Keene State Interim President and Plymouth State’s (PSU) President Donald Birx recently shared an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) response plan to faculty, staff and students in collaboration with the University System general counsel.
The memo was initially shared with faculty and staff members back in early February and was finally shared with PSU students on March 2, according to The Clock.
I would like to point out that it took approximately a month for Birx to include students and share the ICE response plan, which I believe is far too long, considering the rapid increase of ICE activity.
Following The Clock’s reporting of PSU sharing the ICE protocol, I wondered if KSC had sent anything similar over the past semester. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any protocol or memo shared with students matching the PSU memo’s language.
As stated previously in articles by The Equinox, back in December an associate professor of management here at KSC, along with his family, was denied re-entry into the United States. We have truly started to feel the effects of ICE locally, and I find it concerning that this memo was not also shared with the Keene State community, as Birx is not only the president at PSU but here as well.
The last thing anyone should want is for ICE agents to show up on campus and everyone is underprepared or unaware of how to protect students and staff.
In December, a video circulated on social media of ICE agents detaining a man at an Irving gas station in Holderness, N.H., just off the PSU campus, according to The Clock.
It is evident that those in the Plymouth and Keene area have cause for concern when it comes to ICE.
The protocol included that public campus ICE officers are permitted on the PSU campus, but their access is limited. “ICE is permitted on the main grounds, but not in dorms or other buildings with restricted access.”
The Clock continued, stating, “To enter those spaces, immigration enforcement must have a warrant.”
Birx said to “call the police” if you see ICE agents inside dorm buildings. “They should be removed, as they are not allowed in there,” he said in an interview with The Clock.
The KSC campus is open to the public, and I am concerned that students, staff or faculty walking about could be subjected to profiling if ICE agents were to appear.
Another concern I have is that calling the police may only increase chaos, especially considering the Carroll police department joined the Department of Homeland Security’s Task Force Model and received $122K from ICE, according to NHPR.
The town of Carroll is less than an hour’s drive from the Plymouth State campus.
Learning should not be disrupted by someone being unlawfully detained. If ICE is not allowed in a public high school (not like it has stopped them), then the same should apply to public higher education institutions.
While the argument could be made that those attending college are likely 18+ and legally considered adults, we have an entire daycare center on campus with children under the age of five. With how aggressively and uncooperatively ICE agents continue to act, they have zero place near absolutely anyone on campus, let alone children.
My hope is that Keene State and Birx are committed to ensuring a safe learning environment. It should not be difficult to share a protocol with students and staff at both institutions you lead.
This protocol is long overdue, and there is no reason for KSC not to be included in the memo.
Madelyn Marabella can be contacted at
mmarabella@kscequinox.com
