The Student Government at Florida Gulf Coast University is among several across the country that wants to label the university a sanctuary campus for illegal immigrants.
At their meeting Tuesday, members of FGCU's Student Senate discussed a resolution called Mutual Respect, aimed at respecting diversity among students. The resolution was later amended to include a proposal of making the university a sanctuary campus for students who are not legal U.S. citizens.
A sanctuary campus is one which tries to protect undocumented students from being deported. At least eight colleges across the U.S> have declared themselves to be a sanctuary campus, in response to President Donald Trump's planned crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Adopting such a policy would have to be approved by faculty and university administrators, but one member of FGCU's Student Senate said their approval of the resolution was unanimous.
"The idea was to make strides towards making FGCU a sanctuary campus, to those who are undocumented here, so they don't have to fear being deported," said Morgan Cooney, a Student Senate member.
"I know with the current (presidential) administration, a lot of students are being stressed out because of that," Cooney added. "So it's just a way to make people feel more safe and welcome here."
FGCU Vice-President and chief of staff Susan Evans told Fox 4 by email that while she's not sure of what the legal implications of declaring the school a sanctuary campus, the university has not received any such request from Student Government.
Evans added that the university's administration does not have a position on the subject.
