In Limbo: Challenges Facing Undocumented Students

Salons at Stowe

In Limbo:

Challenges Facing Undocumented Students

March 9, 2017

Dr. Mark Overmyer-Velázquez, Director of El Instituto: Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies at University of Connecticut and member of the West Hartford Board of Education, Lucas Codognolla, Executive Director of CT Students for a Dream and Camille Kirtzman, Hartford regional organizer for CT Students for a Dream, led a conversation on challenges facing undocumented students. Conversation focused on the push to make cities and campuses “sanctuaries” where local officials will not collaborate with federal Immigration and customs enforcements (ICE) to deport students or other undocumented persons, the impact of the anti-immigrant rhetoric on students, and CT Students for a Dream latest advocacy campaign Afford to Dream, a legislative initiative to allow undocumented students to receive financial aid at state colleges.

Mr. Overmyer-Velázquez rooted the conversation in the language of “coming out.” In recent years, people and students lacking citizenship or documentation have “come out” (similar to how members of the LGBTQ community “come out”) as undocumented. Mr. Codognolla discussed the ways in which he came and comes out as undocumented and the power of telling his personal story to change minds and mobilize people to act. Participants noted that the challenges facing people who are undocumented are not new; deportation and anti-immigrant rhetoric existed under President Obama and previous administrations, though more attention has been paid to these issues in recent months. Ms. Kirtzman encouraged participants to follow the leadership of undocumented students as well as act in coalitions to bring about change; when different groups with different identities come together widespread change can happen.

Inspiration to Action

Join and support organizations led by undocumented people and undocumented students, like CT Students for a Dream
Push your community to become a “sanctuary community” where local police will not collaborate with ICE officials
Educate yourself and others on issues facing undocumented students
Donate to funds supporting undocumented students

Location Harriet Beecher Stowe Center

Doors Open 5:30 PM

Program 6 - 7:30 PM

School Group Interest Form

School Group Interest Form 2023

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Adult Group Interest Form

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Isabella Beecher Hooker

Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker (1822-1907)
An ardent member of the woman’s suffrage movement, Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker joined in the cause along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Isabella was the first child of Lyman Beecher and his second wife, Harriet Porter Beecher.

Isabella began her education at Catharine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary and lived with her sister Mary Perkins. In 1841 she married John Hooker, a descendant of Thomas Hooker, the founder of Hartford. John Hooker was a lawyer and an abolitionist.

In the early 1860s Isabella got involved in the woman’s suffrage movement. Isabella joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony as a member of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in 1869. She was a founding member of the Connecticut Woman’s Suffrage Association. Isabella’s ideas of equality were influenced by John Stuart Mills’ On Liberty and the Subjection of Women.

In 1871, Isabella organized the annual convention of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in Washington D.C. and presented her argument before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate. Her husband, John Hooker, believed in his wife and supported her activities. He helped Isabella draft a bill to the Connecticut Legislature giving married women the same property rights as their husbands. The bill passed in 1877. Isabella annually submitted a bill granting women the right to vote, but it did not pass in her lifetime.