University of Oregon Adds ICE Alerts to Campus Emergency System After Student Demands

The University of Oregon added alerts for Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity to its campus-wide emergency alert system after student pressure. The change took effect Wednesday.

Associate Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Jimmy Howard announced the update in an April 30 email to students. The email said the official alert system, which draws on campus police and other university resources, would now warn students of nearby ICE officers.

The decision came ahead of a September deadline set by H.B. 4079, a bill passed in February and signed into law by Gov. Tina Kotek on April 9. The law requires public K-12 schools and higher education institutions to create systems notifying students of federal immigration enforcement presence.

"As requested by our campus community and required by Oregon House Bill 4079, we are implementing a notification system in the event of immigration enforcement activity on campus," Howard wrote. Students shared the email with Fox News Digital via The Daily Emerald, an independent campus publication that first reported the story.

A day after the bill became law, student groups including the University of Oregon chapter of Democratic Socialists of America and the University of Oregon Anti-ICE Coalition delivered a petition to the president's office. They demanded the alert system start before the deadline.

University spokespeople told Fox News Digital the school already uses its emergency alert system for certain law enforcement activity on campus, along with issues like server outages and vehicle crashes. "It's important for students and employees to be aware of law enforcement activity on campus so they do not unintentionally interrupt it while moving through campus to get to class," one spokesperson said.

The alerts will use the existing University of Oregon Alert system. They require verification from the Office of the General Counsel, university police and Safety and Risk Services before distribution. Extra personnel will handle alerts for other campuses in the system.

"The University of Oregon follows all federal and state laws," the university said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "In compliance with the new state law, the University of Oregon created the required policy, which clarifies the conditions that would warrant such notice and the method of communication. Any notice issued under the new policy will follow state guidelines and will not include personally identifiable information that cannot be disclosed. Notice will not be sent for routine federal activity, such as visa status checks."

Campus organizers, including the DSA chapter, pushed for the change amid reports of ICE activity on campus as early as November 2025. "(The Sept. deadline) leaves a pretty big gap in protection for students. People are going to be here for the next couple weeks and even over the summer, so there is obviously a big gap in security," a member of the University of Oregon Anti-ICE coalition told The Daily Emerald.

"We’ve seen UO’s lack of response and its insistence that we be compliant with the federal administration. And we don’t agree with it. We think it’s unsafe," another student organizer told The Daily Emerald in mid-February. "We think that we’re better than that, we have the resources to protect ourselves. So we’re here to make a point about that and keep the pressure up."

In March, Fox News Digital reported the University of Oregon would offer abortion pills to students starting this fall, also after student campaigns. The Daily Emerald reported in February that the DSA chapter had campaigned for campus abortion access for three years, making pill access a top priority since last fall.