A Closer Look

UCLA UNFAZED BY TESTING MEASURES

Amid the implementation of recent federal drug testing legislation and new
proposals by President Bush to increase drug tests for high school
students, the majority of students and employees at UCLA are bucking the
recent trends.

Tenoch Flores, a spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union of
Southern California, said the recent atmosphere has become more conducive
to drug testing due to proposals like President Bush's $23 million plan to
increase testing in high schools.

Congress also passed the Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act in
1991, mandating that employers test transportation workers who are in
positions to deal with certain safety-sensitive materials.

In addition, the Supreme Court recently upheld an Oklahoma high school's
1998 decision to randomly drug test students in all extra-curricular
activities.

UCLA has somehow managed to stay relatively unfazed despite the progression
of these new testing measures, and union leaders are not concerned that
employee drug testing will become a problem.

"The University of California has never proposed random drug testing," said
Joe Lindsay, director of the UC Division of the California Nurses
Association, a union that represents 2,200 Westwood employees.

"There are no provisions in our contract on drug testing ... If there is
something that occurs where the employer has what is called 'reasonable
cause,' there can be drug testing," Lindsay said.

He added that reasonable cause is when there is an apparent problem, not
just random suspicion. Lindsay also noted the union and the university do
not always agree on what qualifies as reasonable cause.

The random drug tests are some of the types of tests that watch-dog groups
like the ACLU and the Drug Policy Alliance oppose.

Marsha Rosenbaum, an eight-year worker at the Drug Policy Alliance in San
Francisco, said random testing is not effective because it only tests what
someone may have put in their body (perhaps weeks ago), not their job
performance.

She also said drug testing has become a political issue, and is not about
safety or health.

"If it was a health issue - which it isn't, it's a political issue - then
they'd be testing for alcohol. And no one is testing for alcohol," she said.

Rosenbaum's fears seem to be materializing at high schools, but not at UCLA.

"I'm not aware that any of the employees are being tested for drugs," said
Leesa Dawson-Norwood, president of the Coalition of University Employees,
which represents 3,800 UCLA clerical employees, clerks and administrative
assistants as well as 18,000 workers state-wide.

"They seem to be a little more liberal," Dawson-Norwood said about UCLA. "I
don't really foresee drug testing at UCLA being something mandatory."

UC Spokesman, Paul Schwartz said it is generally not the University's
policy to randomly test employees, but that they do it when necessary.

"Random testing is not acceptable generally in California, including UC
campuses and hospitals, where there is a constitutional right to privacy,"
he said in an e-mail.

Schwartz added that the University of California does do some random
testing, but those are mandated by the Department of Education, the
Department of Transportation, and other federal law.