STUDENT GROUP PUSHES TO OVERTURN FEDERAL LAW

The Students for a Sensible Drug Policy Hope Chapter (SSDP) is gathering
support in its bid to help overturn a federal law that prevents students
with a drug conviction from obtaining financial aid.

To date SSDP has collected more than 500 signatures. The group hopes that
official endorsements by URI and Brown University will persuade U.S. Reps.
James Langevin and Patrick Kennedy to support the effort.

Tom Angell, President of URI's SSDP Hope Chapter is optimistic about the
whole campaign. "We have a lot of support from students and faculty,
including Dr. Carothers and Dom Murgo," Angell said. "We also are excited to
have substantial assistance from similar campaigns at Brown University."

Angell is confident that SSDP's efforts are worthwhile saying, "people
support us because they know that blocking access to education won't solve
our nations drug problems."

Murgo said, "I fully support SSDP and their efforts. The senate will help
them out along the way."

At least one university official backs the current policy. Enrollment
Services Director, Harry Amaral, said, "I don't have any qualms with the
current policy." Amaral said about the University's stance on current drug
reform policy is that, "we enforce the law."

SSDP is working to increase drug policy awareness on campus. I recently ran
a booth in the Memorial Union and collected signatures of supportive
students while they educated the public about drug policy reform facts.

SSDP is continuing a campaign that seeks to give students with drug
convictions access to federal student aid by raising support for a bill
known as H.R. 786 in the U.S. House of Representatives. If passed the bill
would repeal the provision prohibiting persons convicted of drug offenses
from receiving student financial assistance. There were no restrictions
prohibiting students with drug convictions from receiving aid until 1998.

That is when U.S. Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) successfully pushed for a bill
to block students with drug convictions from getting financial aid.

For the 2000-01 school year the Department of Education processed more than
9.3 million financial aid applications according to the Department's
website. Question no. 35 on the FAFSA form asks applicants to indicate
whether they have ever been convicted of a drug charge. In the 2001-02
school year all 9,114 students who revealed drug convictions were denied
aid according to the Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNET).

The original Higher Education Act (HEA) was signed into law in 1965 by
President Lyndon Johnson and opened the door to a college education for
students to whom it had previously been closed. It established federal
financial aid programs such as Perkins Loans, Pell Grants, Supplemental
Educational Opportunity Grants, PLUS Loans and Work-Study Programs.

The act is periodically reviewed and updated by Congress to ensure adequate
funding and access to college for millions of Americans. The 1998 revision
to the Higher Education Act included a new provision that blocked college
opportunities to students with drug convictions on their Free Application
for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

SSDP's goal is to bring their petition to URI's student body senate to gain
their official endorsement. If the senate votes to endorse the petition URI
will be added to the list of over 90 colleges and universities that are in
official support.

Dan Reilly, the Assistant Director of Student Life and Substance Abuse
Prevention Services, said he was "professionally neutral" concerning the
issue, but thought that, "SSDP is doing a good job."