UCF students demand sanctuary campus, ICE out now

By Marcus Polzer

Orlando, FL – On Thursday, March 26, UCF Students for a Democratic Society alongside Young Democratic Socialists of America organized a protest of over 40 students to march on Millican Hall, the main administrative building for the University of Central Florida.

This action was UCF SDS’s fourth rally demanding an end to the 287(g) agreement and for the university President Alexander Cartwright to meet with student leaders to make UCF a sanctuary campus.

After a call-in to the president’s office, Adrienne Frame, one of the “president’s designees for student-facing outreach” agreed to hold a meeting between the president’s office and SDS. After SDS sent their preferred meeting times, UCF admin proceeded to ignore the students.

At the start of the rally, Hazel Hazelwood, a member of UCF SDS told the crowd, “We are standing among over 60,000 of the state’s most ambitious young people. We are told we can accomplish anything we set our minds to, and yet Cartwright expects us to stay silent while our friends live in fear.”

From the front of the Student Union, the students marched to Millican Hall, while chanting slogans such as “Dare to struggle, dare to win” and “Come out Cartwright.”

The student activists carried signs that read “Sanctuary campus now” and “ICE off campus, end 287(g).” There were also signs that depicted UCF President Alexander Cartwright as “Where’s Waldo” with the slogan saying “Where’s Cartwright” due to Alexander Cartwright’s reputation for rarely attending events on campus.

Once the rally reached Millican Hall, Adrien Daugherty, another member of UCF SDS, was first to speak, “This is our campus. We pay to come here. The UCF admin is meant to serve us, not appeal to whatever administration is in power. We are their constituents – it is shameful that they would even entertain the idea of letting ICE come in here and kidnap one of our own. Shame!”

The final speaker was Ken Pham from UCF YDSA, who chose to speak on what UCF admin’s choice to sign onto the 287(g) agreement really means, stating, “Neutrality in the face of state repression is not neutrality. It is complicity. President Cartwright and his administration have made their decision. They are now collaborators.”

After chanting at Millican Hall demanding UCF President Cartwright come out to talk with the students, the rally marched across campus to Memory Mall and concluded by chanting “I believe that we will win.”

#OrlandoFL #FL #StudentMovement #SDS #ImmigrantRights