Pubdate: Wed, 22 Mar 2006
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2006 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Diana Jean Schemo
Cited: American Civil Liberties Union http://www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/
Cited: Students for Sensible Drug Policy http://www.daregeneration.com
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hea.htm (Higher Education Act)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?219 (Students for Sensible Drug Policy)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?247 (Crime Policy - United States)

FEDERAL AID IS FOCUS OF A LAWSUIT BY STUDENTS

WASHINGTON -- A student organization is suing the United States 
Education Department over a law that denies federal financial aid to 
35,000 students a year because they were convicted of drug offenses 
while receiving the aid.

The class-action suit, which the American Civil Liberties Union is to 
file on Wednesday in federal court in South Dakota on behalf of an 
organization called Students for Sensible Drug Policy, names the 
secretary of education, Margaret Spellings, as a defendant.

The named plaintiffs are three students who lost financial aid after 
misdemeanor drug convictions. They represent 200,000 students with 
drug records who also lost financial help since the first version of 
the law was passed in 1998.

Valerie Smith, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education, said 
she could not comment on pending litigation.

The suit contends that the law is unconstitutional because it amounts 
to double jeopardy, further penalizing students who were already 
punished by the courts. The suit also argues that the law violates 
the students' right to due process, and disproportionately hurts 
African-Americans, who are more frequently convicted of drug offenses 
than whites.

Congress has eased the law since 1998, so that it now applies only to 
students who were convicted when they were already receiving aid.

Kraig Selken, a plaintiff and a senior at Northern State University 
in Aberdeen, S.D., was convicted of misdemeanor drug possession last 
year, and has lost state aid as a consequence of losing federal aid. 
The assistance covered nearly his entire tuition bill of $3,000 a year.

"If I had richer parents or better economic status, I wouldn't even 
have to worry about it, because I could simply pay my way to any 
school I wanted," he said. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake