FAU wants to sell you a dream.

The university claims on its “Why FAU” webpage to offer, “an authentic, diverse, and inclusive education that prepares you for success in a rapidly changing world.”

Instead, they’re in lockstep with the current Gov. Ron DeSantis administration erasing diversity, equity, and inclusion at every turn. But now they’ve gone even further by partnering with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to target undocumented immigrants.

The University boasts about its academic rankings, research funding, and being the “#1 Most Diverse Public University in Florida.” It highlights its designation as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and claims to welcome students from all 50 states and over 175 countries.

What a load of fucking hypocrisy.

Opportunity Way

Over the summer, FAU’s Board of Trustees (BOT) approved a request from President Adam Hasner to rename the iconic Diversity Way walkway to Opportunity Way. The original name, established in 2010, was meant to celebrate inclusion and school spirit. Now, it’s been scrubbed away in favor of something blander and emptier.

“I would also share that Opportunity Way symbolizes the journey that begins for our students at Florida Atlantic, and it’s a path defined, not by labels, but by the opportunities that we provide and the achievements that we all reach together,” said President Hasner at the BOT Meeting on June 10, according to The University Press.

In other words: erase identity, erase struggle, and call it progress.

In an interview with Nicholas Ostheimer, President of FAU’s College Democrats, he claimed FAU is making “extremist decisions,” pointing to the decision to rename Diversity Way and FAU PD’s 287(g) partnership with ICE.

“FAU was not always a hotspot for extremist decisions like this — in fact, FAU used to pride itself on being a diverse campus,” said Ostheimer. “Whether they like it or not, FAU is and will remain an incredibly diverse university. The state legislature, the Board of Governors, and Governor DeSantis have betrayed the student body, sacrificing the "authenticity, diversity, and inclusivity" of our education for a senseless political agenda. Unfortunately, the decision makers in our university are letting it happen — they have betrayed students, too.”

The name change isn’t just symbolic.

It’s part of a larger statewide campaign to dismantle DEI and silence anything that acknowledges race, gender, or systemic inequity. Florida’s education system isn’t just turning away from justice—it’s sprinting in the opposite direction. And FAU is right in step.

The ICE Agreement

FAU’s Police Department voluntarily signed onto the ICE 287(g) Task Force Model Program on July 24. This agreement authorizes FAU officers to enforce immigration law during routine policing. That includes the power to detain individuals without a warrant, effectively giving campus police the authority to act as federal immigration agents.

This is not required by state or federal law. FAU PD entered the agreement willingly. It can also exit at any time.

When asked about how FAU’s agreement with ICE makes her feel, one student said, “scared.”

“[I feel] scared because I know that I came into this country legally and that I’m a law-abiding citizen,” said an anonymous student majoring in Criminal Justice. “I’m fearful of being possibly detained for a non-probable cause.”

This student and her family immigrated into the United States legally and have followed the process to gain citizenship. Having ICE potentially attempt to detain her or others makes her feel “sad” and “overwhelmed.”

“It makes me feel overwhelmed and sad… for students who are just trying to focus on life. We already deal with so many struggles, from paying for school and bills to helping our parents with expenses—just everyday life. Having to worry about this on top of it all is incredibly stressful.”

Programs like 287(g) have a long record of racial profiling, due process violations, and abuse. ICE is notorious for its role in family separations, raids, and indefinite detentions. By partnering with ICE, FAU is putting undocumented students, immigrant families, and communities of color in harm’s way. It turns a campus police force into a threat to many of the very students FAU claims to welcome.

Ostheimer says FAU PD’s partnership with ICE is “a wake-up call…”

“FAU PD's entry into a 287(g) partnership with ICE is a wake-up call: our community is realizing that they could easily be affected by a decision like this,” said Ostheimer. “Across the state, thousands of young people have already been harassed, detained, and/or deported as a result of local 287(g) partnerships — including U.S. citizens. FAU students, no matter their political orientation, are worried about this.”

So much for “inclusive education.”

Protest: ICE Off Campus 

On Friday, September 5, from 3 to 6:30 PM, students and organizers will be gathering outside the FAU Student Union (1995 Dade Ave 1973, Boca Raton, FL 33431) to demand change. The ICE Off Campus protest is being organized by FAU College Democrats, People Power for Florida, and ICE Off FAU, with support from the Youth Action Fund.

Ostheimer believes that “mobilizing every stakeholder in the university — students, faculty, alumni, and donors” to catch public attention will force FAU to “do the right thing,” pointing to a successful 2013 student protest that forced a PR Disaster, stopping the university from renaming its stadium after the GEO Group—a company Adam Hasner worked for before becoming FAU’s president in March.

“12 years ago, FAU students protested when the FAU Board of Trustees accepted a donation from the GEO Group, a reprehensible private prison company, in exchange for renaming the FAU stadium in the company's honor,” said Ostheimer. “This turned into a PR disaster for the University, and students succeeded when the Board of Trustees [backed] the decision. We're looking to achieve the same success by mobilizing every stakeholder in the University — students, faculty, alumni, and donors — to catch the public eye and give FAU no choice but to do the right thing.”

This protest is about more than a policy. It’s about FAU’s values—or lack thereof. It’s about reminding the administration that students are not silent, and we will not let our communities be criminalized, erased, or ignored.

“Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?”

FAU wasn’t born wicked. But it is making choices—choices that harm students, betray promises, and strip away the very diversity it claims to celebrate.

FAU wants to market its student body as “diverse” while actively undermining those same students' rights and safety. It wants to rename the path without walking it.

We see through the performance. And we’re not sitting quietly in the audience.