PSU-AAUP Calls for an End to ICE and Federal Terror in Our Communities

The Portland State University chapter of the AAUP condemns the rising fascist assaults and extrajudicial murders of our community members in Minneapolis and the United States. 

As faculty and academic professionals at Oregon's largest urban research university, we are painfully aware of the violence being enacted on members of our campus community by the federal government's militarized police force, ICE and Customs & Border Patrol. We will continue to resist this normalization of violence.

As an emerging Hispanic Serving Institution, as well as the most diverse university in Oregon, Portland State University has a particular responsibility to speak clearly when policies disproportionately harm marginalized communities. Nationwide, ICE has engaged in illegal practices of indefinite detention and deportation that violate human rights and have, in some instances, cost human lives.

Our students, faculty and staff are experiencing increased attacks by ICE, leading those impacted to ask for help. We have had students ask our faculty, represented by AAUP, for extensions to assignments because their parents have been kidnapped by ICE.These conditions undermine our educational mission and violate fundamental principles of human dignity, due process, and academic freedom. The increasing use of militarized enforcement tactics and the lack of transparency and accountability surrounding these operations raise serious concerns about civil rights, public safety, and the erosion of trust between communities and public institutions.

As educators, we cannot stay quiet during this moment in US history, further normalizing these military operations on our communities for the sake of political gain. There is no world where the federal government has our best interests at heart whilst simultaneously murdering Keith Porter, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti and others in the street.

We echo the call of our AAUP National in calling for, “ICE (to) suspend all operations in Minneapolis and all American cities now!”

The PSU-AAUP chapter stands in solidarity with all affected communities bearing the brunt of this fascist terror. We reaffirm our commitment to defending human rights, academic freedom, and the ability of our students and colleagues to learn and work without fear.