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Newsbrief:
Wayne
State
Passes
HEA
Reform
Resolution
in
Advance
of
SSDP
National
Day
of
Action
4/11/03
The Wayne State University (Detroit) Student Council passed a resolution April 3 calling for repeal of the Higher Education Act's (HEA) anti-drug provision. With the Wayne State action, the number of colleges and associations of colleges that have passed similar resolutions now stands at 105. The resolution passed overwhelmingly, with only two members of the council voting against it. The action came after organizing by the Wayne State chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (http://www.ssdp.org), a key player in the nationwide Coalition for HEA Reform. While the coalition includes diverse groups, including the American Council on Education and the Student Financial Aid Administrators Association, it is on-campus activism by SSDP members that has proven crucial in prodding various campuses to add their voice to the clamor for change. "I am very glad that they joined the other hundred schools across the nation in requesting that the drug provision be repealed," local SSDP president Amanda Brazel told the student newspaper the South End. Passed at the behest of Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) in 1998, the HEA's anti-drug provision has blocked more than 100,000 students from receiving financial aid because they have drug convictions. Some 25,000 students lost aid this academic year alone, according to the US Department of Education. Total disqualifications since the law's initial implementation in fall 2000 total around 95,000. The Wayne State resolution came as the coalition geared up for a day of action on campuses nationwide on Friday, April 11 (today). See "HEA Reform: Day of Action on Campuses Nationwide, Press Conference in Washington, ABA and Join Together Join the Fight" in this issue (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/282.html#heareform) and visit http://www.ssdp.org/action/ for further details.
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