Under the new Board of Trustees Resolution of Support, student immigrants no longer have to worry about being detained on campus or prevented from receiving financial aid.

The resolution of support came to the attention of the board of trustees on its Monday, May 22 meeting, where it was unanimously adopted into action.

According to the background for the resolution, “The resolution affirms our institutional values in serving all students, our commitment to the requirement to protect student privacy under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, and current practices under law regarding the disclosure of student information.”

A belief that many on campus feel, including the president of the Academic Senate.

“We’re not going to detain people based on their immigration status or suspected immigration status,” Kristie Daniel-DiGregorio, AS president, said on Tuesday, May 16.

A counselor for the Puente Project felt like the resolution was a step towards creating a less stressful learning environment.

“(Students) can feel free to express themselves as humans. (They)’re able to absorb and retain whatever (they) learn,” Juan Ramon Guerra, Puente Project counselor, said. “Since this is a place, an academic place, I want humans to feel free, to enjoy the education that they’re getting.”

Guerra is a former student who didn’t know how to speak English when he arrived at El Camino over twenty years ago. He has been a Puente counselor for five months now.

Daniel-DiGregorio said that the resolution received much support from the Academic Senate as well as faculty members.

“I’m quoting one senator in particular, ‘A powerful message of support for our students and our community at a time when our students are expressing a lot of concern and uncertainty,” Daniel-DiGregorio said, in verbatim. “It echoes, the statements that have been made by a number of larger bodies, the board of governors, the cal states, the chancellor’s office, the UC’s.”

El Camino is following the lead of many other schools that share the same sentiments.

Approximately 35 other districts have issued similar resolutions, DiGregorio said.

“It’s extremely important that our campus took a stand and gave our students support like this,” Taylor Young, 22, fine arts major, said. “In times like these, having your school as an ally is invaluable.”

A copy of the approved resolution, item 7.46 P/B, can be found on the board of trustees website under the meeting agenda for Monday, May 22, 2017.