We assert our continued support for undocumented students, whether or not they are currently certified by the DACA program.  We call upon our campus and UW System administrators to strengthen existing practices and create additional, viable practices that ensure the collective well-being of all our students, and that continue to extend the “beneficent influence of the university to every family in the state.”

Undocumented student access to public higher education in our state and across the United States is crucial. Nowhere in the Wisconsin Idea’s assertion of wide access to the resources of the University of Wisconsin system is citizenship status specified as a prerequisite.

The federal assault on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program violates the spirit and practice of the Wisconsin Idea. We recognize this as an attack not only on foreign-born communities, but on the continued vitality of public higher education. Undermining DACA discourages broad student access, resulting in declining enrollments and further disinvestment in public education. This assault on tuition equity and student access weakens education for all.