STUDENT, ACLU SUE AGAINST FEDERAL STUDENT AID LAW

SIOUX FALLS - A South Dakota student is among the plaintiffs in a
lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union that challenges a
provision of federal law that denies financial aid to convicted drug
offenders.

In its class-action lawsuit, the ACLU says the provision is
unconstitutional because it punishes people twice for the same crime
and creates a class of people deemed unworthy of receiving federal
financial aid for college without a good reason.

About 200,000 people nationwide have been denied financial aid since
the provision went into effect in 2000, Adam Wolf, a lawyer for the
ACLU, said.

"We hope to restore the eligibility for student aid to people who are
being unfairly and irrationally denied it," he said.

Kraig Selken, a history major at Northern State University in
Aberdeen, is one of three plaintiffs. The Students for Sensible Drug
Policy Foundation is also listed.

Selken said he pleaded guilty in 2005 to a misdemeanor marijuana
possession charge and completed his sentence. Because of the rule in
the Higher Education Act, he is no longer eligible for the financial
aid he needs to complete college, Selken said.