Faculty Senate endorsed a petition Wednesday opposing the executive order signed by President Donald Trump last week.

The group Academics Against Immigration Executive Order created the petition, which had garnered more than 27,000 signatures as of Thursday night. The petition lays out three points in its opposition to the executive order, which imposed a 90-day immigration ban on people travelling to the United States from the Muslim-majority countries of Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Sudan, Yemen and Syria. It also prevents refugees from entering the country for 120 days and Syrian refugees indefinitely.

The petition argues Trump’s executive order is discriminatory because it targets people from Muslim-majority countries.

“This is a major step towards implementing the stringent racial and religious profiling promised on the campaign trail,” it states.“The United States is a democratic nation, and ethnic and religious profiling are in stark contrast to the values and principles we hold.”

The petition then says the executive order will be “detrimental to the national interests of the United States.” Because of the executive order, the petition says, students and researchers from the affected countries will no longer be able to collaborate with their colleagues in the United States and vice versa. It also notes that over 3,000 students from Iran have received Ph.D.s from U.S colleges and universities in the past three years.

The petition states that the executive order is a burden on the academic community and will impact the lives of academics around the world.

“It is inhumane, ineffective, and un-American,” the petition states.

Trump defended the ban in a tweet on Wednesday.

“Everybody is arguing whether or not it is a BAN,” the tweet said. “Call it what you want, it is about keeping bad people (with bad intentions) out of country.”

Faculty Senate’s endorsement of the petition comes as many students and faculty members oppose the executive order. University President Morton Schapiro said in an email Monday that Northwestern will not release the immigration status of students or faculty to federal authorities. Students gathered Wednesday at the Multicultural Center for a walkout opposing Trump’s executive order, and ASG passed a resolution condemning the ban “in the strongest terms.”

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