UAlbany Students and Faculty Protest in Support of Sanctuary Campus

By Lucienne Burns | April 21, 2025

Students protested for sanctuary campuses to be declared through the State University of New York (SUNY) system last Thursday (4/17).

Photo Credit: Lucienne Burns / The ASP

A protest calling for University at Albany to declare itself a sanctuary campus was held April 17, its attendees feeling frustrated with the recent termination of international student Visas and the lack of communication from university administration. 

The protest was organized by the Sanctuary Campus Coalition, which includes the UAlbany chapters of Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), along with the UAlbany Arab Student Union and the UAlbany Spanish Club.

“It is shameful to see our campus descend into madness and not protect our students,” said a student at the protest, when asked why they attended and their thoughts about the four students at UAlbany who had their F-1 visas terminated. “It stands against everything our country should stand for.”

The protest advocated for sanctuary campuses not only at UAlbany, but across the SUNY system, where international students having their visas terminated by the federal government has become a frequent issue, including 13 students at SUNY Buffalo, 11 students at Stony Brook, and one student at Suny Plattsburgh, according to the news website Inside Higher Ed.

“We thought it was really important to show that our UAlbany campus community is committed to protecting noncitizen students, that we will stand up for our community members regardless of their citizenship status,” a spokesperson for the Sanctuary Campus Coalition said. “And not just our UAlbany noncitizen students, but SUNY-wide noncitizen students.” 

Students were not the only attendees; faculty members from United University Professions, the SUNY faculty union, were also there to show support. Government officials were at the event as well, such as State Senator Pat Fahy. 

“I read this morning that there are now over 1,000 students across this country who are losing their student Visas. It is an attack on academic freedom, it’s an attack on our rights,” Senator Fahy said. “These are students with legitimate Visas with a legal right to be in this country and it’s being revoked arbitrarily.”

Along with Fahy, Assemblymember Gabriella Romero was also present at the protest, offering to take the problem back to the State Assembly to see how she can help.  

“I heard about the UAlbany students getting their Visas revoked, and I was frankly disgusted, and scared a little bit. So I’m here in solidarity to listen to students and to make sure that students know that as their assemblymember I am totally here,” Romero said. “I have already spoken to some of the UAlbany leadership, and a statement should be forthcoming in support of students and students’ rights here on campus. I’m a little shocked that it hasn’t come out already.”

The UAlbany Student Association Senate also passed a “Protecting Undocumented and Minority Students” resolution at their meeting on April 9, which called on the university to implement steps to further protect noncitizen students.

“The University at Albany is leaving students in the dark. No information is disinformation. Whatever they can provide to students to protect them is better than nothing,” said another student at the protest. “I hope they adhere to the demands of the sanctuary campus resolution that the SA Senate passed, including a ‘Know Your Rights’ campaign every year for students, faculty, ResLife, administrators and everyone else.”

Protesters were frustrated by a perceived lack of transparency from the administration but found this issue bred unity for a common cause.

“I believe that the administration has left us behind, and repeatedly left us behind,” a student attending the event said. “It’s time that we stand up, and even if the administration won’t stand with us, we will stand together as a community on this campus.”

A spokesperson for the Sanctuary Campus Coalition said representatives from the group met with UAlbany administration on Friday to discuss demands being made by the coalition. The spokesperson said that while some of the demands were agreed to, several of the precautionary measures are already in place in university policy, and that administration did not agree to several of the demands.