Freedom University: College profs teach barred immigrant students
The AJC has an extraordinary story about five University of Georgia professors who have started a program to teach a weekly seminar course to students who can’t attend one of the state’s premier campuses because of a controversial new policy on immigrant students or because of cuts to state scholarship programs.
The professors call their program Freedom University and they are offering the courses on their own time. Their volunteer effort is no different than the many churches in Georgia that offer aid and classes to immigrant families. It is purely volunteer and does not involve the universities where the professors teach, so there are no taxpayer dollars involved in these classes for children of undocumented parents.
As result of a new state policy adopted last year, illegal immigrants are banned from any University System of Georgia campus that turned away academically qualified students for the past two years. (The campuses are UGA, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, Georgia College & State University and the Medical College of Georgia.)
Although the campuses are not overwhelmed by illegal immigrants, the regents adopted the policy to placate legislators and reassure taxpayers that illegal students weren’t taking spots. Those students may attend the system’s other 30 colleges, but must pay out-of-state tuition, which is about three times as expensive.
According to the story in the AJC:
“This is not a substitute for letting these students into UGA, Georgia State or the other schools,” said Pam Voekel, a history professor at UGA and one of the program’s initiators. “It is designed for people who, right now, don’t have another option.”
“What we’re hoping is that people in decision-making positions will reconsider the policy,” said Reinaldo Roman, another of the organizing professors. “It goes counter to our aims. We have invested enormous resources in these young people. It makes sense to give them a chance at an education.”
For now the course will simply serve to expose the students to a college environment and challenge them intellectually. It will not likely count for credit should the students be accepted at another school, but the professors said they’re seeking accreditation so credits would be transferable at some point in the future.
The five founding professors all work for UGA, but they stress that the program has no connection to the institution. UGA referred a request for comment to the Board of Regents. Regents spokesman John Millsaps said faculty members are generally free to do whatever they want with their free time as long as it doesn’t interfere with their responsibilities as employees of the university system. But he said he didn’t know about enough about the program to comment on this specific case.
Once the professors hatched their plan — which was suggested by an illegal immigrant community member who works with a lot of illegal immigrant teens — they reached out to professors at prestigious schools nationwide to sit on a national board of advisers. One of them is Pulitzer Prize winning author and MIT professor Junot Diaz, who calls policies barring illegal immigrants from state schools cruel and divisive. He said he’s ready to help Freedom University succeed.
“Whatever they ask of me. I’ll do everything and anything I can,” he wrote in an email. “This clearly is going to be a long fight.”
With professors donating their time and a local Latino community outreach center offering a space for free, the program has few costs. They’ve started an Amazon.com wish list asking people to donate textbooks for students and gas cards for volunteers who will drive students to and from class.
Dressed in a black fleece jacket and tan cargo shorts and carrying a black backpack during a protest rally Tuesday at UGA against the policy, 25-year-old Karl Kings looked like he could be headed to class. However, Kings says he’s an illegal immigrant who was brought to the U.S. when he was a year old from a country in Asia that he declined to identify.
“Pretty much, I would be a Georgia boy except I wasn’t born here,” he said. “I grew up here my whole life.”
After graduating from high school in suburban Atlanta in 2004, he dreamed of going to college but couldn’t afford to pay out-of-state tuition. He’s gotten by doing odd jobs, but has had to turn down some more stable or challenging job offers because they required proof of eligibility to work in the U.S. He was filling out an application for Freedom University at the end of the rally this week.
–FROM MAUREEN DOWNEY, AJC GET SCHOOLED BLOG
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113 comments Add your comment
NewMinority
August 26th, 2011
10:28 am
@the Esteemed William Casey
You said:
“what I bet most haters don’t know”
“I guess that the haters ancestors”
“As for the haters,”
Could you clarify your use of “hater”. It is defined as “one who hates”.
Please tell us specifically, who hates whom? Why?
Politi Cal
August 26th, 2011
10:29 am
@Proud Liberal Seems you missed my point, but that’s not surprsing. I suppose your kids go to college for “free?” Mine don’t.
NewMinority
August 26th, 2011
10:35 am
@Thomas
The operative word here is “honest”. Illegally entering this country isn’t “honest”. You might be surprised to know that my spouse is fluent in Spanish and grew up in a Latin American country.
soul_survivin
August 26th, 2011
10:46 am
Lets keep in mind that in general, the Univ of Georgia is doing a poor job ot recruiting and maintaining minority students even if they are legal. It is about time that this instituation stand up and do whats right and allow different perspectives. After all, differences should be embraced. Sorry, but I do not care about the students who are loosing grants. Many of them can still afford the tuition anyway!
Freedom isn't Free
August 26th, 2011
10:56 am
While those professors are out teaching illegal immigrants, they are not available to the legal citizens who need to talk to them after class is over.
Have you ever taken a college class as a legal citizen and paid the tuition and your parents paid the taxes and you were in a class of about 200 other students — so you tried to find the prof at his office to ask a question?
Ever done that?
Well, you can’t do it if the prof is out helping criminals with their education. Yes, that’s right, criminals. They are here illegally and that is a crime.
Undocumented ?
No, they are well documented. They are documented they are breaking the law.
NewMinority
August 26th, 2011
10:59 am
@ soul-survivin
Please post your 501C3 Illegal Minority Scholarship Fund information. I would like to go to Mexico and promote your generous charitable fund! I am glad SOMEONE puts their money where their mouth is!
To New Minority From Good Mother
August 26th, 2011
11:00 am
Thanks for your facts. I agree. We cannot afford illegals.
Renee
August 26th, 2011
11:02 am
We are not responsible for the poor decisions of the kids’ parents, nor should we bear the costs of those decisions. The parents chose to make their children illegal aliens. Application of the law is not “punishment.” At the same time, the professors are free to do whatever they choose with their own time and resources. The seminars are not funded by the state. Why begrudge the ability to learn if you are not financially impacted?
College is not a right; it is a privilege. No one should expect the government to pay for it. It is also not a parental obligation to provide college funds, especially at the expense of their own retirement funding. An education means more to those who are motivated enough to pay for it themselves.
Van Jones
August 26th, 2011
11:09 am
A university should try to “recruit” and “maintain” a particular group of students? A group that is not defined by their academic abilities? Sounds a little racist to me.
thomas
August 26th, 2011
11:26 am
@ New minority,
You should never be held guilty by association. In the same way, you don’t get any credit for association, either. The fact that your wife is fluent in Spanish etc does not make your opinion any better or worse. Moreover, growing up in a Latin American country means nothing in this context.
@ Freedom isn’t free,
Have you evern asked professors how much of their “office hours” they just sit alon in their offices because none of his/her students would come to the office hours? Moreover, unlike doctors on-call, college professors (or school teachers) have no obligation to meet with their students at any time that is convenient to their students. These professors can easily provide this service without interference to their duties as professors at the UGA.
catlady
August 26th, 2011
11:34 am
slap stick–and there are a lot of Dicks in Georgia!
To other posters who say this will just encourage more to come across the border: Jose and Saul are sitting in the shade of a tree in central Mexico. Jose says (in Spanish, as he doesn’t speak English), “Hey, let’s cross the border through the desert or pay thousands to a coyote to smuggle us in the unairconditioned back of a van crammed with other immigrants so we can go to Georgia and take college classes for free in a language we don’t speak!” Saul says, “Hey, that sounds great! When we get there we will sign up for all kinds of benefits and register to vote!” C’mon now.
Mocha Jones
August 26th, 2011
11:36 am
@ thomas
Let us not forget that you called me (and many others) Xenophobe on a previous blog.
I have no problem with legal immigrants that are citizens of the country, whether they are white, black, Asian, Latino, Indian, etc…. The problem most of us have is the ILLEGAL part of the equation. These professors could have easily picked a group of LEGAL latinos, but this would not have made the headlines.
I am all for teaching the best and the brightest of this nation, but only if they are LEGAL. These ILLEGAL students of ILLEGAL parents are BAD APPLES that don’t fall far from the tree. They have had over a decade to do the right thing for themslves and their children, but instead they continue to break laws upon laws and TEACH their children through their actions as most parents do!
Hard working Americans are so tired of being used and mistreated. Many of these people that have lost their jobs are going to read about these professors and what they are doing symobolically for ILLEGALS and it is going to make them angry.
Illegal supporters continue to slap the majority of the citizens in the face with their rhetoric. Mama says DON’T BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU.
thomas
August 26th, 2011
11:39 am
I am really not a citizen of this country. You people owe me something and I will take whatever I want.
Dr NO aka Mr Sunshine
August 26th, 2011
12:03 pm
William Casey
August 26th, 2011
9:59 am
Beautiful! No go round up David Crosby and the two of ya drop some LSD or smoke some pot.
Dr NO aka Mr Sunshine
August 26th, 2011
12:04 pm
“Sounds a little racist to me.”
Takes one to know one…VAAAAN
William Casey
August 26th, 2011
12:07 pm
@NewMinority: I use “haters” in a loose, general way (not meaning actual “hate”) to describe those sad individuals who live in cringing fear that somehow, some way, some unworthy person is stealing their own righteously earned wealth and privileges. Got it?
William Casey
August 26th, 2011
12:09 pm
@DRNO: actually, I’m leaving right now for a lunch date with a self-styled “Hippie Chick.” I’ll let you know how it goes. LOL
Van Jones
August 26th, 2011
12:25 pm
Dr. NO, how do you figure?
Not so fast
August 26th, 2011
1:34 pm
thomas…you are wrong on so many fronts, I don’t know where to begin. I was a full professor at UGA for 15 years, so believe when I say there are lots of highly qualified students turned away each year. Points are assigned at admissions office for lots of things – athletics, family financial contributions, first in family to attend college, military service, valedictorian of hs class, % of students from candidate’s high school who attend college (point for coming from a school with low college attendance rate), other indicators/predictors of academic achievement (high honors in music, academic competitions, etc.). Diversity is a stated goal of all state post-secondary institutions and you better believe that counts with Honors programs, Foundation Fellows, and even general admission to the university – there are more students qualified for all of these programs than can be accepted, and sometimes just the essay topic or an inperson meeting with a key official gets the student admitted. There is no need at the top universities to admit “less qualified” individuals in terms of test scores and grades, but in terms of those points awarded by admissions, illegal immigrants with an acceptable but not necessarily outstanding SAT score and GPA would be admitted above most Georgia residents with comparable records who apply to these schools. UGA, like every other school, is desperately seeking “diversity” in its student population from among the many qualified candidates they get, and that characteristics can be enough to elevate an application from the rest.
As far as lonely faculty pining in their offices for students to come by…I always was expected to be available via email and phone to students any time of the day or night. I consulted with students on the nights before tests (sometimes as late as 12:00 midnight) and even when I was in the hospital maternity ward the day after I gave birth. I think people forget that UGA faculty are state employees, and avoiding conflict of interest is a reasonable requirement for state employees to be held to. I am now working for the federal government, and I can not only lose my job but also go to jail if I don’t seek advance permission to engage in a professional activity (teaching, research, consulting, book writing, editing) whether or not I get paid, if it is later determined to be a conflict of interest with my job responsibilities. I cannot see how providing free university education is not a conflict of interest with UGA’s educational responsibilities to state residents and paying out of state residents. Since I still pay property taxes in Georgia, I am not thrilled that qualified American-born and legal residents will be told to go to a different school while this group, while possibly qualified (that was not established in the article), demands admittance to the most competitive programs.
Lee
August 26th, 2011
1:45 pm
Definition: Haters – anyone who holds an opinion different from the politically correct ideology.
Really amazed
August 26th, 2011
1:49 pm
@Not so fast, why don’t people understand that the minority student will be admitted over the high academic white male every time??? You are so correct! University check list….first in minority! No one wants to believe this. It doesn’t matter if illegal or not. The problem is going to be in a few years that the minority is the new majority. So maybe things will switch back then. NOT!
we lost our way
August 26th, 2011
2:04 pm
@Not so fast—-Agree 100% that this is a conflict of interest.The Board of Regents or Governors Office should step in and stop this Now!!! I have called the Governor’s office and stated my feelings.I was told they were looking into the matter today.
Really amazed
August 26th, 2011
2:40 pm
@we lost our way, really?? Don’t you think The Board of Regents is part of the problem??
Vox Populi
August 26th, 2011
3:08 pm
Let them go to college in their own third world countries. These profs should go with them as adjunct faculty?
I guess they don’t get enough freebies back home? Welfare? EBT cards? Rent vouchers?
Not so fast
August 26th, 2011
3:38 pm
Take a look at the full article (link in the original blog from Maureen). The last section, which was not included in this blog, describes a student whose parents are planning to head back to Mexico after 14 years here during which time their daughter received all her education free (compared with only 8 years free in Mexico). They encouraged her to go with them and apply for College there, but she demurred because all her friends and here and she doesn’t remember Mexico. Oops, and she forgot to mention she has to pay for school in Mexico, too. Mexico has several world-class university programs, so it isn’t about the quality of education.
So here’s my beef – these students who are not citizens of the state of Georgia (but “feel like” they are) are demanding something citizens cannot have. I left Georgia for economic reasons and moved out of state. I still pay a mortgage in Georgia on a house I probably will not be able to sell for 3 years (trying not to damage my neighborhood there or my credit rating) and have to also pay rent where I live. My child had to leave all her friends and everything she knew up to the age of 10 in order to come with me. So, do I get to go back to Georgia in five years when my kid is ready for college and claim in-state tuition because Georgia is her “home” and I pay taxes there? Certainly not! Will my child have an edge on getting into UGA because she “knows” Georgia culture and was forced through no fault of her own to move away? No, of course not.
These kids are fluent in Spanish, eat Mexican foods, engage fully in their Mexican culture, and have extended family there that they certainly know. Many have Mexican drivers’ licenses and identity cards. So what if they also have IPods, wear Abercrombie and Fitch, and eat hamburgers and pizza. It is not quite the same as taking an American born and raised teenager who has no connection to Mexico and cannot speak the language and tossing him or her into the college mix there. In fact, Mexican universities also have foreign students and visiting faculty, many from the US, and have classes taught in English in many disciplines, so it really should not be that hard to find Americans to mix with if that is their preference.
Mac
August 26th, 2011
3:48 pm
You are correct Mocha – I shouldn’t have insulted rednecks that way. They are probably much more accepting and educated than many on this blog.
Kicked dog and all that
Mark
August 26th, 2011
3:57 pm
This looks like a cheap publicity stunt. It’s not like the “students” don’t have other options than UGA. There are 30 other state institutions that would be more than happy to admit and educate any academically qualified students. They would be much better off in one of those schools than taking unaccredited classes in a community center.
Many protestors want to paint the USG as the bad guys in this situation. The Board of Regents did not want to institute this type of policy. They were strong-armed into it by some powerful legislators who control the purse strings.
NewMinority
August 26th, 2011
4:02 pm
@Not so fast
Thank you for speaking up and giving logical, legal, reasons for sending these students packing. I also appreciate the point you made regarding a UGA professor’s state employee status and an obvious conflict of interest in teaching at this “FREEdom University”. They could be legally culpable for “aiding and abetting”.
NewMinority
August 26th, 2011
4:15 pm
To those of you who have entered this country with falsified documents, and continue to use falsified birth certificates, driver’s licenses, etc. to give the ILLUSION that you are a U.S. citizen, HAVE I GOT A COLLEGE FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don’t say THIS “hater” ain’t looking’ out fer ya! I trolled the internet and came up with the PERFECT PRIVATE LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE THAT IS JUST BEGGING FOR DIVERSE STUDENTS AS YOURSELVES.
Just look at the goodies they have for YOU! If you know that “yes” means “si”, YOU ARE IN THE MONEY!
“A “yes” answer could put students in line to qualify for a SCHOLARSHIP WORTH ONE-THIRD OF TUITION at the private, liberal arts school affiliated with the United Church of Christ, said Rold.
The college also plans to direct students to groups or resources to help them feel more comfortable on campus.”
Apply NOW! After all, are they going to say “prove it?”
Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Elmhurst-College-to-Ask-About-Sexual-Orientation–128378348.html?#ixzz1WASATSXk
Equality Advocate
August 26th, 2011
4:44 pm
@ New Minority. A curiously close-minded comment, evidently equating illegal immigrants with LGBT American citizens.
Elmhurst College–a solid, reputable college in a wealthy Chicago suburb–has just announced that it encourages applicants to voluntarily state their sexual orientation to encourage college diversity. It says nothing at all about scholarships for such students–you are making that up. I note that this college was just named a ‘Best in the Midwest’ : “For the eighth year in a row, the influential Princeton Review recognizes the College’s academic programs and personal approach toward students.”
You should love ALL of God’s children. WWJD?
Reality Check
August 26th, 2011
4:56 pm
If the professors are donating their time to help unforunate young people, good for them! If they are doing it for a PR stunt or to make a political statement, it will fall on deaf ears. If you would like to send money to help them, that is great! I would like to know how to donate to the cost of deportation which keeps being mentioned as impossibe; I bet we could easily raise the money for that! And I think it is more than possible. Someone who cares needs to advise illegals that demanding their “rights” is not a good PR move and is counterproductive.
Eric
August 26th, 2011
5:56 pm
Regardless of who’s enrolled (legally or not), higher education (except for these professors) is generally out to get all the money they can. So many new fees for athletics, campus activities, etc., of which most students don’t have time, nor want, to participate. Oh, I forgot, good luck finding a job in this economy to pay off all the debt you’ve just loaded up. I think we are living out a “myth” of college = jobs.
the prof
August 26th, 2011
6:17 pm
@not so fast…..BULL…S&%^. No professors take calls from students at midnight and they are NOT expected to be available 24-7. If you did this, more power to you, but I have not, and will never. I’ve been a professor for 15 years and I rarely have students show up to assigned, posted, advertised, and published office hours, therefore, I feel no obligation whatsoever to be available to them once I am done for the day.
NewMinority
August 26th, 2011
7:25 pm
TRUTH: Your comment is awaiting moderation….
NewMinority
August 26th, 2011
7:29 pm
@=advocate
For some reason my truthful comment is awaiting moderation. Perhaps I will be allowed to ask you this:
How will Elmhurst College “verify” if the “yes” checked in the box is true?
Equality Advocate
August 26th, 2011
8:44 pm
@New Minority: All racial and ethnic minorities self-identify right now! When a person applies to a college or university and are asked his/her race or ethnicity, there is no way to check that either. So the demographic figures ALWAYS depend upon the applicant declaring his/her race (white, black, Asian or biracial) and/or ethnicity (Hispanic). Same would be true here I presume, since it’s against federal law to ask a person’s sexual orientation.
Elmhurst is simply making a statement that all minorities are welcome, including sexual minorities. That’s all.
Equality Advocate
August 26th, 2011
8:46 pm
P.S. @ New Minority. Interesting that Elmhurst is affiliated with the United Church of Christ, which evidently sees this as a perfectly acceptable, Christian thing to do.
NewMinority
August 26th, 2011
9:15 pm
A Christian College doesn’t receive Federal funding.
http://triblocal.com/elmhurst/community/stories/2011/07/elmhurst-college-names-lee-daniels-to-key-government-relations-post/
proud liberal
August 26th, 2011
9:30 pm
@ Eric,
“Regardless of who’s enrolled (legally or not), higher education (except for these professors) is generally out to get all the money they can.”
I thought that’s THE American way… Money, Money, Money, Money.
bootney farnsworth
August 26th, 2011
9:53 pm
what part of “illegal” is getting past some of you?
just for a minute consider that one of several reasons HOPE
is in trouble is due to spending it on educating people who
aren’t even supposed to be here?
bootney farnsworth
August 26th, 2011
9:55 pm
what I’m curious about is where have these publicty hounds been for the last decade? were they giving out their expertise for free when it wasn’t cool to do so?
bootney farnsworth
August 26th, 2011
9:58 pm
BTW: almost all those kids would be welcomed with open arms at GPC. we got space, and almost never turn any legal applicant away.
legal – there’s that concept again. darn those pesky laws
bootney farnsworth
August 26th, 2011
10:00 pm
I like money.
Ole Guy
August 27th, 2011
12:21 am
Amazing, uplifting, wonderful…try stupendous, outstanding, and worthy of leaping tall buildings in a single bound.
Now looky here, people…I’m all for helping those who, despite best (legal) efforts, cannot seem to get out of the starting gate. But, insofar as illegals go, let us not become ensnared in entanglements of the heart. They KNOWINGLY chose to violate the law; they KNOWINGLY accept all forms of government assistance (which place undue burden upon MY Social Security)…and now these (learned) college profs see fit to reward those who chose the “easy way”, rather than embark on the red-tape-saga of dealing with (what all-too often seems like) cumbersome bureaucracy. WE, as bonafide U.S. citizens, are obliged to deal with this very same bureaucracy any time we wish to (LEGALLY) visit another country which shares this blue bb in space. Thousands, if not millions, dealt with this very same government bureaucracy on a lil’ ole island called Ellis.
Now, the very same mentors who (presumably) expect and demand high levels of performance seem to have no problem (essentially) aiding and abeting those who chose short cuts over the right way of achieving goals and objectives; somehow, this smacks of a wiff of hypocricy.
Illegal immigration will slow, modulate, and eventually diminish to more-manageable levels ONLY when these type of “rewards” are taken away. As it now stands, the proverbial pot of gold awaits those who circumvent OUR laws. We can stick our collective nose in the air and sniff self-fullfilling adages of helping the down-trodden, etc. UNTIL the illegal population realizes…just like their LEGAL counterparts from around the world…that their is ONE, and only ONE right way, they receive absolutely no sympathy from this Ole Soldier.
NewMinority
August 27th, 2011
12:30 am
@=advocate
“When a person applies to a college or university and are asked his/her race or ethnicity, there is no way to check that either.”
LOL! Really? I thought you had to send a photo with your application. So a white guy can check “African American”, and the school will accept his self-declaration as a minority? That opens HUGE scholarship possibilities!
Well, it would be even harder to identify “gay/lesbian” from a photo or personal interview. It might be downright impossible to disprove a claim. Wow! Just check “yes” for a 1/3 tuition discount!
MB
August 27th, 2011
9:01 am
Interesting information here. Please note the reliability of sources, and that several were written during the Bush administration, so…
http://www.combatingglobalization.com/organizing/countering_the_myths_about_undocumented_Immigrants.html
(This is for those complaining about how many resources illegals consume. Our native-born, government support-reliant Americans should be advocating for them to stay, it seems, as the illegals are contributing to SSA and Medicare but will never benefit. (One of the articles, from the NY Times,reported that “other-than-legal immigrants” generate $6 billion to $7 billion in Social Security tax revenue and about $1.5 billion in Medicare taxes each year.).
Equality Advocate
August 27th, 2011
11:01 am
@NewMinority. Yup. No photos. Especially since a lot of applications nowadays are sent online. Schools don’t have “quotas” for acceptance of a certain number of minorities either nor do they offer any scholarships based on race or ethnicity, for that would violate federal law.
There may be private foundations that offer such scholarships but checking the applicants’ accuracy is their problem, not the schools’.
Be accurate here–Elmhurst is only asking applicants to indicate their orientation voluntarily, with one option “No Answer.” Nothing anywhere abt. a tuition discount based on diversity.
Equality Advocate
August 27th, 2011
11:20 am
@ NewMinority. Not to belabor this….There is indeed no way of checking whether a person who self-identifies as belonging to a minority is being truthful, and that’s probably why schools–private or public– don’t have such “quotas.” What does “white” or “black” mean when the person has a great-great grandparent who derives from Africa? The federal census allows the person to identify with one group or the other, and declare as such. “Hispanic/Latino” has been defined by the census as an ethnicity, not a race; so a person can be a white Hispanic or a black Hispanic (consider Cuba, which has both).
If you check Elmhurst College, their financial aid is need- or merit-based. Why are you jumping to the conclusion that it’s minority-based???
Really amazed
August 27th, 2011
12:38 pm
@Equaility Advocate, what rock have you been under???? Of course they don’t let the public know about the quota!! This would be illegal! Kinda like th aps cheating scandal. Illegal, but welcome to our gov’t !!! Please, wake up people!
Equality Advocate
August 27th, 2011
12:59 pm
@ Really Amazed. No way of answering the paranoid conspiracy buff, is there? However, what DO you do about the issue of minority applicants self-identifying? Schools are sure aware of this problem. If they do have racial/ethnic/sexual orientation quotas, it will be very hard to prove when the quotas are filled!
Schools do allot a certain # of “points” for the different categories an applicant fulfills, but there are many categories besides minorities. And the legal category now of “biracial” that’s used really confuses things, as well as Hispanic ethnicity which may be combined with any race according to the federal census.