A federal judge recently dismissed a lobby group’s lawsuit to abolish a drug conviction-related financial aid requirement that has denied aid to nearly 200,000 college students during the last decade.
Question 31 on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which asks whether a student has been convicted for the possession or sale of illegal drugs while receiving federal student aid, prompted the Students for a Sensible Drug Policy to file a lawsuit last spring against U.S. Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to eliminate the provision.
Students who answer ‘yes’ are denied aid for at least a year or until they complete a rehabilitation program to battle their drug usage.
SSDP, a grassroots, student-run organization that “dares to resist the War on Drugs,” alleged that the FAFSA question was unconstitutional, but U.S. District Judge Charles Kormann granted a government motion to dismiss the lawsuit on Oct. 27.
“Basically, we were thrown out of court,” said SSDP Campaigns Director Tom Angell.
SSDP dubbed the provision the “Aid Elimination Penalty” because they said it kicks students out of school who rely on federal aid, Angell said.
SSDP argued that the FAFSA question violates the “double jeopardy” clause of the Fifth Amendment because “denial of educational loans to students convicted of a drug offense constitutes an additional criminal punishment,” according to case documents.
Kormann disputed the group’s claims, saying the Supreme Court has “long recognized that ‘revocation of a privilege voluntarily granted … is characteristically free of punitive criminal element.’”
“Ineligibility is automatic upon conviction of a controlled substances offense. In that respect, the behavior to which the ineligibility applies is already a crime,” Kormann said in his 16-page dismissal document.
One of SSDP’s main arguments centers on how no other FAFSA question inquires about criminal activity, so a student who commits a violent crime, such as rape or murder, can still receive government money instead of “a student caught with a single marijuana cigarette,” Angell said.
The Higher Education Amendments of 1998, which created the law, states, “If we want to ensure safety on our Nation’s campuses, it is vital to keep them drug-free.”
Lobby groups, including SSDP, achieved a “huge victory” earlier this year when Congress decided in February to amend the drug-charge question for the 2007-08 FAFSA, Angell said.
Following the change, federal student-aid overseers will no longer count convictions that have been removed from a student’s record, or convictions that occurred when students were younger than 18-years-old, unless they were tried as an adult, said Elizabeth Bickford, the University’s director of student financial aid.
“Hopefully, that hurdle won’t be there for people wanting to come back to school and get on track with a career,” said Bickford, who hasn’t heard any University students complain about the question so far this year.
Previously, University students sought legal advice on how to answer question 31, some even going as far as lying.
Angell said the immense pressure from lobbyists persuaded the government’s decision to amend the law.
“It was the first time a harsh, federal drug law was scaled back in a decade,” he said.
The court’s recent decision will not deter Angell and his peers at SSDP. The student group just held a national conference last month where roughly 300 students met with legislators, pressuring them to voice opposition to the law.
The Democratic sweep in the White House also fostered hope among fellow lobbyists, Angell said.
Two incoming chairmen, George Miller, D-Calif., who controls the education committee, and John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., who oversees the judiciary committee, both look promising to call for permanent changes in the law, Angell said.
SSDP has chapters on college campuses nationwide, but there is not yet one at the University of Oregon, something that the organization aspires to change.
“It’s up to our generation,” Angell said. “If we don’t do anything about it, no one else will.”
Contact the crime, health and safety reporter at [email protected]