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Friday, Feb. 17, 2017 • Volume 96, Issue 3 • cardinalpointsonline.com • 50 cents
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Map of sanctuary schools provided by CNN
PSUC strives for sanctuary status By Kavita Singh editor in chief
President Donald Trump’s immigration ban might be halted, but Plattsburgh State is still taking action to protect students. During last week’s PSUC Student Association meeting, a resolution was unanimously passed to make the campus a sanctuary school. Student Association President Vrinda Kumar was approached by Plattsburgh Town Superviser Michael Cashman as he introduced the idea to her. “It’s basically the ability to keep all information about Muslim students and undocumented students confidential,” she said. “So if there is an executive order, and if the federal government tries to get this information, the school doesn’t have to follow that. That way, the students studying here can stay safe.” Kumar said that she was surprised when the executive order was passed in
the first place, which was why she felt the SUNY system needed to take action. She said even though the ban might be halted for now, students should still be aware. “We didn’t expect anyone to release an order about the seven countries,” she said. “So just because it’s halted right now doesn’t mean it can’t happen again because right now, you really don’t know what’s going to happen.” Trump still has several options to reinstate the executive order to ban all refugees from entering the country, such as appealing the Supreme Court, fighting the case in the district court or by simply rewriting the order, according to an article in The Atlantic. “So I guess this was really needed to make sure that if it does happen, and if the ban is brought back, and more countries are included for some reason, then students still remain safe because there was a lot of talk about more countries being included on the list.”
CDC to host carnival themed career event By Ezra Kachaturian news & sports editor
The career development center is hosting its first annual Career Carnival Wednesday, Feb. 22 in the ACC ballrooms to help students build up their professionalism in order to prepare for life after university. Julia Overton-Healy, who is the director of the career development center, wanted to organize an event that is fun for the students. The purpose of the event is to help students that may be unsure about what their future holds with the major they chose. “We wanted to do something that would combine
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education about careers, while also having some fun,” Overton-Healy said. “The whole point of it is, careers shouldn’t feel scary. We want people to feel like they can come to the career center, come to our events, have some fun and learn something.” She also said how a lot of students feel intimidated by choosing a career because they are under the impression that it is something they will have to do for the rest of their lives. “We want people to get over that fear of, ‘oh, it’s the rest of my life,’ – no it isn’t,” Overton-Healy said. “It’s some choices that you’re going to make for the next couple years, and
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then we’re going to figure out what’s next for you.” From working with first year students through alumni, Overton-Healy seemingly has all the answers for whatever questions a student may have about their major, job or passion. “We get a lot of students that come in here that are anxious about making a decision about their careers,” Overton-Healy said. “We can help you with career exploration, how to get ready for a job interview and how to connect with other people with the same job interest.” See JOB , A3
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Kumar said that even though the SA passed the resolution, they have to wait until the Board of Trustees pass the resolution for the campus to be considered sanctuary. She said she hopes it does get passed because there are students who are concerned with what will be next for the country. Trump also recently signed an executive order to enhance public safety by striping federal grant money to so-called sanctuary cities, according to an article in NBC News. Kumar said she will be meeting with SA presidents to discuss the next step toward making the campus sanctuary. In the meantime, Kumar said students can still take action. She said going to the GEO office is the best resource on campus for international students. GEO International Student Adviser Amelia Lushia said the office hasn’t been too chaotic since the ban has been halted.
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She said many international students’ parents are encouraging them to stay in the United States over the summertime. “The scariest part for families from countries you’d never think make the list is that it happened so fast,” she said. “Usually in immigration, it takes months before there’s a change like that. There’s a lot of time for public comment. Because it happened so quick, people are worried.” Besides striving to make PSUC a sanctuary campus, students are also encouraged to continue to show up to the PSUC forums that are designed for an open discussion. “There’s been a lot of support from the community from other students who stood up at that event. At the first forum, students were saying to international students that they can come with them and stay at their house,” she said. “I thought that the outpouring of support was really amazing.” See GEO, A2
Illustration by Chelsea Sorreno
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