At the annual Academic and Student Affairs Equity & Inclusion conference held at St. Cloud State University, our incoming State Chair Kayla Shelley and our Director of Equity & Inclusion Abeer Syedah presented to a group of systemwide leaders on understanding and supporting the needs of undocumented students. This is a recap of their presentation, sharing the information and resources necessary to support undocumented students, including those with DACA and TPS, in the Minnesota State system:

"Over the course of the last academic year, the committees, delegates, and Board of Directors had all strongly advocated for undocumented students. We have taken many opportunities to prioritize our undocumented and DACAmented students at the state and federal legislature as well as the system office. I was incredibly excited to have the opportunity to inform Minnesota State professionals on what we had learned about different programs throughout the year and to do my best to answer questions on what administrators, faculty, and staff can do to best support our students. We also took the opportunity to announce our upcoming initiative Fund the American Dream[ers], an emergency fund to support the financial needs of undocumented students within the system.

As I begin my year as State Chair, I am looking forward to continuing to advocate for the needs of our undocumented and DACAmented students. I hope you can take the time to review the slideshow below, and learn more about programs and definitions that are crucial to supporting our Minnesota State students." - Kayla Shelley