FINANCIAL AID DRUG POLICY DISPUTED

Group Rallies to Change Act That Denies Aid to Drug Offenders

Damien Nichols meets students almost every day who have been busted
on the campus for drug use.

Some of them lost their financial aid. Some were kicked out of campus
housing. And others were suspended from the university.

Nichols is the president of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a
group on the campus representing a national organization and working
to confront problems they see in U.S. drug policy.

The group recently ordered T-shirts, stickers and pins to help get
their message out and to rally against a 1998 amendment to the Higher
Education Act, which is up for reconsideration this year in Congress,
that prohibits students convicted of drug offenses from receiving
federal financial aid.

"We're small-time advocates trying to make a big impact," Nichols said.

According to the group's national website, "more than 175,000
students have been ineligible for federal loans, grants, and
work-study because of the HEA Drug Provision."

And while the SSDP may not have the most influential voice in
Congress, it has worked with other groups to enhance and spread its message.

According to the group, student governments at 120 universities and
colleges nationwide have passed resolutions calling for a full repeal
of the HEA Drug Provision. Among the 120 schools are this university
and four of its five designated peer institutes: University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of California at Berkeley,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor. Student Government Association President Andrew
Rose said he is unfamiliar with the resolution, which Nichols said
was passed here about five years ago. Nichols wrote and proposed a
resolution last year that would have restated the SGA's stand on the
issue, but it didn't pass. Nichols said it "wasn't written very
well," and that he may try again this year.

Congress addressed the issue by requesting the Government
Accountability Office, an arm of Congress that conducts research on
different Congressional issues, to research the provision.

On Sept. 27, the GAO released a report on the Higher Education Act
that offered information on the outlined consequences of the act's
drug provision and on the people affected by it.

Laurie Ekstrand, director of the GAO justice team, said the
accountability office only offers information, and never takes a
stand on legislation. "But," she said, "we are hoping the report will
feed into Congressional debate."

The drug policy group said the GAO report failed to show the Drug
Provision has a positive affect on student drug users, or that it
necessarily prevents drug use.

"I think the GAO reiterated what students have been saying for the
past seven years -- that the revision does nothing to reduce drug
abuse in our country, and that education is the key to becoming a
productive, tax-paying citizen," said SSDP Communications Director
Tom Angell. Angell, who handles media relations and grassroots
organization, is one of four full-time national staff members for the SSDP.

The United States Student Association is "completely opposed to the
drug provision question" found on federal aid forms, said Legislative
Director Jasmine Harris. The question asks students if they have ever
been convicted of a "drug related offense."

"We believe the question is double jeopardy for individuals who have
already paid their debt to society," Harris said. "And it adversely
affects [minority] communities, largely due to our criminal justice
system and the mechanisms in place."

The SSDP on the campus holds joint, biweekly meetings with NORML, a
pro-marijuana lobbying group. Nichols said the meetings usually have
a turnout of about 50 to 60 people, and close to 300 people have
signed up for its mailing list. Nichols said he has aspirations to
work more closely with the administration and faculty.

"One of the things I really want to do is get a faculty member,
especially a tenured professor, to speak for us," Nichols said.

Nichols said there is a stigma surrounding the SSDP that hurts its
ability to spread its message.

"People might just think we're some group of stoners. That's
unfortunate, and it's not true," Nichols said. "We're ambitious
people trying to help [students], because there are a lot of
unfortunate things going on because of the drug war."

Now that the GAO has joined that discussion, the drug policy group
hopes more attention will be paid to the Higher Education Act's problems.

"We hope that when Congress hears this [information] from its own
researchers, they will finally begin listening and do something about
it," Angell said.