By Glenn Billman, news staff
More than 50 students and dining hall employees rallied Friday to advocate for university protections for undocumented immigrant workers. The protest, arranged by Huskies Organizing With Labor (HOWL), marked the deadline the group gave President Joseph E. Aoun more than a month ago to sign a pledge written by the dining hall workers’ union.
The pledge, written by UNITE HERE Local 26, asks employers to designate their workplaces as sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants. As a sanctuary campus, Northeastern would refuse to cooperate with deportation raids by federal immigration officers without a warrant.
“We’re going to keep the pressure on our administration until all Northeastern workers have the protections they deserve,” said Isabella Viega, a sophomore English major and HOWL organizer. “Northeastern workers have our backs every day; now it’s time we show them we have theirs.”
HOWL members gathered in the quad outside the Stetson East residence hall at noon, while four Northeastern University Police Department (NUPD) officers stood nearby. Approximately 20 members then swiped into Stetson East dining hall around 12:15 p.m. and walked laps around the salad bar. They waved posters and yelled call-and-response chants in Spanish and English.
“When workers’ rights are under attack, what do we do? Unite, fight back,” the HOWL members chanted.
Earlier this week, Aoun sent out a school-wide e-mail reaffirming the university’s commitment to diversity and reassuring undocumented Northeastern members that they have a place on campus. The e-mail, however, did not indicate that Northeastern would become a sanctuary campus.
“We strive to assure everyone at Northeastern—Muslim or Jewish, atheist or person of faith—of their safety and freedom to learn, work and teach,” Aoun wrote. “This most certainly includes those who live in fear due to their immigration status. All members of our community who have immigration concerns, including our Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) students, should rest assured that we will continue to stand with you and safeguard you.”
DACA allows federal officials to defer deportations for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before age 16. HOWL’s pledge asks Aoun to support the expansion of DACA, as well as the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) program, which empowers federal authorities to defer deportations for parents of American children and permanent residents.
Northeastern spokesperson Matthew McDonald said in an e-mail to The News that the university is committed to undocumented members in its community.
“I believe the president’s message to the university community on Monday made very clear our commitment to protecting the rights of our diverse Northeastern family, and to safeguarding members of our community who have immigration concerns,” McDonald said.
Viega told protesters gathered in Stetson East Friday that Aoun’s e-mail supporting DACA students didn’t go far enough to protect undocumented immigrants in the community. Freshman international business major Rebeca Muñoz then delivered the same message in Spanish.
“What he has done is e-mail out a statement saying, ‘Educational institutions, such as ours, must continue to be models for society,’” Viega said. “We agree, so we’re here to make that a reality.”
The HOWL demonstrators left Stetson East while chanting the same message in English and Spanish: “Qué queremos? Justicia. Cuando? Ahora” and “What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now.”
The group then marched to Curry Student Center at approximately 12:30 p.m. There, representatives from the #SanctuaryCampusNU Coalition, Socialists Students, the Progressive Student Alliance and the Latin American Student Organization spoke to the crowd in support of HOWL’s cause.
#SanctuaryCampusNU Coalition organizer and senior business major Nadav David commended Aoun for publicly supporting undocumented immigrants in his e-mail, but said the protection needed to extend further.
“Everyone on this campus matters, and every single person should be supported and protected,” David said. “We will not let them down. We will stand with them until we get what we want.”
The group then marched to International Village dining hall. The students, met by seven NUPD officers, were allowed to enter without using meal swipes and were greeted by several dining hall workers cheering, clapping and raising their fists. The dining workers who had accompanied the students on the march stood outside, cheering through the windows.
After more call-and-response chants, the group left for Aoun’s office in the Alumni Center on Columbus Avenue. On their way out, dining hall worker Herma Parham shouted “thank you” to the protesters.
“I always feel like it’s a good presence to have in a university: Students that are for the workers,” Parham said.
The marchers arrived at the Alumni Center to find seven NUPD officers blocking the doors. HOWL members formed a ring around the front doors and continued to chant before Viega and Muñoz gave the final speeches. Two dining hall workers then gave short speeches to the crowd, which were translated from Spanish to English by Muñoz and third-year communication studies major Joely Barrios.
The group chanted “we’ll be back” before asking everyone to tweet at Aoun #SignThePledge and disbanding around 1:15 p.m.
HOWL first asked Aoun to sign the pledge Dec. 8. In addition to asking for protections for undocumented immigrants, the pledge demands that the university protects the workers’ rights to unionize, allows employees to miss work to protest on Inauguration Day and opposes registries of Americans—such as President-elect Donald J. Trump’s proposed Muslim-American registry.
McDonald said Aoun has not signed Local 26’s pledge because it asks for signatures from employers and the dining hall workers are not employed directly by Northeastern. They are employed by Chartwells—a food catering company for schools—which contracts with Northeastern.
“The facts surrounding the union pledge and our relationship with dining services staff have not changed,” McDonald said. “They are valued members of our community, but their employer is Chartwells.”
Local 26 spokesperson Tiffany Ten Eyck said in a Dec. 13 e-mail to The News that Local 26 believes Aoun should sign the pledge, even though the workers have been subcontracted.
“Students and workers should feel safe at our universities regardless of their national origin, religion or immigration status,” Ten Eyck said. “On issues of such importance to our university community, we believe that President Aoun and the leadership of Northeastern University have the power, and the obligation, to make this a reality.”
McDonald also said HOWL members have repeatedly turned down offers to meet with members of the administration. HOWL members said they will only meet with Aoun.
“Because we are directly calling on President Aoun to sign the ‘American Principles’ pledge, we think it would make the most sense for him to meet with us directly in order to discuss it,” HOWL wrote in a Dec. 12 e-mail to Jason Campbell-Foster, Northeastern’s assistant dean for student involvement, who had asked to meet with HOWL student leaders.
Muñoz said she is hopeful that Aoun will eventually sign the pledge and make Northeastern a sanctuary school.
“I think the e-mail was that first step,” she said. “And the way that the police were treating us, that has to have something to do with [Aoun]. They were very respectful and supportive of our movement and cause.”
Photo by Glenn Billman
