UC BERKELEY STUDENTS OFFER DRUG OFFENDERS SCHOLARSHIPS

EUGENE, Ore. - The biggest problem with question 31 on the Free
Application for Federal Student Aid form, which asks whether a
student has been convicted of possessing or selling illegal drugs, is
not that it will strip students of their financial aid, but rather
that it will scare people off from applying to college in the first
place - at least according to University of Oregon Director of
Student Financial Aid Elizabeth Bickford.

In her experience, the extreme minority of students who initially
answered yes to the question soon realized that their convictions
didn't affect their aid. Those who do answer yes - that they were
convicted of selling or possessing drugs when they were older than
18, while they were receiving federal financial aid and have not
completed a drug treatment program - can easily get their aid
reinstated, Bickford said.

But the political opposition to question 31 is gaining momentum.

On Jan. 24 at UC Berkeley, the student government passed a bill
creating a small scholarship for students who have lost their aid
because of drug convictions. The scholarship - a one-time payment of
$400 to an affected student - is the brainchild of Associated
Students of the University of California Senator David Israel
Wasserman. In an interview, Wasserman said he campaigned for office
on the platform of creating this scholarship.

"It's an unjust penalty to deprive someone of the means to an
education," he said. "We're putting our money where our mouth is."

In terms of a college education, especially at UC Berkeley, $400 is
not a great deal of money, but it's enough to pay for a semester's
books, Wasserman said.

However, a similar scholarship at Western Washington University has
existed for four years with no applicants, the school's student
government Board Programs assistant Erin O'Reilly said.

He also said he had not encountered any students requesting the
scholarship, and that UC Berkeley's financial aid office told him
that no students currently on campus had lost their aid. But the
scholarship is not just a scholarship.

"It's a very important statement," Wasserman said.

The Aid Elimination Provision of the Higher Education Act that
created question 31 is the target of the scholarship's political aims.

"We plan to use this as a larger lobbying tool," Wasserman said.
"It's important that we take a stand. It's important that we use our
voice so they can hear us in Washington."

The Aid Elimination Provision has been the object of several lawsuits
on behalf of the lobbyist group Students for a Sensible Drug Policy,
with which Wasserman worked closely to draft the bill, both he and a
spokesman for the group said. SSDP is currently heading a campaign to
repeal the law - a campaign supported by more than 70 groups
including the United States Student Association, the National
Education Association, the National Lawyers Guild, the Washington
State Bar Association and the National Black Police Association.

But does the university need such a scholarship? Bickford, the
university's director of financial aid, said no.

"In my experience, I don't know if a scholarship would be helpful or
necessary," Bickford said.

Associated Students of the University of Oregon President Jared
Axelrod said he is against the Aid Elimination Provision and supports
Wasserman's scholarship.

"I think it's great," Axelrod said.

UC Berkeley's student senators "really put their neck out there and
took a stand," Axelrod said. "It [took] a lot of courage."