Restore Financial Aid to College Drug Offenders
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
July 2005

###### For some people, contributing money is much easier than contributing time to the issues they care about.  The good news is that we need both.  Please visit http://www.idpi.us to make your contribution today and get a free book. ######
 
In this alert:

1. ACTION ALERT:  Restore Financial Aid to College Drug Offenders
2. IDPI letter published in Washington Post

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1. ACTION ALERT:  Restore Financial Aid to College Drug Offenders

Since 1998, students with drug convictions have been delayed or denied federal financial aid for college. 
 
PLEASE EMAIL YOUR U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TODAY: http://capwiz.com/mobilize/issues/alert/?alertid=7839251&type=TA
 
On Wednesday (tomorrow), a House committee will have the opportunity to repeal this policy.  It is crucial that members of the House Education & Workforce Committee hear your resounding support for Representative Rob Andrews' amendment to scrap this backward policy once and for all. 
 
The religious community has taken a stand against this horrible policy.  Be sure to include the following list of religious groups that want to get rid of this law in your email:
 
National Council of Churches                   
Presbyterian Church (USA)
United Methodist Board of Church & Society     
Episcopal Church             
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America         
Progressive National Baptist Convention  
Church of the Brethren Witness                 
United Church of Christ            
Friends Committee on National Legislation      
Union for Reform Judaism           
Unitarian Universalist Association             
Church Women United          
Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities
Religious Society of Friends (Philadelphia Yearly Meeting)
 
This will be the first time Congress has revisited this law since it was slipped into the Higher Education Act Reauthorization as an amendment in 1998.  Since then, more than 160,000 students with drug convictions have been blocked access to federal financial aid.
 
In 1998, this amendment quietly became law without debate or recorded vote.  Now, seven years later, we finally have a chance to get members on the record about whether or not they truly want to help at-risk young people get the education they need to live productive lives and be responsible citizens.
 
PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW TO HELP FULLY REPEAL THE HIGHER EDUCATION ACT DRUG PROVISION!
 
1.Send a NEW message to your representative: http://capwiz.com/mobilize/issues/alert/?alertid=7839251&type=TA
 
2.Find out if your representative sits on the House Education and Workforce
Committee: http://edworkforce.house.gov/members/109th/mem-fc.htm
 
3.If so, CALL HIM OR HER NOW! Urge your representative to support the Andrews Amendment to repeal the ban on federal financial aid for students with drug convictions! Find your representative's phone number: http://www.congress.org
 
"Hello, my name is _____ and I am calling from _____. I am calling to urge Representative _____ to support the Andrews amendment on Wednesday to repeal the ban on federal financial aid for students with drug convictions.  As a person of faith, I agree with the many religious denominations that have taken a position against this counter-productive policy. There is no way to fix this law: it must be REPEALED. Please tell Representative _____ to open the doors of education by fully repealing the ban on financial aid."
 
 
MORE INFORMATION:
 
The 1998 amendment to the Higher Education Act included a section called the Drug Free Student Provision. This provision makes students ineligible for financial aid if they have been convicted of a drug offense. It prevents many students from attending school, and often forces those affected while in school to leave for lack of funding.
 
Education Facts:
 
* More than 160,000 applications for federal financial aid have been denied because of the Drug Free Student Provision of the Higher Education Act. This number does not include people who did not apply because they knew they would be denied.
 
* Being forced to leave college significantly lowers the probability of a student ever finishing school: Of students enrolled in a 4-year college, 36% of those who left after the first year did not return. This increases to 50% for students enrolled in a 2-year college.
 
* Keeping students out of college reduces the possibility that their children will complete college, and helps feed the cycle of under-education, poverty and economic disadvantage: Only 55% of students who enroll in college will complete their degree if their parents have not obtained a college degree.
 
 
Criminal Justice Facts:
 
* Educated individuals are less likely to become repeat offenders: According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, there is an inverse relationship between recidivism rates and education, the higher level of education received, the lower the recidivism rates.
 
* Penalizing a student under the so-called Drug Free Student Provision is double or triple jeopardy: Students are already subject to the normal criminal justice penalties imposed by our courts, and sometimes additional sanctions from their schools.
 
* The provision has a racially discriminatory impact: In federal courts, 43% of those convicted of a drug offense are Hispanic, 29% are Black, the remaining minority is White. In state courts, 53% of those convicted of a drug offense are Black. Although Whites make up 69% of the population, minorities comprise the largest percentages of individuals ineligible for financial aid.
 
 
Public Support:
 
* Students across the country want the Drug Free Student Provision repealed: More than 100 student governments at major colleges and universities have passed resolutions calling for the repeal of the provision.
 
* Major colleges have stood up against the provision, refusing the let their students be affected: four colleges, including Yale, have implemented scholarship programs to replace aid taken away by this law.
 
* Major education and civil rights organizations nationwide are joining the fight to have the provision repealed: Over 30 national organizations are officially involved and have contacted Congress about the issue, including ACLU, NAACP, American Federation of Teachers, and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

2. IDPI letter published in Washington Post
 
On Wednesday, June 29, the Washington Post published a letter-to-the-editor written by UUDPR/IDPI executive director Charles Thomas in response to an article about Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales’s recent call for more mandatory minimum sentencing. 
 
Moral Opposition to Minimum Sentences
 
Regarding the June 22 news story "Minimum Sentences Urged; Gonzales
Responds to Rulings Against Mandatory Guidelines":
 
Considering how often the Bush administration refers to moral values, it should consider that most major religious groups oppose mandatory sentencing, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Council of Churches, the United Methodist Church, Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship Ministries, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, all four major black Baptist denominations, the United Church of Christ, the Union for Reform Judaism and the Unitarian Universalist Association.  No denominations are known to favor mandatory sentencing.
 
The moral position on this issue is clear.
 
Charles Thomas
Executive Director
Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative
Silver Spring
 
(Washington Post, 6/29/05, page A20)
see also http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1048/a05.html?86324