UNLV president to meet with conservative students opposed to sanctuary status

A week after UNLV President Len Jessup met with a group of students seeking sanctuary status for the campus, he’ll meet on Thursday morning with conservative students who are opposed to the idea.

“We think UNLV has to say something on the matter,” said Jordan Escoto, co-founder of the newly formed UNLV Campus Conservatives. Escoto said he got the news about the meeting Wednesday.

Nearly two weeks ago, the group began circulating a petition asking Jessup “to comply with federal law” and to not declare the campus a sanctuary.

“UNLV probably knows what their position is, but they do not want to offend either group or start controversy,” Escoto said. “But we want to know, whether it’s good or bad news. People are waiting and watching.”

Escoto delivered the petition in person to Jessup’s office last week. The petition has received nearly 350 signatures to date.

“I’m surprised we have as many as we do because it’s only been in the local newspaper and on Facebook,” he said. “There’s lots of different people who signed it. And the more we get, the better.”

He said he would like to gather at least 1,000 signatures. A group of UNLV students and faculty delivered a petition — demanding that the university be declared a sanctuary — on Dec. 5.

“We want to get more signatures than the pro-sanctuary group,” Escoto said.

Escoto said he and two other members of the Campus Conservatives group will meet with Jessup.

Last week, Jessup, who is one of more than 550 college and university presidents who signed the Pomona College letter in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, said his meeting with the pro-sanctuary campus students was “terrific” and “very productive,” but said no definitive resolution came from the discussion.

The meeting was set up after a contingent of about 50 students sent a letter to Jessup requesting that Jessup declare UNLV a sanctuary — a campus that ensures protections for undocumented immigrant students who might fear deportation — as well as making three other demands.

“We’re waiting on the meeting with Jessup to see where we should go from here,” Escoto said. “We think the decision is already made. And if we don’t get anything conclusive, we’ll want to spread the word more about our petition.”

Contact Natalie Bruzda at nbruzda@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3897. Follow @NatalieBruzda on Twitter.