Regents protest leads to arrests

By Walter C. Jones
Morris News Service
Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010
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ATLANTA --- Four pro-immigrant protesters were arrested Wednesday morning outside the monthly meeting of the University System of Georgia's Board of Regents.

They were part of a group of 15 or so chanting and waving homemade signs protesting the regents' decision last month to restrict enrollment of students who cannot prove their citizenship.

Undocumented students who meet a school's academic standards can go to any public college as long as it hasn't turned away qualified Georgians in the previous two years. Like all non-Georgians, the undocumented students must pay out-of-state tuition that is so much higher that it more than pays for the cost of their education, according to University System calculations.

The regents set the policy after the publicity surrounding the traffic arrest of a student at Kennesaw State University who was discovered to be living in the country without documentation and receiving discounted in-state tuition. An investigation ordered by the regents revealed that fewer than 500 undocumented students attend any of Georgia's 35 public colleges, and none were enrolled at the five schools that are so full they routinely turn away qualified Georgians.

Immigrant-rights groups aren't the only ones unhappy with the regents' policy. A joint legislative committee has been meeting to consider making it even more restrictive along with other measures to discourage employers from hiring undocumented workers.

The protest was aimed as much at the Legislature as at the University System, leaders said. And more protests are planned.

One of those arrested, the Rev. Markel Hutchins of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, told reporters during the sidewalk demonstration that the group would begin relying on civil disobedience because their verbal objections had not been heeded.

"This is not about any particular group of people. This is simply a justice issue," he said. "We resort to civil disobedience to dramatize just how committed we are to the causes of justice."

Besides Hutchins, the arrested included Joe Beasley of the Rainbow Push Coalition; Adelina Nichols, the executive director of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights; and Rich Pellegrino of the Cobb Immigrant Coalition.

http://chronicle.augusta.com