Pubdate: Wed, 11 Feb 2004
Source: Daily Bruin (CA Edu)
Copyright: 2004, ASUCLA Student Media
Contact:  http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/724
Author: Ari Bloomekatz
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

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.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman