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A leader at Cal State LA said this week that the professor could move classes online amid growing fears about immigrant attacks voiced by students on the east campus of downtown.
In a letter to faculty, university Provosts reiterated their policy of allowing professors to provide alternative make-up work arrangements to students involved in their spare absence after hearing from students saying they were “deprived of public transport and feared driving to campus.” Teachers have the option of “working remotely in limited time due to the extraordinary situations they face,” the letter said.
“Recent events in the LA area, including the presence of large armed immigration agents at MacArthur Park earlier this week, have left many of the communities that are interested in their safety,” wrote Heather Latimer, vice president of Provost and Academic Affairs, on Wednesday. “This week is also the six-month anniversary of a wildfire that has disrupted the lives of many in our community. As a campus, we recognize the serious harm that arises from these events, and reaffirm our commitment to supporting students, faculty and staff, and prioritizing your safety and well-being.”
The 21,000-student campus, like many University of California, with a large immigrant population, is not reported to include a Dreamers Resource Center, targeting an unspecified number of undocumented students. But concerns have risen about student safety as a commuter campus that is heavily drawn from the nearby East Side area, where protests detaining undocumented residents and federal actions unfold.
“As a campus, we need to considerately navigate these concerns as we try to support all members of the Golden Eagle family,” writes Latimer. “We don’t want to go back to the schedule of online courses we experienced in 2021 and 2022, but there may be situations where faculty members are facing unusual circumstances and choose to offer students with the option to remotely participate in classes on campus via Zoom Link or transfer them remotely.”
At this point, summer sessions can be difficult to switch to remote instruction on campuses with fewer classes and students than usual. It is still unknown how widespread online classes will be when the fall semester begins on August 18th.
It is also unknown whether it is located on other California State University campuses in the Los Angeles area or elsewhere in the state. The Cal State LA and CSU systems previously offered remote options during the pandemic and wildfires, giving options to students in military deployments.
The actions of federal immigrants have raised sharp concerns in universities and public schools. In the Los Angeles Unified District, some teachers have reported an increase in absenteeism. During graduation last month, LAUSD leaders said they would deploy school police to set up “safe zones” on campus to accommodate potential encounters with federal agents.
CSU leaders also created a FAQ on immigration enforcement on campus. The latest version released in February states that “university police officers will be contacted, detained, questioned or arrested, or contacted, detained, questioned or arrested, or contacted, detained, questioned or arrested, based on the alleged undocumented immigration status of an individual or contacted, detained, questioned or arrested, solely to discover an individual’s immigration status.
The FAQ adds that as a public university, CSU cannot generally move federal immigration authorities away from public campus areas. “CSU has no authority to prohibit federal immigration enforcement officials from coming to campus in those public areas, even if they are intended to enforce federal law,” the guide says.
Across California State University’s campus, there are approximately 9,500 immigrants out of a total of 461,000 students who have no registered documents. Of the nearly 296,000 students in the University of California system, between 2,000 and 4,000 are estimated to be undocumented.
The state’s largest undocumented student group is at least 70,000, estimated at 100,000, and is registered with community colleges.
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