The following is a press release from the organizers of this action.
AMHERST, MA (November 15, 2016) – Amherst College students, faculty, and staff will engage in a walkout to protest President-elect Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, and to commit to putting their bodies between Trump’s policies and undocumented students on campus. The walkout will take place at 12pm on November 16 at Converse Hall. In declaring their campus a #SanctuaryCampus, students, faculty, and staff will join their voices together with a nation-wide movement.
Members of the Amherst College community are called to participate in the walkout. At noon on Wednesday, November 16, students will walk out of classes and gather on the steps of Converse Hall. Approximately 300 students are expected to participate. Similar walkouts in support of the #SanctuaryCampus movement are expected to take place on more than 80 college campuses across the country.
An imminent Trump presidency puts undocumented members of the Amherst College community in a position of unprecedented risk, and the college community is responding. To declare Amherst a #SanctuaryCampus is to call it a place where undocumented students and community members are free from the fear of deportation, and where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials are not welcome. This student-organized movement will call on Amherst College to adopt explicit policies that will protect undocumented students and community members. Walkout participants will also commit to affirming the rights of undocumented students to dignity, respect, and permanent protection.
Acting at a moment heavy with fear and uncertainty, the #SanctuaryCampus movement is an expression of hope that calls on Amherst College to act on its promise to provide a safe environment for all its students and community members.
Who: Amherst College students, faculty, and staff
What: Participate in a national walkout to declare their campus a #SanctuaryCampus and commit to putting their bodies between Trump and undocumented students
Where: Converse Hall
When: November 16, 12pm
Why: Affirming the rights of undocumented students to permanent protection and dignity at Amherst College in the face of the imminent anti-immigrant policies of a Trump administration
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