A public university president has reached out to his students with a “call to action” on federal immigration legislation.
In a student-wide email obtained by Campus Reform, Rutgers University President Robert Barchi provides access for students to reach out to their U.S. senators and representative to lobby for congressional legislation which he writes “would extend the DACA protections to students at colleges and universities throughout the nation.”
Barchi emphasizes that taking action is painless, providing a link to a university advocacy webpage that will generate letters to send to members of Congress:
“Taking action to show your support is easy—it will take no more than a minute or two of your time,” reads the email. “The program automatically identifies your appropriate elected representative from your home address. The letter is pre-written, so you may review it before you hit ‘send.'”
However, Barchi does write that “participation in this effort is entirely optional.” He adds that while he supports extending DACA protections, he understands some students may not:
“I would never presume to tell you what to do with respect to legislative advocacy. We are offering this option to you because many in our community have participated in activities to bring attention to the plight and status of undocumented students.”
But Campus Reform reports that while not mandatory, the president still may be breaking university policy:
Although Barchi explicitly clarifies in his email that “participation in this effort is entirely optional,” taking care to note that the legislation is “bipartisan,” he may nonetheless have potentially violated his own school’s policy on political activities, which expressly forbids using the “name, seal, stationery, and other identifying marks of the university, or of any of its departments,” in “any way that implies the individual or group is speaking or acting for the university in political matters.”
The university is defending the letter, telling the website that its purpose was to “give students the option of voicing their opinion in an effective way.”
But at least one student is upset about the email. Andrea Vacchiano, secretary of Rutgers’ Young Americans for Liberty chapter, said it was a “misuse of taxpayer money” and makes her “feel more alienated from the administration as a conservative student.”
MORE: UC President Napolitano to campus cops: Don’t enforce federal immigration law
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