UPUA unanimously votes to accommodate international students during breaks after immigration ban

Last night at the UPUA meeting, students spoke about the issue of the immigration ban and how it will affect international students at Penn State.

President Trump’s executive order on the immigration ban, will ban immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and Somalia. Many worry with this new ban that housing will not be available during breaks in the semester and that international students will be forced to find alternative options for their residency.

“With a substantial Muslim student community, at least 300 of which are a part of the Muslim Student Association, our university community is not immune to the effects of this executive order,” read the documented resolution.

Students responded to this issue with a resolution to look into ideas to accommodate all affected students at Penn State to help them “lawfully” stay in this country.

“On Sunday after our demonstration it was told to us that there would be a resolution to help with the housing issue and subsequently that was denied because it was too political by some of the assembly,” said Anthony J. Zarzycki, a student who helped organize this resolution.

“If you feel that it is too political, you should resign because if you can’t stand up for international students… you can’t stand up for the student who feels discriminated against because of their gender or race because they feel foreign too. If you can’t stand up for international students you can’t stand up for any of us,” he said.

“I’ve heard some people say they’re not sure if they want to support this resolution because it’s too political or too controversial. First I would just like to say that I find nothing controversial that should be controversial about this resolution. If anything UPUA, if it’s truly committed to protecting students and advocating on their behalf, more action should be taken,” said Veronica Weyhrauch, president of the Penn State College Democrats.

Veronica said she has noticed that a lot of international students are worried about their status at University Park and what they will do about semester breaks.

She said they also expressed concern that if students return to their countries they might not be allowed back into the US.

“I personally do not have to struggle with this but I know people that do so I really empathize with those people and want to make sure that they feel safe and welcome here,” she said.

Other students also advocated for this resolution at the open forum.

“A lot of people on campus are really scared and they’re really threatened for their education,” said Pasma Ayad, a student of the College of Education.

“People do not know what they’re going to do tomorrow, people have classes, people are crying in bathrooms, people are worried about family members. We have crossed the line of too political and now we are asking the student government to work on reassuring international students here that you are working for them, to know they have security when it comes to housing this is a basic human need,” said Fanta Condé, a student who has been advocating for this resolution.

After students communicated this concern, the UPUA discussed and voted on this issue.

“We are looking to send these messages of solidarity and support and messages that we would like to stem for our student body and work with administration towards any efforts they can make to make sure students are safe as quickly as these executive orders are ruled out,”said Nate Pentz, a UPUA Representative.

Nate said that the UPUA wishes to stand with President Barron and “seek out efforts to help students in which we could if necessary allow students to stay on campus. If they are torn between that essentially impossible decision of staying at Penn State potentially no where or having to find a place and leaving the country potentially not being allowed back in just because of their national origin.”

The UPUA amended their resolution to include all seven countries in the immigration ban and possibly look for affordable housing accommodations for international students during semester breaks.

One member who was unable to be present for the meeting and is an Iranian immigrant, wrote a letter to express her opinion.

“Immigration or choosing to come to another country to finish a degree is not easy and no one wants to give up after the amount of hard work that they put into it. Believe me it takes a lot courage to put everything behind… so I want you all to know that the students that are on our campus from the countries that are mentioned in this executive order, they’re not here add burden to America but they are here to seek some opportunity that their country is not able to give them in any shape or form,” she wrote.

The UPUA voted unanimously in support of this resolution.

“I am really happy to see that they passed this resolution it shows that they are in support of all of students not just students with a specific ethnicity or a specific place,” said Veronica.

I am overwhelmingly overjoyed that the UPUA passed this decision unanimously…. It shows no surprise that it passed unanimously considering that everyone who is serving in the UPUA does have a moral responsibility to stand up for the students that they share this campus with,”said Ben Dennis, a junior majoring in Journalism at Penn State.