Protests planned as Sean Spicer set to speak at Northeastern Illinois University this week
But the discussion between Spicer and
The letter to university President
It goes on to say Spicer is not an acceptable choice for a university that in 2018 had an undergraduate enrollment that was nearly 40% Hispanic and considers itself a safe space for the undocumented immigrants enrolled there.
"We find it particularly distressful that our university administration would ignore its claims to being an Hispanic-serving institution that 'stands in solidarity with undocumented immigrants' by providing Spicer this platform, and that it would do so in an attempt to raise the profile of this institution," a news release on the planned protest states.
The news release says any platform given to Spicer serves to legitimize policies such as, "the Muslim travel ban; the criminalization of immigrants; attacks on reproductive rights," which the group says have caused harm to many NEIU students, their families and communities.
That's when he decided to write the letter.
"I remain hopeful that she (Gibson) can show a commitment to our community, rather than to rich donors and rich speakers," Stockdill said.
Some of the undocumented immigrants who planned to give speeches at the protest rally -- outlining the negative effects some of the policies Spicer endorsed have had on their community -- backed out because they feared even more dangerous consequences.
"They're not just afraid of suspension or arrest, but of possible detention and deportation," Stockdill said.
Hines said the university will hold the event because the administration believes there's value in attendees learning more about the three "timely topics" covered in the title of the event, "Politics, the Press and the Presidential Election." The presentation is to be the sixth installment of the Goodwin Lecture Series, named for
Hines said he understands the implications of bringing in Republican Spicer and
Hines said
"After promoting (and lying about) such inhumane policies as Trump's press secretary,
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The protest rally is being organized by NEIU senior
"We've also been trying to get a meeting with the president, which hasn't happened yet, and the event is a few days away. Ideally we didn't want to have to rally as a response to it, we wanted the event to actually be canceled," he said.
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