WKU President Gary Ransdell cannot support WKU becoming a sanctuary campus

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - WKU President Gary Ransdell says the university will work to protect all of the students, but he cannot support WKU declaring itself a sanctuary campus.

In a letter to Dr. Kate Hudepohl, the Chair University Senate, Dr. Ransdell writes:

"Thank you for the University Senate Resolution on Sanctuary for Undocumented Immigrant Students and Campus Community Members Affected by Executive Orders. It was received in my office on Friday, February 17, 2017. I have studied the Senate action carefully.

While I am supportive of the spirit behind the Senate Resolution, I cannot support WKU declaring itself a sanctuary campus, a designation for which there is no legal status. Such a declaration would potentially put WKU at risk with both the state and federal governments and could ultimately endanger financial aid and/or grant funding. I am also concerned that doing so would suggest a level of protection to students that the University cannot actually guarantee. WKU, and especially the WKU Police, simply must comply with all state and federal laws. We are an agency of Kentucky state government and must conduct our affairs responsibly.

As best I can tell, there are only 13 American colleges or universities which have made the absolute declaration that they are a sanctuary campus. Most of these are small private colleges without the same level of public accountability that we have at WKU. After careful consideration, I offer the following in response:

1. First, and foremost, we will do everything in our legitimate authority to protect all of our students.

2. Provision No. 2 is not possible or prudent. WKU cannot interfere if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and/or US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have reason or need to investigate a WKU student.

Provision No. 2 is not possible or prudent. WKU cannot interfere if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and/or US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have reason or need to investigate a WKU student.

Is this not pathetic, that members of a "Faculty Senate" - people who were awarded PhD's and therefore are addressed as "Dr." as so clueless as to reality they have to have something like this explained to them? And these people are in charge of TEACHING other people?

Baylor University in Texas gave it a thumbs down too, in a very well-written, intelligent manner. Bolding was mine to draw special attention to troublemakers -

http://www.kwtx.com/content/news/Baylor-rejects-sanctuary-campus-petition-414375133.html

Feb 21, 2017

WACO, Texas (KWTX) Baylor officials have rejected a petition submitted earlier this month by a group of students, faculty, staff and alumni seeking to declare the school a sanctuary university.

About 1,300 people signed the petition.

“While we appreciate the heart of those who have signed the petition, I believe we can continue to support and care for our students, faculty, staff and scholars without creating a designation, such as a ‘sanctuary campus,’ which has no specific meaning beyond what one assigns to it,” interim Baylor President David Garland said in an email to students, staff and faculty

“That said, many of the concerns raised in the petition are issues for which Baylor already has policies and practices in place that are rigorously followed,” he said.

“For instance, Baylor is bound by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to protect the privacy of student education records; therefore, we have not and will not release information regarding a student's immigration status to any enforcement agency without proper authorization or legal authority,” he said.

“Just as we are bound by FERPA to protect our students' private information, as a non-profit institution of higher education chartered by the State of Texas we also are bound to uphold all other federal and state laws,” Garland wrote.

“Accordingly, it is not in the University's best interests — nor in keeping with our legal covenants — to declare Baylor a "sanctuary campus" without the proper authorization or legal authority.

The petition presented to Garland, Provost Greg Jones, Vice President Kevin P. Jackson and Vice Provost Jeffrey S. Hamilton, called on the administration to formulate “a hospitable, just, and truth-telling community, especially for the sake of its most vulnerable members, in whom Christians discern the face of Christ (Matt. 25:31-46).”

The American Association of University Professors endorsed the sanctuary campus movement on Nov. 22, 2016, and urged colleges and universities to adopt sanctuary policies.

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