Students, faculty and alumni of St. John’s University are calling for an end to the university's partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s New York field office, claiming it places members of the campus community at risk and violates long-standing tenets espoused by the Catholic institution.
The Queens-based university announced the plans last week. It will create an Institute for Border Security and Intelligence Studies that school administrators said would nurture “the next generation of homeland security professionals." But a petition signed by 935 people as of Thursday called for the “immediate termination” of the partnership, arguing that Customs and Border Protection “has a well-documented record of harmful and unlawful enforcement practices against immigrants and racially profiled communities.”
Raj Chetty, an associate English professor at St. John's who signed the petition, said the announcement of the institute came just as classes broke for the summer, catching much of the campus community off guard. He said opponents were especially concerned by the timing of the announcement, when federal immigration officers “are conducting raids and disappearing people without due process.”
“We want this partnership to end before it starts,” Chetty said.
University officials said students will have direct access to the CBP field office and that the institute’s offerings would benefit students professionally. The school said it signed a memorandum of understanding in April with CBP officials, including Frank Russo, a St. John’s alum and the director of field operations at the agency’s New York field office.
“The knowledge you will bring from St. John’s will be invaluable to us,” Russo said, according to a release provided by the university. “Protecting our homeland is an incredible challenge, and we cannot do that without your contribution.”
Brian Browne, a spokesperson for the university, dismissed the petition against the partnership, arguing that “anyone in the world” could sign it. The university’s office of media relations said the 100 faculty members who signed as of June 10 “represent approximately 7% of the total employed faculty.”
The university has more than 1,300 full- and part-time faculty members. It also has more than 19,000 students, including 650 international students from 106 countries, according to a fact sheet.
Hira Shafeeq, a Pakistan-born immigrant who graduated from St. John's with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 2009 and now teaches in the university’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, said until now she had “always taken pride in St. John’s as a place of opportunity for those seeking social mobility through education.”
“I signed the petition openly because I have a duty to protect my students and uphold the mission of the university,” Shafeeq said. “The partnership with CBP undermines that duty and that mission.”
Browne said in an interview with Gothamist that many details of the institute were “to be determined,” but that it expands on existing work on campus, including at the college’s Homeland Security Simulation Lab and a cybersecurity lab. He added that the university was not accepting any funding from the federal government for the institute.
“ U.S. Border Patrol has some challenges right now,” Browne said, “but I think from our perspective, we're looking at it as career path readiness for our students.”
Contrary to Catholic values
Multiple critics of St. John's decision said it directly conflicted with the university's stated adherence to the principles of 17th century French priest St. Vincent de Paul, whose teachings help it “combat the root causes of injustice and create paths to a more equitable world.”
“I am not Catholic, but as a Muslim, the Vincentian mandate centering 'advocacy for the disenfranchised' resonated deeply,” said Afaf Nasher, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ New York chapter, who received her undergraduate and law school degrees at St. John’s. “It is a shame that a Catholic institution would actively create the next wave of officers who would cage fellow human beings, separate mothers and fathers from their children, and target marginalized communities of color.”
St. Augustine Hall at St. John's University
Grace Musser, a 2022 graduate who won the university’s Vincentian Mission Award that year, said “partnering with CBP in the current political climate is a truly shameful action that stands in diametric opposition to St. John’s purported Vincentian value.” She said the partnership also came after the university made “significant commitments” to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives during her time there.
“It has honestly broken my heart that the St. John’s administration’s claims of valuing service, critical thinking and diversity have proven themselves to be little more than virtue signaling,” Musser said.
However, the university disputed the idea that the institute violated Vincentian principles. A Q&A the college shared with Gothamist states that “the genius of St. Vincent de Paul was that he established relationships with people from all levels of society, from the various social classes, and enlisted their resources to realize coalition-building and change-making.”
“His enduring example,” the Q&A stated, “continues to be our institutional guide.”
But some faculty members said the university’s mission, which traces its roots to its founding in 1870, is being tested in the current political environment.
Susie Pak, an associate history professor at St. John’s who has closely studied the university’s history since its founding, said “for the last 40 years the university has valorized the figure of the immigrant as the community and figure that they serve to uplift.”
“ So how are you going to then teach and explain this incongruity that people are seeing?” she asked.
