SUIT CHALLENGES STUDENT ATHLETE DRUG TESTING The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in Lane County Circuit Court on Tuesday, seeking to prevent the Oakridge School District from requiring student athletes to submit to mandatory drug testing in order to participate in school sports. The suit, filed on behalf of 15-year-old Ginelle Weber, a sophomore at Oakridge High School, claims the district's drug-testing procedures "violate Ginelle's right to be free from unreasonable government searches" guaranteed by the Oregon Constitution. Weber began playing on her school's volleyball team this fall but said school officials dismissed her from the team two weeks ago after she and her parents, Shannon and John Weber, refused to sign consent forms for her to participate in the drug-testing program. The Oakridge district signed up earlier this year to participate in a three-year, $3.6 million study called SATURN - Student-Athlete Testing Using Random Notification - in which researchers at the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland select student athletes at random and without notice and require them to provide urine samples to check for illegal drug or alcohol use. Curtis Dornath, chairman of the Oakridge School Board, said he knows of no students other than Weber who have refused to sign the consent forms. "From everything I've heard, 79 of 80 athletes at our school are participating," Dornath said. "We have no intention of discontinuing the program because of this lawsuit - the board is unanimous, behind this 100 percent." The SATURN project, which began this fall in about a dozen Oregon school districts, will try to determine scientifically whether random drug testing acts as a deterrent to the use of illegal drugs. The ACLU filed a lawsuit earlier against the Lincoln County School District, which also joined the program, but that action became moot after OHSU dropped the district from the program, citing as reasons inadequate and inaccurate student response to the initial questionnaire. Since then, at least one other district has asked to take Lincoln County's place in the program. Dr. Linn Goldberg, lead researcher on the project, couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday but has said previously that he and his colleagues "are not drug-testing advocates" but simply want to find out whether the "billions of dollars (that) have been spent on mandatory drug testing in government, business, sports and education ... really result in decreased drug use." The ACLU believes that the Oregon Constitution protects citizens of the state from "unwarranted search and seizure" of the type represented by mandatory testing of student athletes, said David Fidanque, the organization's state executive director. "The Constitution says the government can't search citizens without probable cause," Fidanque said at a news conference. "But this drug-testing program treats everyone as guilty. This search is very intrusive and very demanding to undergo - it's government requiring an invasive search of young students who haven't done anything wrong." The ACLU suit isn't the first time the courts have been asked to determine the constitutionality of mandatory drug testing of student athletes. A student in the Vernonia School District northwest of Portland sued on similar grounds after that district began random testing of its athletes in 1989. The case ultimately went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 1995 that "deterring drug use by our nation's schoolchildren" justified the drug-testing program. Testing student athletes for drug use did not violate the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because "school athletes have a reduced expectation of privacy" simply because they choose "to go out for the team," the high court said. "They voluntarily subject themselves to a degree of regulation even higher than that imposed on students generally." Fidanque said his lawsuit differs from the Vernonia case because it will be brought in state court and will test the strength of Oregon - not federal - constitutional protections. "We think the law in Oregon is very clear: Government can't do random searches on the basis that everyone is guilty," he said. "The specific wording (in the Oregon Constitution) is very similar to the federal Constitution, but it has been interpreted by Oregon courts to allow greater protection of citizens." Becoming the focal point of such a lawsuit doesn't come without its price, a nearly tearful Ginelle Weber acknowledged Tuesday. "I've been affected quite a bit already," she said. "I've played (sports) at school for years, and I feel that I could be an asset to my team. Now, I don't know what to do with myself anymore. I go home and do my homework while all my friends are playing sports." Nonetheless, she would make the same decision again, Weber said. "Sports are a big part of my life, but they're only sports," she said. "I feel it's important to stand up for what you think is right."
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