Dear Faculty Colleagues,
What is there to say at this moment except that it has been a very difficult week. The results of the presidential election—even if many of us expected it—will have serious material and psychic impacts on us as a labor force, as guardians of our communities’ futures, and as racialized and politicized beings in the belly of the U.S. empire.
Part of our task is to grieve that reality. We will be working tirelessly over the next four years and more, and that added labor will be heavy and, at times, unbearable. Some of us rightfully feel that Trump’s re-election will “simply” continue the organizing we have been doing already for the past 13 months, eight years, thirty years, lifetimes. On one hand, we are ready for the road ahead; on the other, we have no idea which of our cataclysmic predictions will come true and which we will be spared from. We can’t help but be especially concerned for our faculty, student, and staff community members at the crosshairs of Trump’s xenophobia, anti-Blackness, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, anti-abortion, and other state-dependent concerns.
What we on CFA-LA’s executive board are holding on to is that we have been resisting institutional violence this whole time, and we will continue that life-affirming work. Everything we do on precarious grounds is so much more meaningful. Every student we support, every decision we make, and every cause we shape angles us ever so slightly toward collective liberation. In that spirit, we want to encourage all our members to expand and entrench themselves in the strategizing and organizing that sustains our campus community.
First, we have to contend with potential policies that will further undermine public higher education. After denying he had anything to do with Project 2025, Trump has admitted that implementing the proposals will be a top priority of his administration. Thus, we are planning an Emergency Town Hall meeting on Thursday, November 21, from 4:00-5:30 PM via Zoom - RSVP for the link here: https://forms.office.com/r/VNyqwv0P2c. This is an important opportunity to gather together as faculty, staff, and students and to strategize ways to resist and keep our community safe.
Secondly, we want to remind you to please fill out the Bargaining Survey before November 22nd: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CFASurvey2024Website. We are in our own microcosm of neoliberal economic violence in the CSU system, and our perspectives hold the key to systemic change.
Finally, we are eager to share some advice from the Erika J. Glazer Dreamers’ Resource Center’s webinar featuring Cal State LA’s partner organization in immigrant rights, CARECEN. The webinar, called “Post Election Debrief: What This Can Mean for Immigrants,” was held on Tuesday, November 12th. Several of CFA-LA’s executive board were on the webinar, and we gained valuable insight, including the following:
CSU students receive free immigration legal assistance from CARECEN through this link:https://carecenla.simplybook.me/v2/
If your DACA status expires in the next year, apply for renewal NOW with CARECEN's help.
If you are under 21, ask CARECEN attorneys about getting Special Immigration Juvenile Status (SIJS), which is a special pathway to citizenship.
If you are not a citizen or green card holder, consider canceling international travel. If its an emergency, ask CARECEN attorneys about applying for advance parole before.
Use the Immigration Preparedness Toolkit to make a plan for your family, no matter how uncomfortable the conversation. You can also print out ILRC's Red Cards in a number of different languages for family and friends.
Do not open doors to, speak to, or run from ICE agents. You have the right to speak with an attorney first.
Take deep breaths. Focus on what you can control. Be as prepared as you can be, but know you will have to take things one step at a time. There are only 700 immigration judges in the whole country, and they have been complaining about their workload since Obama’s deportation sprees beginning in 2008. Also, one thing we can guarantee is that California will fight vociferously against any new immigration rule under Trump. Again: deep breaths.
In deep, conscious, caring solidarity—
The CFA-LA Executive Board
