UNC Asheville’s Office of General Counsel sent an email to university employees earlier this month about properly responding to data requests from federal agencies. The memo was not sent to students.
“When you see something crazy like the screenshot of the email and then you see a random unmarked (police) car with the government tag, you as a student, you’d freak out a little bit, maybe not want to go to class,” said Natalie Garcia, UNCA senior. “I feel scared going to Ingles, and knowing that I have to keep my head on a swivel walking across the quad feels scary.”
Garcia said she was shocked to be notified of the memo through a post on Instagram while working at her job in Highsmith.
“Even if we don’t have to comply with the protocol, we should be notified that they are going to be here because I’m not sure if there’s undocumented people on campus but there’s a handful, including myself, that look the part, so it’s pretty scary and it feels messed up to not get that email,” Garcia said.
The email was sent by John Dougherty, chief of staff and general counsel at UNCA. Dougherty said the email was not sent to students because the Office of General Counsel does not provide legal assistance to them.
“The memo I sent last week gave instruction to university employees about how to meet the university’s obligations under federal law while also protecting important privacy rights of our students and employees,” Dougherty said. “The memo was not directed to students because students are not a client of the OGC and would not be a legal representative of the university in responding to federal information requests.”
Eric Nelson, UNCA student government association senior senator, said SGA met with Dougherty and their advisors about what they can do.
“One of the things we already have done is pass out red cards,” Nelson said. “There is going to be a series of seminars down the road about how we can interact with ICE.”
Nelson said a major talking point at the meeting was UNCA does not collect data of students’ citizenship.
“The reason why that (email) was exclusively for employees is because all it’s saying is that if ICE shows up, you tell them to wait and you get the lawyer and you get university police,” Nelson said. “Don’t try to do your own thing in there and give them things that they shouldn’t have.”
Nelson said the university doesn’t know the exact process ICE would use to make requests because it has not happened at a UNC system school yet.
“When they do, all the institutions in the UNC system will be made aware of that, and I hope us as students will as well,” Nelson said.
Nelson said he thinks people on campus should be wary about making false remarks about ICE.
“I believe folks should be informed about that sort of thing, to be honest, but I can see why the university wouldn’t tell us if they did come because it adds a level of anxiety that might not need to be there because ICE could come in and request documents, and it just turns out we have nothing to give them,” Nelson said.
