As President Donald Trump’s tentative date for the DACA rescindment nears, faculty, staff and on-campus clubs’ commitment to serve undocumented students continues.
General knowledge of how to help undocumented students and campaigns that raise awareness have increased on campus since Trump made his statement.
Dean of Student Engagement Juan Carlos Astorga said counselor Jeanette Madueña helped develop the resource website for undocumented students, headed the campus-wide Know Your Rights Campaign and conducted “UndocuAlly” trainings for faculty.
Madueña said the knowledge and passion that inspired her to host UndocuAlly trainings came from her working with undocumented students while pursuing her master’s and doctorate degrees.
“When I got here two years ago, I realized there was nothing happening with support mechanisms, trainings, or anything like that,” Madueña said. “At Cal State Long Beach, there has been a training that’s been going on for many, many years. I was part of that training, so when I came here, I wanted to start something similar.”
Faculty who complete the training receive a monarch decal that is then placed outside of their classrooms, Astorga said.
“We use the monarch butterfly because it does a lot of migration,” Astorga said.
She referenced I.D.E.A.S at Pierce (Improving, Dreams, Quality, Access and Success) and said they are trying to create a resource fair for undocumented students.
“Julio Tsuha and this undocumented student support group want to create a resource day full of activities and information sessions,” Madueña said.
A report released by the Office of Educational Programs and Institutional Effectiveness stated that 813 of the 11,501 undocumented students in LACCD attended classes at Pierce in fall 2017, 3.9 percent of the student population overall.
Student Equity Coordinator Jose Vargas said his position on Pierce’s campus—designed under California’s Education Code sec. 78220-78221—exists to identify the needs of underserved populations and divert dollars to bring these students to parity.
Vargas, who co-chairs the Student Diversity Committee, said the statewide initiative on behalf of the underserved student population explicitly includes identity, race, gender, veteran status, foster youth and disability.
“The Education code does not enumerate specifically on undocumented students,” Vargas said. “But what we’ve done on this campus—equity, and I would say diversity too—is that we found work-arounds.”
