STUDENTS PROTEST AID RESTRAINTS

Several beggars lined Speaker's Circle on Thursday morning with signs
that read, "Will work for tuition" and "FAFSA makes this box my home
sweet home." Their pockets were symbolically hanging out of their pants.

The MU chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy posed as beggars
to show the impact of a law that keeps students with prior drug
convictions from receiving federal financial aid.

"We have our pockets out to symbolize that we're begging people for
relief from this law," chapter President Joe Bartlett said.

The Higher Education Act is up for reauthorization in Congress.
Legislators must decide whether to reauthorize the act by Monday.

"We believe that students have the right to an education despite any
mistakes they might make," Bartlett said.

One provision of the act keeps students with prior drug convictions
from receiving federal financial aid. According to fliers passed out
by Students for Sensible Drug Policy, 175,000 students nationally
have been stripped of their aid.

The protestors asked passing students to sign a petition to repeal
the drug provision.

Tom Angell, national spokesman for Students for Sensible Drug Policy,
said the signatures will be entered into an online action-alert
system and will be sent to members of Congress.

"It's really just to highlight how the law devastates our nation's
economy and keeps people from achieving their full potential," Angell said.

Other campuses around the country also held protests Thursday,
including Columbia University, Duke University, the University of
Maryland, the University of Virginia and at least 11 others.

"Very broadly, the group seeks to repeal punitive drug policies that
impede young people's access to education," Angell said.

According to a news release from Students for Sensible Drug Policy,
"Congress' Government Accountability Office was unable to find any
evidence that the provision 'actually helped to deter drug use.'"

The group said the provision actually hurts the country's economy
because it keeps young people from going to college, and college
graduates make more taxable income.

The MU chapter was involved in a November 2004 ballot initiative that
made marijuana charges in Columbia municipal cases rather than state
or federal cases.

The initiative passed, but the MU Police Department said it was not
required as a state agency to abide by the city law.

Only state or federal charges have to be disclosed on the Free
Application for Federal Student Aid.

"While we're working on the federal level, chapters are changing
local policies to keep students in school while these laws remain on
the books," Angell said.