The Young Democratic Socialists of America at ASU voted on and began planning its new "Sanctuary Campuses" campaign at a weekly meeting in Tempe.
The meeting, held on March 18, was open to both established and prospective YDSA members, and focused on introducing the new campaign, as well as allowing members to begin voting on and discussing goals and events for their roadmap.
Bryce Askew, a senior studying chemical engineering and the chair of YDSA at ASU, explained that "Sanctuary Campuses" was a new national campaign title with the goal to "put pressure on the University to demand noncompliance with the Trump administration's directive targeted at higher education."
However, Askew made it clear in the meeting that the logistics of the campaign at the University would be overseen by the YDSA at ASU chapter specifically, not by the national chapter.
"We have wide reaching control of what we actually want to demand based on our local context," Askew said.
The demands of the unanimously voted proposal include protections for immigrant students, LGBTQ+ students and faculty, according to the proposal. The proposal specifically calls for ASU administration and the ASU police department to refuse to work with ICE officers.
Askew described the University’s stance on these issues as shifting based on the political climate rather than maintaining students' wants and needs.
For example, under the Biden administration, he said the University was more relaxed on certain policies — but under Trump, it has begun to align itself more strictly with the federal government, particularly on issues like immigration and LGBTQ+ resources.
READ MORE: BREAKING: ASU changes LGBTQ+ resources on University webpages
"The University administration has been opposing us, now also the federal administration is opposing us," Askew said. "It's just encouraging us to fight even harder for these things because they're fighting hard against us."
Askew said another motivation for starting the campaign was his belief that the University is more strict with left-leaning clubs than right-leaning ones — he noted the imposition of fees for club tabling and room reservations while taking no action against College Republicans United at ASU after their tabling event in January.
"It's very clear who they fear more, and it's us. Not the right-wing (clubs on campus) because they know that ultimately the right wing is aligned with their values," Askew said.
In terms of concrete goals for the new campaign, YDSA plans to continue its efforts in advocating for a "queer center" on campus, which was a staple of their work over the past several months, according to Ashlyn Mickelson, a junior studying sociology and the secretary of YDSA at ASU.
Beyond this, the Sanctuary Campuses campaign looks to combine its LGBTQ+ advocacy with support for other student organizations on campus.
"The core is to make campus a safer space for marginalized students," said Isaac Burdge, a junior studying chemical engineering and the grievance officer of YDSA at ASU.
YDSA at ASU is planning to expand support for students without permanent legal status at the University and to listen to students' current issues with the administration.
"We wanted to do what DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) calls 'meeting the moment,' which is listening to all of the things that are happening around us," Mickelson said. "Which is why we wanted to expand the campaign to include safety for undocumented students."
These goals and motivations for the new campaign were combined with input from general members of YDSA in attendance at the meeting.
"I was hoping that we could get members involved in our campaign, help us to make our decisions," Burdge said. "Live up to the 'democratic' part of 'democratic socialists.'"
Members of the student organization, like Grace Behan, a senior studying physics, suggested events like a banner dropping rally, as well as "greater collaboration with external organizations" as possible goals of the new campaign.
These ideas will continue to be discussed and debated at upcoming club meetings.
YDSA at ASU plans to officially launch the Sanctuary Campuses campaign with a petition drive, canvassing efforts and a day of action on April 3.
Askew said there will be struggles as the club starts the new campaign, but its members will continue to push for the support and safety of all students on campus.
"There's going to be situations where they don't meet our demands, but we can still continue to put pressure on the administration," Askew said. "Just finding any way we can to make it harder and harder for them to continue to ignore us."
Edited by George Headley, Sophia Ramirez, Tiya Talwar and Katrina Michalak.
Reach the reporters at vcruzbut@asu.edu and sluba@asu.edu and follow @valeriacbutron and @samluba6 on X.
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Sam is a freshman studying political science with a minor in justice studies. This is his second semester with The State Press. He has also worked as editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper.
