Dear colleague,
We want to take a few minutes of everyone’s time today to recognize how one of the most vulnerable groups among us—our international and immigrant colleagues and students—have had their lives turned upside down since the Trump administration took power. We want to acknowledge and celebrate this group, both on our campuses and in the communities surrounding them. They are essential to our university.
Our unions will be letting all of you know about actions we can all take to help protect the vulnerable from Trump’s assault. But we also want to ask you to reach out individually to your colleagues. Check on how everyone in your department is doing. Offer what support you can as individuals. And above all, offer your solidarity. These attacks on the vulnerable are cruel and inhuman. The first step toward stopping them is to care for each other.
Last Wednesday, we held an emergency union meeting about responding to the Trump attacks, particularly the blanket federal funding freeze that threatened to upend research and much more at our university. That response continued on Friday with our letter to the Rutgers administration, suggested by our PI Working Group, asking them to commit to continuity of support for research and researchers.
The discussion on Wednesday and since has also recognized the profound threats to our immigrant and international colleagues and communities, on campus and off. Here are several upcoming meetings or initiatives that you should know about:
- Today (Monday, February 3) at 5:30 p.m.: Our Newark chapter will hold a listening/strategy session in Boyden Hall (195 University Ave.), Room 100. You’re welcome to attend in person; for hybrid access, click here to register.
- Wednesday, February 5, from 12–2 p.m.: The Rutgers Immigrant Community Assistance Project, Rutgers Law School, and other university formations will hold a virtual information session on immigrant rights. Click here to sign up.
- Our unions have formed an International Workers Solidarity Committee. If you’d like to participate, click here and fill out this form, indicating this area of union involvement in the last question.
- We are working with our allies in New Labor and other organizations to participate in statewide immigrant defense efforts. We’ll get you updates as they’re available.
Lastly, we want to reshare the resources that we’ve been compiling since Wednesday:
- Know Your Rights if You Encounter ICE half-sheet: Print out this union info sheet to post on bulletin boards and office doors and distribute to your students – Click here.
- Online resources about ICE and immigrant rights: Share these webpages from Make the Road New Jersey, the Immigrant Defense Project, the National Immigration Law Center (note especially this NILC fact sheet about warrants and subpoenas), and the American Civil Liberties Union.
- Online resources about defending higher ed: The AFT is keeping this webpage updated with the latest information, including about resisting the witch-hunt against DEI.
- Skills to Win organizing training: Sponsored by the Organize Every Campus project, Mondays and Wednesdays at 7 p.m., from February 10 to 26 – Click here to sign up.
(Note: some of you pointed out that the advice in the immigration resources conflicts on a few points; we will get clarification about any conflict or confusion, so email us at aaup@rutgersaaup.org with any questions.)
In solidarity,
Rutgers AAUP-AFT, Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, and AAUP-BHSNJ
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AAUP-BHSNJ website: https://aaupbhsnj.org/
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