On March 2, 2021, President Iuliano sent the following message to Senator Toomey urging him to support the Dream Act of 2021.
Dear Senator Toomey:
On behalf of Gettysburg College and our entire campus community, I am writing to express our full support of the bipartisan Dream Act of 2021 (S.264), which would provide relief for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients and, importantly, would provide a roadmap to citizenship for upwards of 1.7 million Dreamers.
In speaking with Dreamers on our own Gettysburg College campus, they feel their futures remain in limbo. Your support of this important legislation can provide them with the stability and reassurance they so rightfully deserve.
Introduced by Senators Graham and Durbin, this bill represents a vital bipartisan effort to provide necessary relief to people who were raised as Americans and desire to be contributing, productive citizens, but who currently have no way to achieve lawful immigration status regardless of their drive, abilities, and merit—which our community witnesses in spades each academic year.
I urge you to please consider supporting the Dream Act of 2021.
As a higher education institution forever shaped by an inflection point in American history, we at Gettysburg College have a special capacity and responsibility to illuminate the struggles and contributions of today’s Dreamers. They aspire us by what they have overcome, and the promise they hold to make our communities and nation ever stronger. Our nation will substantially benefit from the passage of legislation that permanently protects Dreamers and establishes a path to citizenship for them.
Dreamers, in so many ways, seek what we all want out of our own personal and professional lives—the opportunity to pursue our highest aspirations, to serve our communities, and to contribute our talents and passions for the greater good within society and for this nation. Again, the pending legislation has the potential to make this a reality for more than 200,000 DACA-eligible individuals enrolled in colleges and universities across the country, including here at Gettysburg College.
As Gettysburgians, we appreciate your many efforts on behalf of Pennsylvania’s higher education institutions and the students and communities we serve, including the immigrant and international students who are valued members of our campus. I hope you will support an essential segment of these students—students who contribute so much to our campuses, communities, and economies—by voting in favor of the Dream Act of 2021, if it indeed comes to the floor.
Sincerely,
Robert W. Iuliano
President
Gettysburg College