Cornell University should establish itself as a “sanctuary campus” from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to the campus Young Democratic Socialists of America.
The group is circulating a petition that asks President Michael Kotlikoff and Dean Marla Love to create a sanctuary on campus from ICE agents. The proposal is billed not just as a way to protect illegal immigrants, but to resist President Trump in general. Only 61 people have signed the petition as of this morning, 9,939 short of the club’s goal of 10,000.
“Anti-Trans executive orders have affirmed the ways that many people discriminate against trans people,” the petition states. “ICE has made it harder for immigrants and even American-born citizens to live their lives.”
“Deals with universities have stripped them of their academic freedom and forced them to fall in line with the President’s views on education,” the students wrote.
And yet, Cornell has not sufficiently stood up to Trump’s “fascistic administration,” according to the socialist activists.
Rather, Cornell gave “$60M to Trump, agreed to train staff on Trump’s harmful rhetoric, and allowed ICE recruits to stay on their hiring systems.”
The claim of $60 million going to Trump likely refers to a Nov. 2025 agreement between the Ivy League university and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
It requires Cornell to spend $30 million investing in rural agriculture while paying another $30 million to the federal government to settle civil rights and DEI investigations. The deal also restored federal funding opportunities.
The students have other bones to pick with the administration.
Cornell did not even send out a “school-wide email communicating…support for minority students[‘] groups.” Officials also “refused to broadly advertise the many resources available for groups such as queer and trans students.”
But the school can rectify its past mistakes by creating a sanctuary campus, helping not just students here without papers, but “queer” community members as well.
“Making Cornell a sanctuary campus is an essential first step in ensuring that Cornell can stick to its motto and persist through unprecedented struggles,” the petition states in bold.
This petition is just one of the actions taken by the active Democratic Socialists club, according to its Instagram.
The club also called for an end to “fossil fuel funding,” hosted a drag show, and held a “funeral procession for Palestinian martyrs.”
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