Senate Bill 98 (SB 98) also known as the Sending Alerts to Families in Education (SAFE) Act, was signed into law Sept. 20. The law will require elementary, secondary and postsecondary schools, which includes Occidental, to issue alerts to students and families if immigration enforcement enters campus.
According to President Tom Stritikus, California has taken a lead in providing broad guidance for higher education institutions, both private and public, to ensure additional protections for immigrants who are a part of the campus community. Stritikus said this law helps by having the higher education sector act as a collective, rather than individually.
“SB 98 really is an important step that the state of California has taken,” Stritikus said. “It has provided additional support for immigrant students on campuses, particularly by expanding some of the protections that institutions in the state must offer.”
Brandon Macias (junior) is an educator in the San Gabriel Valley, Avalon Unified School District. Macias is also a school site council chairman, representing a secondary high school, and a vice president of the Roland Heights Community Council. Macias said that SB 98 is a win for higher education in the midst of a political landscape hostile to it.
“What recent memory has shown is that higher education institutions are not immune to what the Trump administration is doing,” Macias said. “Even though this is a predominantly white institution, a lot of our students, including me, are immigrants or are related to immigrants.”
According to Macias, SB 98 is in accordance with federal laws, since it will not be combating immigration officers, but only notifying the college community of their presence. Although the law may hinder the immigration officials, it is still in accordance with federal law while at the same time protecting the rights of the students, Macias said.
“I am fully in support of any mechanism that we can institute to protect our immigrant students, to protect the right that every student has to equal access to education regardless of where they come from,” Macias said.
Stritikus said he wants to ensure that every student is able to show up as their full selves, regardless of the Trump administration’s stance on immigration, and this is why the college has done a lot of work to have an attorney on staff.
“We are very concerned about ensuring that immigrant students feel welcomed on this campus,” Stritikus said. “Our policies articulate all of the processes within federal and state law that allow us to make that happen.”
Bella Gillis (sophomore) is a student involved with the Occidental Law Society and Verum Legalis, Occidental College’s Law Review. According to Gillis, the current Trump administration has taken a racially violent political stance, especially when considering the recent racial profiling ruling of Noem v. Vasquez-Perdomo.
“I think that they’ve taken a clear political stance and that it’s very frightening just for everybody,” Gillis said. “The racial violence that’s been associated with these recent detainments that we’ve been seeing is terrifying.”
“There’s just no other way to put it,” Gillis said. “It’s like nobody is really safe. I think also we’re in a very tricky area because we’re in LA. All students who are people of color, I have concerns for.”
Stritikus said students on campus need to be able to show up with their identities validated and wants to ensure that the students have an environment where they can be successful.
“Occidental College has a history of really caring deeply about academic excellence and equity,” Stritikus said. “And for equity to function, the students have to walk on campus feeling like they can be who they are.”
According to Macias, it is important for the campus students and school administrators to show solidarity with immigrant students and demonstrate a willingness to stand up for their rights.
“I think it’s a core tenet of a campus that is a liberal arts college, where discourse is free,” Macias said. “Critical thinking and free expression are such a key part of what we do here. We need to defend every student’s right to stay here in any way we are able.”
Contact Edgar Zatarain at zatarain@oxy.edu
