UMass Boston’s Undergraduate Student Government passed resolutions Feb. 19 advocating for the rights of immigrant and transgender students.
The resolutions serve as nonbinding pieces of legislation according to Undergraduate Student Government Speaker Cristian Orellana. “A core function of the Undergraduate Student Government is to speak to openly as well as advise Administration about both topics of recent student body concern, resulting in both resolutions concerning Transgender Students and Undocumented Student or students of other status like T.P.S. Holders and D.A.C.A Dreamers being written,” he wrote in an email.
The first resolution states that “undocumented students have a right to pursue a higher education” and calls for administrators at UMass Boston to declare campus buildings as “private spaces” to prevent immigration enforcement from searching without a judicial warrant, as required by the Fourth Amendment.
UMass Boston is a public campus on public land, but the resolution seeks to designate individual buildings as private. “We want to ask, if possible, to make our buildings ‘private spaces’ to increase student safety on our campus so student may solely focus on their education while in class and not focus on external concerns,” Orellana wrote.
According to guidance issued Feb. 7 by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, “If a reasonable expectation of privacy exists, the U.S. Constitution prohibits access without consent, a judicial warrant signed by a judge, or certain exigent circumstances that excuse the warrant requirement.”
“The fact that Trump is on a rampage against illegal immigrants doesn’t change Fourth Amendment law,” said Harvey Silverglate, a civil liberties lawyer and co-founder of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. “You need probable cause for getting a warrant, and you have to get a warrant to invade a private space. It’s that simple.”
According to Silverglate, just creating a policy would likely not be enough to require immigration enforcement officials to get a warrant. “If it’s a space that is generally open to the public, then that seems to me you would not need a warrant to go in,” he said.
To make the space private, the university would need to restrict access, such as by requiring students, staff and faculty to swipe their IDs to enter, according to Silverglate. Spaces that already require this, such as labs in the ISC and resident-only areas of the residence halls, likely already qualify as private spaces.
In the second resolution, USG wrote that transgender individuals experience discrimination in fields such as medical care and housing.
The resolution cites Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ensures equal treatment under the law regardless of sex, as well as Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court case in which the court held that Title VII’s protections from gender identity- and sexual orientation-based discrimination extend to employees.
“Our stance is clear in these resolutions,” Orellana wrote, “and we as a U.S.G. hope to have dialogue and advocate for the protection of student identities but defend all rights students have as tuition paying students at this institution.”
“We are currently planning a way to get out there in our UMass Boston community to make our voices heard as these are critical issues that need to be addressed and cannot be swept under the rug,” Orellana wrote. “If anyone has any questions, please ask a U.S.G. Senator or Officer to make your voice heard.”
Joshua Levin contributed reporting.
