ALBANY — As President-elect Donald Trump promises tougher immigration policies, New York’s public universities face growing calls to declare their campuses “sanctuaries” from federal efforts to track down students living in the country illegally.

On Wednesday, Marc Cohen, who represents more than 400,000 students enrolled in the 64-campus State University system, became the first SUNY trustee to publicly support the sanctuary effort.

Meanwhile, SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher confirmed in an interview that presidents of individual campuses have been told they do not have the authority to declare their schools sanctuaries. She noted it is a policy decision in the province of the SUNY’s trustees, who’ve taken no action.

Advocates of sanctuary campuses say colleges should take steps to protect students from potential deportation. Such declarations presumably include refusal to cooperate with immigration agents who may plan raids or ask for student records without warrants.

Concerns are heightened amid Trump’s suggestion that he’ll reverse a 2012 executive order by President Barack Obama protecting immigrants who’ve arrived in the United States as children but continue to live here illegally as long as they are law-abiding.

Zimpher, emerging from an appearance at a legislative hearing Wednesday, acknowledged that SUNY supports the Obama administration’s policy, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. But she was equivocal about supporting a call to designate campuses as sanctuaries for undocumented students, faculty and staff.

“I am for safety at our campuses. That is our highest priority,” she said.

Zimpher said it was premature to talk about it. “I just don’t know how it will manifest itself once we go through this policy discussion,” she said.

A number of colleges and universities around the country are declaring themselves “sanctuaries” or debating the designation, much as cities have directed police not to aid in the enforcement of federal immigration rules for people not otherwise charged with crimes.

Trump is threatening to block federal money for those cities.

Opponents of sanctuary campuses say they’ll only encourage undocumented students to flout federal laws, and they could jeopardize federal aid.

While much of SUNY’s non-research budget is supported by the state, a large portion of students get federal grants and loans to cover tuition. As of 2014, nearly two-thirds of the incoming freshmen at SUNY’s largest campus in Buffalo received federal grants. Nearly two-thirds of all undergraduates received federal loans, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

One Trump supporter, Assemblyman Steve McLaughtn, R-Rensselaer County, chastised SUNY administrators for entertaining a discussion of whether to declare their campuses sanctuaries.

But Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, an outspoken supporter of the Deferred Action program, said he will oppose any effort to strip federal funds from schools trying to shield their students.

“I will do everything I can to help keep funding to our universities and prevent cutoffs,” he said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday.

A member of the Assembly Education Committee whose district includes Cornell University and Ithaca College, Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, D-Ithaca, said fears of drastic revision in federal immigration policy are leading to panic on campus.

“The students, faculty and staff are frightened silly,” she said. “This has become a very big public safety issue. You have people who now do not want to go to the police to report a crime because they’re worried that the police will report them.”

The leader of New York’s largest faculty union, Fred Kowal, also publicly supported protections for undocumented students and academicians covered by the Deferred Action program.

“We stand in support of students regardless of where they were born or how they arrived in this country,” said Kowal, who is president of United University Professions.

The push for sanctuary campuses is also unfolding at some private colleges, but an umbrella group for those schools in New York, the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, has no plans to offer guidance on the issue, according to a spokeswoman.

Cohen, SUNY’s student trustee, said while it remains unclear how far a Trump administration will go to crack down on undocumented immigrants, he hopes the university takes vigorous measures to resist any such effort.

“We have a responsibility so students aren’t fearful that one day authorities are going to march onto our campuses and demand their papers,” he said. “We need to make sure that never happens.”

Joe Mahoney covers the New York Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at jmahoney@cnhi.com

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