On Wednesday, Feb. 4, the Andrews University administration held a town hall in the University Towers auditorium to address student concerns about a recent rumor about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity on campus. The Thursday, Jan. 29, incident left many uneasy and brought up questions.
Wagner Kuhn, chief academic officer; Ben Panigot, assistant vice president for Campus Safety; Sharon Stone, university general counsel; and Frances Faehner, vice president for Campus & Student Life, were present with Dan Weber, chair of the Visual Art, Communication & Design department, who facilitated the first part of the discussion. Weber opened by sharing his experience on Jan. 29, when he was first alerted to the rumors by a student who said ICE had been spotted in Buller Hall. His first call was to Campus Safety, who checked and hadn’t seen anything.
Panigot then offered a security briefing, stating that the first third-party report of ICE being in Berrien Springs came in around 12:21 p.m.; the claim was that agents were at Apple Valley. Panigot, who was at Apple Valley at the time, didn’t see agents and spoke to store employees who couldn’t verify any sightings. By 12:30 p.m., the report had spread to social media, and Panigot said Campus Safety received multiple emails expressing concern. After investigating, they sent an official campuswide email at 2:17 p.m. to debunk the rumor. He shared the lengths that Campus Safety went to in order to check out the reports, including patrolling campus and surrounding areas; contacting local police who didn’t see or hear anything suspicious; and calling in extra help to scan the feeds from over 400 cameras throughout campus.
In his presentation, Panigot emphasized that his team didn’t find any uniformed or plain-clothed officers, or any vehicles with plates or law enforcement lights. They did investigate a suspicious unmarked vehicle driving all over campus, which they confirmed belonged to a student. They also didn’t see anyone carrying any weapons. “I cannot tell you that ICE was not here,” he said, “there are many places that we don’t have cameras… but out of all the places that have cameras, we couldn’t find anything.”
Stone then gave a legal debriefing, beginning with the context for the concern about ICE being on campus. She explained the Trump administration’s rescission of the DHS policy that prohibited immigration enforcement near protected areas, including schools, hospitals and places of worship. In the past, this policy had prohibited ICE agents from engaging in arrests, interviews, searches, or surveillance at “sensitive locations” such as colleges and universities, with limited exceptions, but the repeal of this policy means that these locations are no longer thought of as sensitive locations.
A question that she answered was whether ICE was allowed to enter the campus and make arrests. She said that while Andrews is a private organization, there are public spaces that ICE agents can enter and make arrests. She then explained what constitutes a “public” and “private” space because the difference determines the level of access federal immigration offices have and whether they need a warrant or consent to enter.
Public areas include:
- Common areas, lawns, sidewalks or walkways
- Parking lots, cafeteria, the student center
Nonpublic/Private spaces include:
- Space where access to the public if limited
- Buildings or rooms where access is restricted by university-issued ID cards
- Locked doors or monitored entryways
- University residence halls, dorms or other monitored-entry spaces
- Faculty and administrator offices
- Classrooms and labs in session
- Locker rooms and other operational facilities
Stone answered other questions, saying that ICE needed a criminal arrest warrant or search warrant (judicial warrant) to enter non-public areas, or an administrative warrant, which does not allow officers to enter nonpublic areas without the proper consent of the institution. She also stated that if students come across ICE that they should call Campus Safety—advice that was repeated throughout the evening. Campus Safety is not required to assist ICE with making arrests. She also said that students should never attempt to de-escalate an ICE interaction, and that the safest thing they can do is record.
Stone advised that it is “not recommended” to warn individuals who are being sought by ICE because it could lead to “serious legal consequences” for obstruction or interference. “Document what’s going on at a safe distance, don’t get too close physically, don’t attempt to interfere or obstruct law enforcement activity because you could get into legal trouble,” she said.
She also read a section from the Appeal for Human Dignity and Decency by the North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventists, which was released Jan. 31, 2025.
Silmara Ferreira, the director for International Student Services at AU, gave a brief rundown of what she does to help international students and how they can work to maintain their status on campus. She acknowledged that international students are very important to the school and that the school’s priority is the students’ safety and well-being. She also stated that as a former international student, she understands the fear and the concerns of the students. She recommended that international students carry a copy of their immigration documents with them at all times, at least one digital and one physical copy, and that students work on campus because working off campus could be a huge risk.
Before the moderated Q&A, Andrews University Student Association (AUSA) President Alyssa Caruthers prayed and offered assurance amid AUSA’s concern for students’ safety. “We can call Campus Safety for you… We can contact anyone you need to, because we know the information,” she said.
Chaplain Simona Mills-Pitcher led a moderated Q&A with administrators. One submitted question was, “What do you say to students who said they saw ICE on campus, and what can we do about the students who are posting about ICE insensitively?” Administrators replied, saying that they don’t personally know the intent, they want to be cautious of accusations and don’t want to make rash decisions. Stone said that the same allegations of ICE being in the area were spread on the campus of the University of Michigan at the same time, raising concerns that it is a conspiracy theory. She claimed that there are “forces at play dealing with psychological terror” and continued by saying that, allegedly, the first posting on social media was by an anonymous bot.
“Let’s take it down a notch,” Stone said. “Let’s try to be rational and think about what’s going on here, if we’re being manipulated…These are serious concerns, and the administration is seriously concerned… There may be forces out there that want us to react with fear and turn us against each other.”
During the Q&A, it was also stated that “rumors are not confirmed through any voice other than official university communications.”
The town hall concluded with multiple students praying in their respective languages, highlighting the unity among students from many cultural backgrounds. AUSA announced that a follow-up town hall will be held on Feb. 24, 2026 at 11:30 a.m., where students can voice other campus concerns.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.