Pubdate: Mon, 17 Apr 2006
Source: Indianapolis Star (IN)
Copyright: 2006 Indianapolis Newspapers Inc.
Contact: http://www.indystar.com/help/contact/letters.html
Website: http://www.starnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/210
Author: Staci Hupp
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hea.htm (Higher Education Act)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

DRUGS HALT AID FOR 8,900 STUDENTS

Indiana Has Highest Rate Of Financial-Aid Seekers Denied For Drug Offenses

Tonisha Mauldin had more than her clean record at stake when campus 
police found marijuana in her IUPUI student apartment last fall.

A drug conviction could have forced her to drop out of Indiana 
University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Mauldin said, because she 
depends on loans and scholarships to pay for school.

Federal law strips financial aid from college students with drug 
offenses. That law has hit Indiana harder than any other state since 
it took effect six years ago, according to an activist group that has 
joined a nationwide push to overturn the law.

In Indiana, 8,903 college students have been denied financial aid 
since 2000 because of drug offenses, education data show. The number 
makes up a tiny share -- only half of 1 percent of more than 1.7 
million financial aid applicants, according to a report being 
released today by Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a Washington, 
D.C., advocacy group.

But that rate tops the nation.

"I really don't think it's fair," said Mauldin, 19, whose record will 
be cleared if she stays out of trouble.  Student drug offenders 
deserve punishment, she said, but denying someone a chance at 
university "has to do with the rest of our lives."

The state has a unique place in the national debate. Indiana is home 
to the federal law's author, U.S. Rep. Mark Souder, a Fort Wayne 
Republican. Souder did not respond to an interview request last week.

Indiana also is where part of the legal backlash originated.

A Ball State University student is a plaintiff in a class-action 
lawsuit filed last month by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Alexis Schwab, a sophomore from North Judson in Northern Indiana, was 
charged with marijuana possession last fall, when officers pulled 
over a car she was riding in.  Schwab's attorney, Adam Wolf, said 
officers found less than a gram of the drug.

Because it was Schwab's first conviction, she was stripped of 
financial aid for one year. Penalties are stiffer for repeat 
offenders. Wolf said Schwab contacted a Washington, D.C., anti-drug 
law group, which hooked her up with the ACLU. Schwab, who studies 
public relations at Ball State, declined to comment through Wolf.

"There are scores of people around the country who commit any number 
of nondrug offenses," Wolf said, "and the government doesn't stand in 
the way of their educations."

The ACLU's lawsuit argues the law singles out students who can't 
afford a college education without financial aid.

Mauldin, of Muncie, counts herself among those financially strapped 
students. So when police officers found a small amount of marijuana 
in her apartment, "I was really worried," she said. "The only thing I 
was thinking was, 'I'm not going to get to go to school next year.' "

Mauldin was charged with marijuana possession last fall, but she said 
a judge spared her a conviction in exchange for two years of 
probation and community service.

"Everything worked out for the best for me," she said.

Her fate could be a sign that judges and campus officials are careful 
with first offenders. IUPUI police officers have directed five out of 
14 drug-related cases to the university's dean of students this year 
instead of to the courts. The dean's discipline choices range from 
expulsion to probation.

"It all depends on the amount and on the circumstances," said Capt. 
Bill Abston, of IUPUI's Police Department. "People have a lot of 
money and time invested in their education."

Drug arrests at public, four-year universities stayed essentially the 
same from 1999 to 2003, according to Security on Campus, a 
Pennsylvania nonprofit group. Souder's "drug-free education" law has 
been challenged by other federal lawmakers since it took effect. 
Those efforts largely failed. The law was modified this year to 
affect only people convicted while they're in college. Before that, 
the law could apply to convictions before a student got to college.

"That's certainly a positive step, but it doesn't address the 
underlying problem," Wolf said. "The law doesn't deter drug use. It 
deters an education."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman