HaverSanctuary: Where Are We Now?

It has been over seven months since Haverford College’s Fall Plenary on October 23, 2022. Since its completion, many Haverford students have been left wondering where the College stands on implementing the approved proposals. The following is an update on one such resolution, titled HaverSanctuary. Presented by Estrella Pacheco ’25 and Yehyun Song ’25, and backed by a number of Affinity Houses, this resolution looked to amend and expand a 2016 Resolution from Former President Kim Benston and the Board of Managers affirming the College’s commitment to protecting students who are non-U.S. citizens. There has been a great deal of confusion among the student body regarding progress made on this resolution in discussions between students and administration. For instance, at the Special Plenary on April 2, HaverSanctuary was referenced by a student speaker as an example of the administration’s perceived failure to respond to student concerns. To what degree is this true? Where are we with HaverSanctuary?

The Resolution

The resolution presented in October contained several points of action for the College to take in order to fulfill the goals of HaverSantuary, including hosting “Know Your Rights” trainings for the community, offering to house students who cannot return home during breaks, and creating an Advisory Committee of staff and students to advise the College on policies regarding immigrant and undocumented communities. One of the more controversial points of this new policy is the call for Haverford College to “publicly affirm its commitment to protecting undocumented students and non-US citizens as a Sanctuary Campus,” quoted from its write-up in the Fall Plenary packet. The idea of publicizing this commitment, and identifying the campus as what is being referred to as a “capital S Sanctuary,” brought up concerns surrounding the possibility of increased risk to undocumented students, and the question of how necessary this intentional public declaration might be.

Since October, student leaders have been working with members of the College administration to determine how our institution can best reach the goals of the resolution. In her original letter to the community following Fall Plenary, President Wendy Raymond wrote of the HaverSantuary resolution:

Haverford must remain attentive and responsive to the regulatory environment and political climate within which we operate, and to the evolving needs of our students. This means that even while we affirm the practices and policies that are working well today, we must be ready to adapt as internal and external factors change, and so my affirmation of specific policies and practices relating to undocumented students today is tempered by the potential need to change them in the future. A decision, for example, to adopt the term “sanctuary campus” to describe to the public Haverford’s policies and practices has the potential to increase risks for students and their families, and it would be unwise to commit to such a step without due consideration of those risks.

Student Response and Action

Student leaders found this initial response unsatisfactory, and lacking understanding of the clear and present fear that undocumented students on campus have already expressed. Estrella Pacheco and Yehyun Song sat down with me after meeting with members of the administration and explained their concerns. Pacheco asserted,

“That need [for change] is present. We would hope that these protections would already be in place before it does become an issue for anybody in our community… we’re waiting on that understanding that this is a current need. This is not a ‘wait and see what happens’ kind of thing. If we wait and see what happens, bad things will happen.”

After what seemed to many to be a period of nonresponse and inaction from members of the College administration, flyers popped up on social media calling for a “Red Out,” or a day on which students would wear red as a collective, in order to show their support for the HaverSanctuary resolution. On February 10, the Haverford campus was awash in red, as the community came together. For some, however, it was unclear what exactly we were fighting for. Questions arose as to why the call for publicization was important, and how undocumented students were affected by the gaps in current policy.

Pacheco and Song offered me an outline of the resolution’s sponsors’ position, beginning with this statement: “One of the biggest challenges of this issue is the invisibility of it. When you feel invisible and when your issue is considered so political that you can’t even talk about it, and it seems to you that the College isn’t willing to help, what happens is that [you] become afraid.” These fears might include being reported by a professor, not being able to access internship funding, and finding barriers to engaging with the resources that Haverford offers to all its students, which cannot be crossed without knowing who to trust. These factors necessitate changes to our institution’s culture in order to ensure that each member of the community feels they are equally safe and recognized. “That cultural shift starts with a firm stance from Haverford,” Song says. “It’s not because it’s a political message. It’s about student safety; it’s about equity. That’s all it’s about.”

Steps in the Right Direction

As a result of student dialogue with members of the administration, a number of moves have been made towards the fulfillment of the resolution’s goals. The action begins with a renewed dedication to making the resources available to undocumented and international students apparent to the community. I met with Dr. Nikki Young, Vice President for Institutional Equity and Access, to get a clear picture of where we are. As Dr. Young pointed out, current campus policy prevents law enforcement from coming to campus and accessing students, staff, or faculty, without a warrant. However, neither Haverford nor any College can restrict an ICE officer with a warrant from accessing whomever they have authorization to search for. The argument on the table focuses on using certain language in publicizing the College’s commitment to keeping undocumented students safe.

Initially, the resistance to calling Haverford a “capital S Sanctuary” campus was about the risk of its “putting Haverford into a context for ICE,” or drawing attention to the College’s housing of undocumented students according to Dr. Young. In their discussions with administrators, however, Pacheco and Song cited an analysis of sanctuary campuses in the Georgetown Law Journal, which essentially concludes that the validity of this risk is unsupported by the presented evidence. Information shared in much more recent meetings with one of the College’s legal consultants reveals that the primary concern over the term “Sanctuary Campus” is in fact not due to a potential increased risk to undocumented students, but a possible threat of governmental sanctions placed on the College. It is likely that any sanctions placed against a college for using that language would not have strong legal standing and as such, could be disputed. Yet it was explained that Haverford is not confident in its endowment’s ability to fund such an endeavor in litigation. Thus the final word over in the debate using the term “Sanctuary Campus,” is founded on, as Pacheco phrased it, “a potentiality of institutional financial distress, rather than actual concern for the safety of undocumented people on this campus.”

Dr. Young explains “Now we’re of the belief that the work that we’re doing to provide a safe environment for all of our students is much more important anyway. The elements that were laid out in the resolution are things that we are already doing at Haverford, and things that we’re enhancing … Our effort has been to increase our visibility around that work.”

Though student leaders maintain that using the language, though unnecessary in creating policy, has decidedly done more good than harm to college communities such as those studied in the journal article cited earlier, Haverford’s senior staff is making steps towards cultural changes in other ways. The Tri-co Undocu+ Student Support Committee is one such piece of the work currently being done, though concerns were also raised regarding the lack of student representation on the committee. In addressing these concerns, Dr. Young clarified the levels at which student participation will be included, since the Tri-co Committee is evidently not something Haverford’s administration alone can control. A subcommittee is in the process of being formed, made up solely of Haverford students who have been elected to their positions. This way, says Dr. Young, “we can specifically make sure we are learning with and from students, but also engage student voices in the policies and practices that we have.”

Emails were sent out to the community as a whole on March 1 and 2, first from Dr. Young, and then from President Raymond. As of now, President Raymond and the full senior staff have presented a pair of new web-based resources for students. The first is a landing page called “HaverDream” with information pertinent to Undocumented and DACAmented current students at the College. The second is geared towards prospective students, and provides clarity on Haverford’s policies as well as the process of applying for financial aid as an Undocumented student. Other action items include communicating with the student body through tabling outside the Dining Center, and the development of a training program that supports students and their families by providing vital information about campus resources, and learning protocols for engaging with law enforcement with frontline employees.

President Raymond’s communication began with an apology to the student body: “I apologize that my November 30 response did not articulate that support clearly or fully, nor did it clearly spell out the stipulations that held me back from 100% alignment at that time. I hope to make my support clear here.” Following this was an itemized list of the resolution’s stipulations, and subsequent explanations as to how each one is being addressed by the College. As Dr. Young affirmed in our conversation, “one of the most important elements is being transparent in terms of our communication with all of our campus constituents about what we can do as a College, what we have done, and what’s in place.”

Both Pacheco and Song emphasized the need for rebuilding trust between the students and those in positions of greater authority. “Action is how you repair relationships,” Pacheco says. Song adds, “To those who have the ability to change things – this is an opportunity.” When asked about steps the College is taking towards this restoration of trust, Dr. Young referenced the conversations between students and administration as “a huge step in the right direction … rebuilding trust takes time, but it also takes evidence. So we’re at the evidence step now.”

What Now?

Following the release of both statements from Dr. Young and President Raymond, I reached out to Pacheco and Song to get a sense of where they see improvement. Pacheco writes,

“We think that a lot of the movement forward, while not necessarily associated with this resolution directly, is fantastic. Especially work creating funded opportunities for undocumented students, which has been implemented by the Chesick office, Christina Rose, and Dean Estevez-Joyce.”

An explicit request in follow-up meetings between students and staff called for a reworking of the language in Haverford’s policy to mirror Bryn Mawr’s language on interacting with ICE and other law enforcement. Bryn Mawr’s policy currently states that any law enforcement is “expected” to check in with Campus Safety and present their warrant. Unfortunately, this expectation was found to be unenforceable, and it was suggested that Bryn Mawr reevaluate their own statement. Students continue to meet with Haverford College’s legal team to discuss questions of legality and written policy. Pacheco adds, “We are looking forward to continuing to push the College to strive towards the culture and practices of a sanctuary to the fullest extent legally possible.”

At the conclusion of our initial discussion, Pacheco and Song expressed their wish to send out a message to the community. And so, on a closing note, for those who have been following the progress of this resolution, and to supporters of all the hard work being done by students, staff, and faculty to ensure that Haverford College continues to abide by its core values of trust, concern, and respect:

“We really want to say thank you to all the students and staff … Red Out was built by our community. That was a clear moment where I saw how many people were supporting us. … Remember that this is the beginning. We are doing incredible work, and we will continue to do so.”