Chicago students demand transparency from UIC administration on ICE and DEI policies

Chicago, IL – On Friday, November 7, New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) rallied with 30 students to demand that UIC administration fund the Centers for Cultural Understanding and Social Change (CCUSC) and reject Donald Trump’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” that attempts to take control of higher education.

Before the protest, on October 30, members of many Latino organizations across campus were invited to meet with UIC’s Vice Chancellor of Diversity and Equity Lionel Allen, and the Special Advisor to the Chancellor for Student Affairs Micheal Ginsburg to discuss cuts to DEI and the budgets for the CCUSC as well as the presence of ICE on campus earlier that month.

At this meeting, Allen and Ginsburg claimed that UIC Chancellor Marie Lynn Miranda was “too busy” to meet with students, a point that was met with heavy opposition. At this meeting, students demanded that Chancellor Miranda meet with them personally and that UIC admin fund the cultural centers, create a protocol for ICE sightings on and around campus, and formulate a plan for what would be done if a student were to be detained.

Ariana Vega, one of the co-chairs of New SDS at UIC opened the November 7 rally by explaining that she received personal notice that Chancellor Miranda would not be in office the day of the protest, “Why is the chancellor so afraid of meeting with students? It’s because she knows she knows she’s not doing enough! This administration might think they can placate their students with one little meeting but they are wrong. As long as UIC refuses to protect their students we will keep coming out here to protest! We’ll make sure that our presence becomes unavoidable, unforgettable!”

On the chronic underfunding of the CCUSC at UIC, member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Victor Silva, said, “Just as students resisted UIC administration in 1976, we must stand up and fight back now. ICE is detaining our students, and cultural centers are under direct threat from Trump’s foolish overreach. While Chancellor Miranda consistently refuses to address the situation, we, the students, remain steadfast and vigilant. It’s time for the UIC administration to put their money where their mouth is.”

“We understand that education should not be a tool of domination. Education must be a tool for liberation. When we fight for cultural centers and Tagalog classes at UIC we are not just fighting for language instruction. We are fighting for the right to define our own identity, we are fighting to prevent revisionism of our own history, and we are fighting for connection to our own communities,” said Megan Wikosky from Anakbayan at UIC on the CCUSC and the Anakbayan’s campaign for tagalog classes at UIC.

In the wake of increasing ICE presence both on and off campus, community members and organizers at UIC have taken it upon themselves to protect their community when administration refuses to, hosting know your rights and migra watch trainings and setting up the first on-campus rapid response team. On the immediate response from community members at UIC, Ileanne Cecilio, a member of Mexican Students de Aztlán stated, “I am immensely inspired by the courage of all my peers in putting in the work to keep the community safe and assisting in advocating for our students in different ways such as advocacy for the cultural centers. However, it is also important that we hold UIC administration accountable in doing their job and also advocating for us students, the staff and faculty,”

Students then marched up to University Hall at UIC to deliver SDS’s open letter demanding funding for the cultural centers to the interim Vice Chancellor for Equity and Diversity Lionel Allen.

Other demands expressed in the open letter also included the expansion of the UIC Heritage Garden, protection of the UIC Rigo Padilla-Pérez Undocumented Student Resource Center, return the Diversity Community Engagement Program, for UIC Chancellor Marie Lynn Miranda to attend a community led town hall to hear out all students concerns and for administration commit to protecting Centers for Cultural Understanding and Social Change (CCUSC).

UIC students, Ariana Vega and Sanele Stewart from SDS, as well as Ileanne Cecilio from MeSA, went to the Chancellor’s office on the 27th floor of University Hall to personally deliver and discuss the open letter to Vice Chancellor Lionel Allen, who acted as the representative for Chancellor Miranda.

During this meeting students discussed topics that were brought up in the October 30 meeting with the Vice Chancellor of Diversity and Equity and the Special Advisor to the Chancellor for Student Affairs on the lack of transparency and communication from the administration on protocols of ICE being on campus and the defunding of the cultural centers this past year. The absence of the Chancellor in the room was felt once again in the meeting and a demand for her presence for the upcoming town hall was raised. The SDS open letter was read and discussed to the vice chancellor Allen and a copy was given to him and another for the chancellor that was promised to be delivered for her to read.

Sign onto New SDS at UIC’s open letter here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeZG7L5qF7_1mYAkHSzAIgeb7LZ1Sw_HgLYujY-AgWZePBAXQ/viewform

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