Pubdate: Thu, 17 Feb 2000
Source: The Phoenix (PA)
Copyright: 2000 The Phoenix
Contact:  Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave., Swarthmore, PA 19081
Website: http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/org/phoenix/
Forum: http://www.message-board.net/cgi-bin/discussion.asp?id780
Authors: Benjamin Gaines and Delonte Gholston
Cited: Students for a Sensible Drug Policy: http://www.ssdp.org/

DRUG CONVICTS' FINANCIAL AID AT RISK

An Open Letter To President Al Bloom

Dear President Bloom,

Earlier in this week, you announced that Swarthmore College, through its 
athletic teams, would "...support the NAACP boycott of South Carolina over 
the issue of the continued display of the Confederate flag." We believe 
that this is a valuable statement of intolerance for an antiquated 
inflammatory symbol, and with the help of similar actions by other 
institutions it can bring about a sensible action by the people and 
government of South Carolina.

We now request that you continue the effort to bring about "...a humane and 
just society," and support another policy which has been endorsed by the 
NAACP, as well as the National Organization for Women, American Civil 
Liberties Union, United States Students' Association, and Friends Committee 
on National Legislation. The policy we are speaking of is a reform of the 
Higher Education Act of 1998 to remove a provision which denies federal 
financial aid to students who have been convicted at a state or federal 
level of any drug related offense.

This provision of the HEA goes into effect this July 1, and already the 
Free Application for Federal Student Aid includes question 28, which asks 
students to report whether or not they have drug related offenses in their 
record which subject them to a loss of eligibility. As a result of the 
provision, thousands of students will lose their federal need based aid, 
and with it, their ability to attend college. There is no similar 
regulation for students convicted of crimes such as murder, rape, assault, 
vandalism, or theft. This law imposes an unequal burden on students from 
lower income families, allowing wealthier students to continue their 
education without worry, in effect creating separate drug laws for the rich 
and the poor.

In addition, this law is, whether intentionally or not, inexcusably racist. 
The facts about drug arrests and convictions are crystal clear. 
Non-Hispanic African Americans make up a little over 11.3 percent of 
Americans over the age of 12. Americans from Hispanic backgrounds make up 
about 10.2 percent. Non-Hispanic Blacks make up 15 percent of current drug 
users, and Hispanics make up about 10 percent. Blacks (Hispanic and 
non-Hispanic), were 36.8 percent of those arrested for "drug abuse 
violations" in 1997. In 1996, Blacks (again regardless of Hispanic 
heritage) made up 53 percent of those convicted of a felony drug offense in 
State courts, including 49 percent of those convicted for possession 
related offenses. The incongruence is staggering.

Student governments from 13 campuses around the country have endorsed HEA 
reform, and we hope that the Swarthmore student body will follow suit 
shortly. My challenge to you, President Bloom, is two-fold. First, we ask 
you, on behalf of the administration of Swarthmore College, to endorse HEA 
reform, and the end of a racist restriction on need based federal financial 
aid. Secondly, we ask you to work with the Swarthmore financial aid 
department, to replace aid denied to students because of this act of Congress.

Flying a Confederate flag over a government building is a symbolic gesture 
which many Americans now come to equate with racial hatred and 
discrimination. Denying need based financial aid to students in an 
observably racist fashion is worse. It is an act which continues the legacy 
of the Confederate flag, and what it symbolizes, indefinitely into the future.

Benjamin Gaines '01
President, Students for Sensible Drug Policy

Delonte Gholston '02
President, College Democrats 
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