YDSA demands a meeting with the chancellor at Parents & Family Weekend

This past Parents & Family Weekend, UC Santa Barbara’s Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter held a demonstration during Chancellor Dennis Assanis’ speech, demanding direct communication regarding its Sanctuary Campus Campaign. 

UCSB’s Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) chapter began their Sanctuary Campus Campaign last year, amidst an unprecedented escalation in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) activity. The campaign includes a list of demands such as the prohibition of I.C.E. activity on campus, among others. 

YDSA had previously delivered its list of demands to the chancellor’s office on March 5, which included a petition of support signed by over 3,000 students. Since then, YDSA’s negotiation team has met with Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Life Suzanne Perkin and Dean of Students Joaquin Becerra several times. However, the group has been unable to meet with Assanis, despite frequent requests. 

According to YDSA Treasurer and second-year English major Kate Shivley, the lack of communication between the group and Assanis has become a major roadblock in the campaign, citing that the chancellor’s approval is necessary for many of their demands. 

“We [have] been hitting like a deadlock where there’s nothing we can do,” Shivley said. “So when we heard that Assanis was going to be speaking at an event, we thought it would be good to get some face time with him just to make him more aware of who we are and what we’re doing and why we want him specifically to come to the table, because, for all we know, he doesn’t know we exist. We haven’t heard anything from him specifically on this issue.”

Throughout the week leading up to Parents & Family Weekend, YDSA created posters and art pieces to showcase at the demonstration, some of which read, “Assanis what do we pay you for,” and a “missing” sign hung up on Parking Lot 22 that read, “Have you seen our Chancellor? Neither have we.”

After initially starting the demonstration on the Campus Green lawn, Perkin asked the group to move to the sidewalk, claiming it was a private event and they were not allowed to protest there. 

Shivley said that YDSA members were able to speak to Assanis for a few moments after his speech, where he did not agree to having a meeting with the negotiations team. She said that there has not been any follow-up communication from the University. 

Shivley said that this lack of communication is not a problem unique to YDSA, as she has had conversations with other students and organizations who have had similar problems in not being able to directly communicate with Assanis. 

“He’s not super visible on campus,” Shivley said. “He doesn’t address a lot of the issues in our community even though he’s talking about the community in his speech. We found out that he’s pretty difficult to get in touch with.”

Shivley was also able to speak to some parents which she said generally supported both the campaign and their demand for a meeting with Assanis. 

Since launching, the campaign has made some progress. According to Shivley, YDSA’s demand that the University design and facilitate a Gaucho FYI module on best practices for responding to I.C.E. officers on campus and in the surrounding community has been met. 

Shivley said she hopes that students remain engaged in the campaign despite less media coverage and social media posts about I.C.E. activity. 

Lastly, Shivley emphasized that this campaign does not belong to YDSA, and that they have worked in tandem with many local advocacy groups such as El Congreso, Unión Del Barrio and 805 UndocuFund.

A version of this article appeared on p. 1 of the Nov. 12 print edition of the Daily Nexus.