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President Schill reiterates UO commitment to our DACA/Dreamer students

9/4/2017: The full text of President Schill’s message here includes links to UO resources and the UO Dreamers website, here.

Members of the University of Oregon community,

President Trump this week is expected to make changes to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration policy, also known as DACA. I join hundreds of university leaders as well as local, state, federal, and business leaders in strongly urging President Trump to continue this program. I also write to let our students know that we support them, and to provide information about where our students and their families can go for assistance, should the need arise.

In a world full of ambiguities, there is no ambiguity for me about the importance of continuing DACA. My view of morality dictates that young people, many of whom were brought here as infants or toddlers, must be allowed to remain in the United States to learn, work, and make a life for themselves. The United States is their home. To uproot them would be wrong. Period.

But the argument for DACA doesn’t just rest on principles of morality; it is also good for our country. One of the reasons the United States became the greatest nation in the world is because it was founded, built, and shaped by immigrants. Millions and millions of people, including all of my grandparents, risked everything to come to the United States to escape religious, ethnic, and political oppression or to seek out a better life for their children. The very act of coming here showed grit and determination, the willingness to assume risk, and courage—just the skills necessary to build our nation. …

The UO Senate resolution from last November, written by Prof. Lynn Stephens and other members of the DACA and Undocumented Students Working Group, with cooperation from the UO administration, is here. The video of the Senate meeting is here. Minutes:

4.4 Vote: US16/17-09: Declaring UO a Sanctuary Campus; Lynn Stephen (Anthropology) et al. Lynn Stephen read the motion. She thanked President Schill and Provost Coltrane for their statement on immigration earlier in the day and for working together with the Senate. She noted that over 200 local jurisdictions throughout the United States, though not Lane County, have expressed their unwillingness to help ICE enforce immigration laws.

Motion to adopt. Presented by: _______________. Second: ________________.

Craig Parsons expressed his concern about the Senate addressing issues like this one, which asks the UO to take a position on how it will deal with federal agencies. The previous resolution focused on the university’s own values, but this one requires a political stance from senators who were not elected based on their political beliefs. Jane Cramer said this resolution will make many students she knows feel safer. Chris Chavez said it is important for the university to speak up at critical moments like this.

Vote to adopt. No – 2. Yes – all other votes. Moved/Seconded/Carried.

9/4/2017: Miserable old man finds brief joy in punishing innocent children

Politico has the news on Donald Trump’s decision to repeal the Obama directive that gave temporary residency and a path to citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants, here. Congress will have 6 months to decide to reinstate it, or not.

Sept 5 downtown Eugene rally against DACA/Dreamer repeal:

By some of the same people who organized the excellent Eugene Anti-Hate march. On Facebook here.

8/14/2017 update: Peaceful Eugene Anti-Hate march from EMU to downtown

Great rally at UO, passionate and short speeches from the organizers, maybe 800 people counting children in strollers. Peaceful march downtown. A particular shout-out to the chant leaders, who were stationed along the route and mixed it up nicely. Good organizing! Only one dude who thought we needed to hear him beat his drum, and no Nazi’s. Ample presence from police, greeted happily by the people I saw including some high-fives. After Charlottesville I have no problem seeing a line of cars stopped behind an expensive UOPD black SUV, waiting for the crowd to pass.

Full disclosure: I went home before the politicians started their speeches at the Park Blocks.

You can pitch in towards the speakers’ expenses here: https://www.gofundme.com/hate-is-not-welcome-speaker-fund

8/13/2017: More info from the organizers on Facebook here:

Lane County is paying attention to the events unfolding in Charlottesville, Virginia. We will be sending a message that hate is not welcome in our community. What we have seen in Virginia will not be tolerated. Join us in solidarity so that we can prevent these ideas from becoming normalized in any way, shape, or form. Spread the word! All are welcome- families, friends, kids! This affects us all. We’re calling on everyone to come together to say that white supremacy has no place in Lane County.

We will be starting the march from the University of Oregon ‘Free Speech Amphitheater’ in front of the EMU (1228 University St, Eugene, OR 97403).

For those who cannot march because of accessibility/mobility issues: Please come meet at our march destination, Lane County courthouse (125 E 8th Ave, Eugene, OR 97401). The rally speakers will begin around 6:30pm. We will have dedicated space for people with disabilities.

Police institutions have historically and continue to this day to be a danger to marginalized communities. So for that reason we will absolutely NOT be working with any police institution for this action. …

FWIW I disagree with the last bit, about the organizers’ decision not to work with the EPD and UOPD on coordinating this march. All of the police I have met – including the ones in Charlottesville where I grew up – passionately believe that their job includes protecting the peace and people’s right to protest. Frankly it seems a bit hateful to tar them all for the evils done by a few. And yes, I say that despite not understanding why they didn’t do more to stop the violence in C’ville.

In other news, the free-market has spoken, and they’re betting against the Nazis:

Which is good, because they obviously don’t keep insects away.

I’m not sure why Amazon doesn’t have a rainbow colored set available already, but the Nerds are on it:

8/12/2016: President condemns Nazis, calls for minute of silence for the dead

That would be President Vladimir Putin:

“It was the Nazis who unleashed this war,” Putin told lawmakers, after asking them to stand for a minute’s silence in honour of the dead. “Their ideology of hatred, blind faith in their own exceptional nature and infallibility, and desire for world domination led to the 20th century’s greatest tragedy.”

Meanwhile President Donald Trump is still playing both sides, waiting to see how it shakes out this time.

15 Comments

  1. UO community member 08/13/2017

    Pretty shameful for them to include that last paragraph. We should all be working together to build bridges. It reminds me of Black Lives’ Matter hijacking gay pride marches and vetoing police participation at those events.

    I don’t understand the left’s hatred for law enforcement.

      • UO community member 08/13/2017

        Did you read any of those links? Let me tell you I’d do everything in my power to protect myself if someone threatened myself (or another innocent) with a gun or knife.

        • Really? 08/14/2017

          White man with a gun=exercising second amendment rights (see: Charlottesville).

          Black man with a gun=a threat to me and innocent people (see: Philandro Castile).

          Black men are 6% of the population, yet 30% of all unarmed people killed by police were black men.

          Due process is not applied equally by the police or the courts. Is it really so controversial to suggest that “law enforcement” should be governed by constitutional law?

    • just different 08/14/2017

      Many on the left don’t trust law enforcement because policing isn’t applied equitably even when keeping the peace during political protests. Antifa or Black Lives Matter demonstration = dangerous and potentially violent. White supremacist hate groups armed to the teeth = freedom of assembly.

      Which is not to say that I think that Unite the Right should have been denied their permit. But let’s not kid ourselves about who poses the more serious threat during a “peaceful” protest.

  2. Seriously? 08/14/2017

    Surely this is satire, right? Your post reads like an Onion headline: “Middle-aged white man never had unpleasant interaction with police, can’t understand what all the fuss is about.”

    • uomatters Post author | 08/14/2017

      My interactions with the police are a matter of public record, except that thing in Idaho which we were both happy to keep off the books. Didn’t grow a ponytail again til I made it to Madison though. And that time in Sinaloa, that was definitely my bad, but I paid my debt and didn’t see any computer in the jail so I think I’m OK. And that time up in Bottineau were I almost got shot because my truck was the same color as the one the guy who’d shot up a gas station down the road had stolen, and I reached for my registration a little too quick. Lucky the radio call came in saying they’d got the perp and so instead I shared a nervous laugh with the policewoman. And the mounties –
      best to just run when you see them, when you’re up their working illegally. But the other 10 or so times I dealt with the police I saw them as legitimately scared people trying to cool down some mouthy assholes waving guns around more than anyone should do at a man with a family at home. So yeah, some lucky white privilege but that doesn’t change the basics that most cops are on the right side and we need to work with them to keep it that way, more now than ever.

      • Dog 08/14/2017

        right

        Bottineau

        Dakota College

        why would you ever leave?

        • uomatters Post author | 08/14/2017

          We couldn’t find any oil. Didn’t know about shale oil back then. That and the weather.

  3. White Lies We Tell Ourselves 08/14/2017

    Who knew about your checkered past? However, I believe the point is that if you had brown skin in any of those encounters you would likely be dead.

    • uomatters Post author | 08/14/2017

      That likelihood does not escape me.

      • comeon 08/14/2017

        Likely dead?

        The focus on gaps leads to base-rate bias. A very small minority of all individuals are killed by police.

        There is evidence of racial bias, but that in and of its itself probably a result of base rate bias and attempts and statistical discrimination by police.

    • Oryx 08/14/2017

      “likely?” The spate of unwarranted police killings of African Americans is horrifying, but are you actually suggesting that more than half the encounters between police and “brown skinned” people are deadly? If not half, how many? 10%? 1% 0.1%? What fraction makes “malign the cops as racists” give better outcomes for public safety than “work with the police,” and what fraction have we got? I’m genuinely curious about the answer.

      • Hart 08/14/2017

        I agree there’s a low overall death rate. However, there is also a lot of data about patterns wherein brown people’s interactions with police were consistently or mostly bad. As a result, the presence of police at events like this can inflame by making people feel extra-jumpy in the first place, on top of righteous anger about the reason for the rally. I expect that overall in Eugene, because the percentage of people who are nonwhite is small in the first place, the effect of this might be relatively small, but I also expect that the tension brought on by that presence probably increases geometrically rather than just being some individuals who are more likely to smash things or whatever–If 20% of the crowd is 5% more tense, it’s not a crowd that is overall 20% a little more likely to go boom, but rather, a crowd that is twice as angry or something.

        Anyway, I have every reason to think that I personally can trust a cop, but I also have seen a local cop engage with a member of a non-racial minority group and go from talking to physical altercation in less than a minute, so I know that’s a thing. I also know it because people describing their own experience are probably not all lying. I get why excluding uniformed officers might be an option someone would choose.

  4. Conservative Duck 09/05/2017

    Thank God President Trump is protecting us and our families from liberals like Mr. Shill.
    Remember, California loves liberals and has endless resources!

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