Cal State LA Allows Online Classes, Excuses Absences Due to ICE Activity

California State University, Los Angeles is allowing professors to shift classes online and offer excused absences, due to recent immigration enforcement actions in the Los Angeles area.

While no raids have occurred on the university’s 21,000-student campus, which admits a high number of illegal immigrants, many students, particularly those who commute via public transportation, have expressed worries of deportation.

The university’s provost, Heather Lattimer, communicated the new policy to faculty this week. In a letter, she acknowledged hearing from students “scared to take public transit and fearful of driving to campus.” The policy reiterates existing allowances for excused absences and alternative makeup work, and now extends to faculty who may need to “work remotely for a limited time due to extraordinary circumstances.”

Cal State LA has a “Dreamers Resource Center” for illegal immigrant students.

The college is located near the Eastside neighborhoods, which have seen protests and federal actions to detain illegals residents.

“As a campus, we need to thoughtfully navigate these concerns as we seek to support all members of our Golden Eagle family,” Lattimer wrote.

Federal immigration actions have led to increased absenteeism in some Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) schools, with LAUSD leaders even deploying school police to create “safe zones” around campuses during recent graduations, the LA Times reported.

Across the CSU system, approximately 9,500 illegal immigrants are enrolled out of a total of 461,000 students.

In the University of California (UC) system, an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 illegal alien students are among nearly 296,000 total students.

The largest group of undocumented adult students in California, estimated between 70,000 and 100,000, are enrolled in community colleges.