In 2010, the Georgia state university system board of regents passed a new rule making illegal immigrants ineligible for admission at the state’s most selective public universities, including the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech. The new immigration reform bill recently passed by the Senate could open the way for those students to once again be eligible for the state’s top schools, by opening a pathway toward legal status.
USA Today reports:
State Rep. and Chair of the Higher Education Committee Carl Rogers (R-District 29) says that if the bill passes, it could put pressure on the Board of Regents to repeal the ban.
If a “federal law is passed, yes, it will have an impact on all colleges and universities,” says Rogers.
Another state representative, Pedro Marin (D-District 96), agreed the “ban on the students will have to be (lifted). It won’t have any purpose.” That could be years down the road after the bill’s adoption, though… Read More
In my view, it seems rather arbitrary to ban illegal immigrants from a state’s top universities, while admitting them to less selective ones. I suppose a case could be made that the public interest is impacted more profoundly in the case of the state’s elite universities because they have a lower acceptance rate. More eligible students would make it even harder for the state’s legal residents to get in to those schools. But, really, the current policy in Georgia just seems petty and arbitrary.
One way or the other, it looks like it could be changing soon.
Nathan Harden is editor of The College Fix and author of the book SEX & GOD AT YALE: Porn, Political Correctness, and a Good Education Gone Bad.
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