Syracuse University experts will be hosting a panel discussion for the campus community to discuss President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and his executive order that banned immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries.

The university on Wednesday announced that the event — an interdisciplinary roundtable — will be held Friday from noon until 2 p.m. in Dineen Hall’s Empire Lecture Hall.

The event is for anyone confused by Trump’s executive order, interested in the legal, social and political ramifications of Trump’s immigration policies or affected by Trump’s original travel ban, according to an SU News release.

The effects of Trump’s actions on immigration have been widespread and created controversy and debate across the country, including in Syracuse.

While Trump’s initial travel ban has been temporarily blocked by a ruling upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, some reports indicate the president is now drafting a new executive order.

Protests erupted across the country at airports following the original implementation of the ban. At the Syracuse Hancock International Airport, hundreds of protesters along with Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner held a rally in support of refugees and immigrants blocked from entering the U.S.

At SU, meanwhile, debate centered around the “sanctuary campus” issue and SU Chancellor Kent Syverud’s stance on Trump’s immigration policies. Syverud eventually denounced Trump’s executive order in a statement, after about 250 frustrated SU faculty members signed a petition urging him to do so.

The chancellor later defended how long he took to announce his stance in an address to the University Senate, saying that as a lawyer he wanted time to read and understand the language in the executive order, which he called “quite difficult.”

Caught by the turmoil, 50 SU students were originally advised by the university to not travel outside of the U.S., in fears they would not be able to re-enter the country following Trump’s order.

Kseniia Guliaeva and Amanda Freire de Almeida, students at SU College of Law, developed the idea for the Friday roundtable, according to the release.

“Many of us know people personally affected by the (executive order),” said Guliaeva, an international student attending SU from Russia, in the release. “They have a lot of questions about what is happening, and they pushed us to organize this event.”

The Friday panel will be composed of Mehrzad Boroujerdi, a professor and the chair of political science in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs; Ken Harper, an associate professor of multimedia photography and design, and Stephen Pike, associate professor of public relations in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications; Gary Kelder, a professor of law, and Andrew Kim, an associate professor of law, in the College of Law and Corri Zoli, the director of research for the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism.

Boroujerdi said in the release he hopes the event will give students a more “holistic” view of Trump’s immigration policies and the executive order, but added that he doubts a revised order from the president “will calm the waters.”

Harper said in the release that he thinks the damage has already been done.

“I know that some SU departments are seeing a decrease in student and faculty interest,” he said in the release. “What better way to cut higher education institutions off at the knees than push international students away. We are in uncharted territory with this administration’s immigration actions.”

Published on February 22, 2017 at 7:23 pm

Contact Sam: sfogozal@syr.edu | @SamOgozalek