USC Undergraduate Student Government approved the Sanctuary University Resolution, one of six resolutions addressed Tuesday night. The resolution was officially proposed last week and now allows USG to ask the university to declare itself a sanctuary university.
Now approved, the resolution will be delivered to various USC administration officials including Interim President Wanda Austin, Provost Michael Quick, DPS Chief John Thomas, and President-elect Carol Folt within two weeks.
Sanctuary universities implement formal policies to protect undocumented members of the school community including students, faculty and staff.
Other higher education institutions that have declared themselves sanctuary universities include Columbia University, Wesleyan University, the University of Pennsylvania and all California State Universities.
The City of Los Angeles has been a sanctuary city since Feb. 8, 2019. USG highlighted this in the resolution, stating that "this move has been identified as an important declaration of support for immigrants in Los Angeles."
According to the resolution, the Department of Public Safety confirmed that USC already fulfills several existing sanctuary university requirements, which includes refraining from reporting undocumented students to ICE and mandating that information regarding immigration status not be collected unless essential to university operations.
In conclusion, the resolution asks that senior administration at USC make a formal statement where the university identifies itself as a "Sanctuary Campus."
The resolution also asks USC to provide permanent support for the pop-up DREAMer Center on campus by designating a permanent physical space with full-time recognition for the center and hiring dedicated staff.
Manda Bwerevu, a USG senator who sponsored the resolution, was excited to see it move to the next stages of implementation.
"USC administration needs to be adamant and genuine in their stated intent on making our University campus a safe place for all of its students," Bwerevu said. "In establishing itself a sanctuary campus [it] will be able to prove, in action, that this intent is true."
Bwerevu was unsure of how long it might take for the administration to adopt the policies proposed in the resolution, but he suggested that the resolution requires an immediate response.
"Students' lives and wellbeing are at stake and their extremely urgent circumstance should be met by an equally sensitive and urgent response from USC administration," he said.
Dylan Schloss and Kate Aschkenasy contributed to this report.