HEA
Reform
Campaign
Online
Petition
Launched
4/16/99
The Higher Education Act of 1998, signed into law in October, includes a provision that delays or denies all federal financial aid to any student or prospective student for any drug law violation, no matter how minor. In the wake of the new law, a nationwide campaign has been launched to have it repealed. On March 10th, Rep. Barney Frank introduced H.R. 1053, which would do just that. The campaign has grown quickly, with national organizations, including the ACLU, the NAACP, the United States Students' Association and others adding their collective voice to the efforts of students on more than 150 campuses in opposition to the new law and support of its repeal. This week, the campaign moved to a new level with the launch of a web site, http://www.RaiseYourVoice.com, from which concerned citizens can contact their legislators to urge them to repeal the HEA provision. Within the first 24 hours of the web site's launch, more than 1,000 people had already done so. Coalition members will be urging their members and supporters to visit the site and to forward the URL to their friends, families and colleagues so that they too can raise their voices to let Congress know that foreclosing educational opportunities is not a productive approach to the problem of substance abuse. To learn more about the HEA Reform Campaign on college campuses, check out http://www.u-net.org. To contact your legislators to urge their support for HEA Reform, go to http://www.RaiseYourVoice.com. (DRCNet has members from across the political spectrum, from left-leaning progressives to libertarians who believe in having the least government possible. DRCNet is strictly devoted to drug policy, and doesn't take a position on the larger question of government funding of social programs, including financial aid. So long as the government is the provider of financial aid, it is clear that no private system will spring up to serve the needs of convicted drug offenders. Hence, we oppose drug war discrimination within social programs including the Higher Education Act, but without taking a position on the public vs. private question itself.)
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