WCC STUDENT COUNCIL ENDORSES RESOLUTION TO REPEAL DRUG PROVISION FROM '98
HIGHER EDUCATION ACT

On Friday June 2nd, WCC's student council passed a resolution calling for
the repeal of a part of the 1998 higher education act that delays or denies
financial aid for people convicted of a drug offense. The resolution,
brought to council by WCC student Tyree Callahan, supports congressional
representative Barney Frank's bill H.R. 1053, which would repeal the drug
provision of the HEA. The council passed the resolution by a 13-6 vote.

Callahan, who is part of the Western Washington University Drug Policy
Reform Organization, said that he is against the HEA drug provision for a
multitude of reasons. He said now students who are caught doing drugs could
lose financial aid while a rapist would not face the same penalty. Callahan
also sees the provisions as hurting diversity.

"It is classist and racist," said Callahan. Callahan cites statistics
showing African Americans being 13% percent of all drug users but the
majority of persons arrested for drug offenses. He also points out that
students from well-to-do backgrounds will not be affected while poorer
students will have less access to higher education. Organizations such as
the NAACP and the ACLU are opposed to the HEA drug provision for the same
reasons.

This is not Callahan's first time fighting to change drug policy. Earlier
this year he got the student government at WWU to endorse the same
resolution. Callahan's fight for changes in drug laws started in 1989 when
his father was sentenced to a mandatory 27 years in prison for drug
offenses. The head of WCC's Financial Aid Department, David Klaffke, said
that the HEA drug provision makes more work for his office.

"I am all for drug enforcement...but I am not sure [denying financial aid]
is the best way to go about enforcing drug law." Klaffke said.