The admissions policies of seven public colleges in Virginia that reject illegal immigrants who apply are in question after part of a lawsuit against the schools was dismissed last month.
The lawsuit, Equal Access Education v. Burton, is regarding the Virginia schools' policies of not accepting illegal immigrant applicants.
This part of the lawsuit was dismissed, as a U.S. District Court judge decided that refusing to admit illegal immigrants does not violate the immigrants' constitutional rights. However, the admissions policies of these schools, which include George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College, may still be ruled unconstitutional if they do not follow federal standards to determine an applicant's immigration status.
As a private university, AU is not required to abide by these federal standards.
By denying admission to illegal immigrants, the Virginia schools were complying with a memo sent out by the state's assistant attorney general, according to AU Immigration Specialist Lori Cardosa. She said the memo was sent out on Sept. 5, 2002 and told Virginia institutes of higher education to not accept illegal immigrants.
However, she said, that there is a problem if schools treat domestic and international students differently.
Officials from George Mason University declined to comment. Officials at Northern Virginia Community College could not be reached by press time. The case is expected to go to trial July 6.
Ben Mazur, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, agrees with the practice of refusing to admit illegal immigrants.
"We can't go around handing out rights to people who aren't here legally," Mazur said.
However, Steve Gilbert, a junior in the Kogod School of Business, disagrees.
"If they're qualified, I guess they should come here though because they're trying to better themselves," he said.
