Letter From the Editor: How do We Respond?

Olivia Silvey ’25

Editor-in-Chief

Last week, multiple Yik Yaks were posted that spread an icy panic across Trinity: “ICE is on campus.” While those rumors have now been put to rest, the response from administration and students alike was troubling. Many international students were left struggling with how to respond and react to this information, and at the same time, American students couldn’t seem to care less. Along the same vein, administration was silent for longer than at-risk students were comfortable with. Even though it turns out that these Yik Yaks and the subsequent rumors were incorrect, this was an opportunity for our entire campus to support international students, staff and faculty, and to me, I think we failed. 

When I first saw the posts, I did what the guidelines said we should do and called Campus Security to report the rumors – twice. On the phone after I explained what I saw and why I was worried, I was hung up on – twice. I then had a long conversation with an unknown staff member from the Office of International Students where I expressed my concerns about the posts, Campus Safety’s lack of response and the panic that was starting to spread across campus due to these unaddressed claims. The staff member told me they had no way to know if ICE was actually here because “I can’t be everywhere on campus at once” and that I should let Campus Safety handle it if there really was an issue. 

I understand that there are steps to be followed and people who (allegedly) handle these situations. I understand that I am not always privy to information about the administration’s operations regarding ICE, DCS or other federal agents. I understand that it is not my business to know and perpetuate rumors about deportations. However, it’s incredibly difficult to accept someone telling me to be quiet and don’t worry about it when my friends from outside the United States are in full-fledged panic in class on a Tuesday afternoon. Maybe this is just me, but a list of guidelines are not helpful when you think you’re at risk of being kidnapped by federal agents as you’re trying to get to your 1:30 lecture. 

That being said, I also want to address the initial posting of the Yik Yaks. Due to later posts on the app, it seems like students were confused about the difference between the deportation process and what it means for ICE to be physically present on campus (someone being deported does not mean ICE is here). However, at this point in time, we have enough resources to understand the difference between these situations, and we also have the ability to understand why spreading this kind of unchecked misinformation is less helpful than one might think. While it’s important to indeed pass on information to our community, it’s also important to do so in a way that is correct. 

I think this situation also speaks to the issue amongst the student body, particularly white American students. We have no idea what it is like to live as an international student right now – we don’t have to. I think it’s incredibly dangerous to stick our heads in the sand when our classmates, roommates, neighbors, coworkers, teammates, TAs, RAs and so many more people in our daily lives are forced to live with the heavy reality of being from outside the U.S. I know that international students are receiving at least a few updates from the Office of International Students on campus – I think it would be incredibly beneficial and humanizing for non-international students to understand the situation as well. (However, I do understand that might put international students more at risk from xenophobic peers, which is a disgusting disclaimer to have to make.) 

Overall, I want to see much more effort from this entire community. At the very least, we need to step it up in our personal interactions and daily conversations. Beyond that (more importantly), we need to understand the current risks for international students, have a plan on how to protect each other and get involved in community organizations that are doing so already (for example, Hartford Deportation Defense). The longer we wait to act, the further apart we become from each other. 

With peace,

– OPS