Boston University students held an emergency rally April 16 advocating for BU to declare itself a sanctuary campus, while protesting the April 11 suspension of the BU chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America.
More than 30 people marched from the Joan and Edgar Booth Theatre to the Kenmore T stop.
Participants wore facial coverings, and at one point, entered the first floor of the College of Arts and Sciences building, where they recited chants and banged drums.
“We demand immediately that [BU] commit to becoming a sanctuary campus,” one protestor said. “A campus that does not cooperate with [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,] a campus that defends the rights and safety of international and undocumented students. A campus that chooses justice.”
Josef, a junior at BU and a previous member of YDSA, who chose to use his middle name for fear of retribution from administration, said the YDSA ban serves to “suppress” students by limiting their free speech.
“This is a clear statement that no matter how much they attempt to suppress us and our voices, people are still angry,” he said. “This is very much an action of visibility.”
YDSA was suspended “following documented violations of university policy, including unauthorized posting of materials on and off campus, and for organizing an unapproved sit-in that disrupted operations in the GSU,” BU Spokesperson Colin Riley wrote in an email to The Daily Free Press in a previous article.
Students in BU’s School of Theatre used scrap paper to spell out “sanctuary campus” across the top windows of the Booth Theatre.
“There’s a lot of international students here at BU,” said School of Theater sophomore Kaya Solheid. “We just want to show our support for them in this very scary time … every student has the right to feel safe at their school.”
On the first floor of CAS, students posted stickers on doors and walls. One read “BU protect your students,” and another read “Your money funds genocide.”
“I think BU is not operating in good faith,” Josef said. “People have a right to protest, especially the way that their money that they’re paying to the school is being used.”
