North Carolina's community college system has ordered its 58 schools to admit illegal immigrants, overturning policies established at more than one-third of the heavily enrolled colleges.

David Sullivan, the system's top lawyer, dispatched a memo November 7 telling the community colleges that state regulations require the schools to admit undocumented applicants who meet the basic requirements of either graduating from high school or being 18 years of age, the Charlotte Observer reports.

Among the colleges, 22 had either written or unwritten policies barring admission to illegal immigrants.

The ruling came after an unverified complaint that an illegal immigrant was dismissed from one of the colleges and after a Duke University class's study questioned the system's policy on illegal immigrants.

Sullivan said the schools had been abiding by guidance the system's administration issued in 2004. Administrators, though, reviewed that guidance this year and discovered that a 1997 opinion by then-Attorney General and now Gov. Mike Easley said that the community colleges cannot impose nonacademic criteria for admission.

"We thought through the policy again," Sullivan said, "and concluded our earlier guidance was in error."

Update: The 1997 letter was not signed by Easley. Written by a staff attorney, it dealt with the issue of allowing a convicted criminal to attend. Details here.