ATHENS, Ga. — As college students return to campus in Georgia, a new state policy has closed the doors of the five most competitive state schools to illegal immigrants, but a group of professors has found a way to offer those students a taste of what they’ve been denied.
The five University of Georgia professors have started Freedom University. They’re offering to teach a rigorous seminar course once a week meant to mirror courses taught at the most competitive schools and aimed at students who have graduated from high school but can’t go to one of those top schools because of the new policy or because of cuts to state scholarship programs.
“This is not a substitute for letting these students into UGA, Georgia State or the other schools,” said Pam Voekel, a history professor at Georgia and one of the program’s initiators. “It is designed for people who, right now, don’t have another option.”
A study conducted by the university system’s Board of Regents last year found that less than 1 percent of the state’s public college students were illegal immigrants, and that students who pay out- of-state tuition more than pay for their education.
“What we’re hoping is that people in decision- making positions will reconsider the policy,” said Reinaldo Roman, another of the organizing professors. “We have invested enormous resources in these young people. It makes sense to give them a chance at an education.” The Associated Press
