, I guess, at some point, to make them uncomfortable so they would have to face what they’re really looking at.”

Another demonstrator noted that these meetings are the only way to directly speak with the University Board. “They were not listening to any of our public comments, they were unwilling to answer any of our questions, and there’s no other forum for us to talk to them at all,” said Emma Victoria Byron, the demonstrator. “They kicked out many of us just for daring to ask them questions and express our opinions.”

Before the BOG public comment session, the AAUP-AFT-PTLFC held a press conference regarding their demands for their ongoing contract campaign, titled “United for our future, defending our communities.”

The union’s key demand is currently job security, alongside academic freedom and protection from attacks by the federal administration. They pinpoint the mission of the University as “to educate the youth, the members of New Jersey, the public, and to do groundbreaking research to solve real-world problems.”

Multiple members of the union spoke about issues like artificial intelligence, necessary cost-of-living adjustments, the impact of contingency on international faculty, cuts to research initiatives at the University, and national attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

As attacks on Diversity and Equity (DEI) are seen throughout the University, the Union announced that they have reached a tentative agreement with the Administration on what was previously their DEI article, now known as the “Article on Civil Rights and Opportunity.”

The final speaker at the press conference was a member of YDSA, who spoke about initiatives to keep ICE off campus, which the Union has endorsed. YDSA also held a demonstration before entering the meeting, rallying their members. Their overall demand was that ICE presence on campus should be treated as an emergency, with clear directives provided to students and staff. 

Story by Andrew Hawthorne, Keya Raval and Avani Trivedi.

Rahil Chatterjee contributed to this report.