SIU's two campuses are weighing requests to become so-called 'sanctuary campuses' for undocumented students.
Student leaders and others are asking the university to provide protections for students against any potential changes to the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, which allows some people who came to this country as children the ability to get an education or a job as they work to resolve their status.
SIU President Randy Dunn told WSIU InFocus earlier this month it's a complicated issue.
"Obviously, as we want to support these students and give them the resources that we can, as we would any student, for them to navigate through the situation. I'm hard-pressed to think that we'll see a case that can be made. Although we don't want to have a rush to judgment - we want to look at all the elements of it. That's what the Carbondale campus is doing, but I think this is very uncharted territory for us."
Dunn and other leaders point out sanctuary status could run the university against federal rules - which could leave the school open to legal consequences and a loss of federal funding.
"We're going to provide whatever support we can for them, in terms of having them know the resources available to them, looking for where they can go for help and assistance in terms of legal advice and that kind of thing, as we would with any student."
Committees on both campuses are still studying the issue, and expect to produce final recommendations after the first of the year.
