Despite a resolution passed by the University’s Graduate Student Association, the Board of Regents has no plans to change their policy restricting undocumented students from attending Georgia’s most selective universities.

The Board’s policy, passed in October 2010, means that universities – including the University of Georgia – have to turn away academically qualified Georgia residents cannot accept undocumented students. The term “undocumented students” can refer to any student who doesn’t submit proof of residency in Georgia, but usually refers to illegal immigrants.

The Board of Regents pass a policy in 2010 stating the University of Georgia could not accept undocumented students. Courtesy Board of Regents

GSA’s resolution challenges the Regents’ policy, saying it could hurt the University by causing additional work of verifying students’ residency and by potentially decreasing diversity.

The policy “tarnishes” the University’s reputation, “devalues and stigmatizes the degrees attained by graduates” and makes it difficult to recruit and retain faculty and students, the GSA resolution says.

Last week, the policy kept Georgia from retaining one of its football recruits Chester Brown.

Brown said he would not be playing for the University because of “a personal family reason,” and his high school principal Scott Carrier said an immigration issue was keeping Brown from joining the Dogs.

Brown’s family moved to the U.S. from Samoa in the mid-1990s.

“We believe there’s no economic or political reason that this should happen,” said Aaron Brantly, chief of staff of the GSA. “We think that what has been shown is wrong and it needs to be corrected.”

Although GSA’s resolution “effectively represents all 9,000 graduate students at the University of Georgia,” Brantly said, it does not have any legal power to change the policy.

“I don’t think there’s any plans of the Board of Regents to revisit that issue at this time,” said John Millsaps, spokesman for the Board. “A decision has been made and it was made in October 2010.”

The Board found in 2010 that 501 students out of the 310,000 students enrolled in the University System of Georgia were undocumented, and all of them were already paying out-of-state tuition.