John
W
Perry
Scholarship
Fund
for
Students
Losing
Financial
Aid
Because
of
Drug
Convictions
Holds
Initial
Fundraiser
in
NYC
3/29/02
Nearly one hundred people gathered at the New York Society for Ethical Culture on Central Park West Tuesday evening to kick off a scholarship fund designed to provide an alternative for college students denied federal financial aid because of drug convictions. Braving blustery winds and a chilling drizzle, dozens of people arrived checkbook in hand to contribute to the John W. Perry Scholarship Fund. Perry, a New York City police officer, drug reformer and ACLU and Libertarian Party activist died in the line of duty at the World Trade Center on September 11. The Perry Fund, which is organized by the DRCNet Foundation, raised $5,000 that evening, including a $2,000 contribution from the Drug Policy Alliance, with total available funds expected to exceed $10,000 in the immediate future. DRCNet hopes to raise at least $100,000 to provide scholarships averaging $1,000. The Perry Fund has its genesis in a 1998 law, authored by Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), that delays or denies federal financial aid to would-be students for any state or federal drug offense. Under the Higher Education Act (HEA) drug provision, any drug offense, no matter how minor, automatically triggers loss of financial aid eligibility for time periods ranging from a year to indefinitely. Over 46,000 students have been denied access to federal aid under the HEA's anti-drug provision during the current academic year. "The HEA anti-drug provision is a counterproductive law," DRCNet executive director David Borden told the crowd. "It is a second punishment suffered only by the poor and working classes, and it is racially discriminatory in effect because of the drug war's racial disparities. Our coalition continues to call for full repeal," he said. Norman Siegel, former long-term director of the New York Civil Liberties Union and current director of the Freedom Legal Defense and Education Fund, an organization drawing attention to civil liberties issues in the wake of September 11, emceed the event. Calling Perry "a very special New Yorker" and a "renaissance man," Siegel told how, on the morning of September 11, Perry was at One Police Plaza filling out his retirement papers -- preparing for a second career in law -- when the planes struck the World Trade Center. He rushed to the scene and never came back. Siegel also recounted how on September 9, Perry had spent the day with him campaigning in Siegel's run for NYC Public Advocate. "John W. Perry would be very proud of what we're doing in his name," said Siegel. "He cared about the Constitution." Perry's mother, Patricia Perry, told the crowd her son was a man who was always searching. "I am very proud he grew up to be the man he became," she said. Explaining that "John was careful about what he put in his body because he was proud of the way he looked," nevertheless "he wanted people to learn to tolerate and embrace those who believe or behave a little differently. And he did all he could to speak out against the drug laws." While the purpose of the gathering was to increase the scholarship fund, much of the rhetoric attacked the law that made such a fund necessary. "We are the DARE generation," said Students for Sensible Drug Policy (http://www.ssdp.org) president Shawn Heller. "Stop using our names for your drug war politicking," he said in remarks aimed at Souder and his congressional ilk. Heller explained that SSDP has spread to over 200 campuses around the country, in part because of students' reaction to the provision. Saying that the campaign to repeal the HEA drug provision had "caught fire across the nation," Borden added that scholarship funds "have a special resonance," as a public statement and that the Perry Fund also aims in a direct way at particular groups of people -- financial aid professionals and students they know of who have lost aid because of the drug provision. "The Perry Fund will create a chain of communication reaching large numbers of people affected by the provision and catalyzing social change" he predicted. Keynote speaker Ira Glasser, recently retired executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, returned to the theme of racial inequality with a speech titled "American Drug Laws: The New Jim Crow Justice." "This is a civil rights issue," he told the audience. "The HEA anti-drug provision is a disproportionate and discriminatory race-based program," he said. Citing statistic after statistic about racial bias in drug law enforcement and the futility of racial profiling as a law enforcement tool, Glasser ridiculed such tactics. "Even if we assume for the sake of argument that all drug dealers are black, which they aren't, it does not follow that all blacks are drug dealers," he said. "Most NBA players are black, but that doesn't mean if you want an NBA team you go and round up the first five black guys you see. This would be laughable if it weren't so brutal," he groaned. "The drug war is a replacement for Jim Crow," said Glasser. "The Supreme Court says it's okay to kick people out of public housing because their kids smoked a joint down the street. Fourteen percent of African-American males can't vote because they have felony convictions, many of them drug convictions. That's 200,000 black votes in Florida alone. You remember Florida?", Glasser asked. "And now they want to keep these kids from going to college. What was the civil rights struggle about if it wasn't about housing, and education, and voting rights? "We can honor John Perry's memory by fighting this law and supporting this fund," urged Glasser. Other speakers included Judith Wallach, who delivered a welcome from the Ethical Society; Eric Blumenson, professor of law at Suffolk University in Boston, author of a law article being published in May that lays out constitutional arguments for challenging the HEA drug provision in court; and Kenny Kramer, who knew John Perry from their work together with the New York Libertarian Party. Kramer, who was the inspiration for the famous Seinfeld show character, recounted how it was Perry who encouraged him to run for NYC mayor (http://www.kramerformayor.com). Miriam Kramer of New York Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) read a statement by NY PIRG board member Charlene Piper, who has spearheaded opposition to the drug provision at Brooklyn College. And Ron Crickenberger, political director of the Libertarian Party, traveled up from Washington, DC to donate copies of the newly-published book "Drug War Addiction," written by another police officer who opposes the drug war, Colorado Sheriff Bill Masters (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/220.html#billmasters). Crickenberger offered free copies to anyone donating $100 to the Perry Fund and copies signed by Sheriff Masters to anyone donating $250, as well as to have Sheriff Masters send personally autographed copies to anyone contributing $1,000. Contributions to the John W. Perry Scholarship Fund may be sent to: DRCNet Foundation, P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036. Checks should be made payable to "DRCNet Foundation," with "Perry Fund" or "scholarship fund" in the memo. Contributions to the DRCNet Foundation are tax-deductible. Please let us know if we may include your name in the donor list on the web site and promotional materials for future efforts. Application forms for the Perry Fund are scheduled to be completed over the next two weeks, and will be announced to the financial aid community at that time. The Perry Fund will also serve as a clearinghouse, pitching individual cases to community foundations and other scholarship providers. See http://www.RaiseYourVoice.com/perryfund/ for further information on this scholarship program. Visit http://www.drugwar.com/pperryfund.shtm for further reporting on this event, including extensive photographs. Visit http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--collegeaid-drugs0325mar25.story to read a national Associated Press report on the Perry Fund, and please let us know if you've seen the AP story in your local paper. Visit http://www.newsday.com/mynews/ny-nydrug272641490mar27.story for an article written by the Long Island newspaper Newsday. The Perry Fund was also covered by Black Entertainment Television Nightly News, and by various radio shows (possibly including CBS Radio News).
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