Suing For School AidIt's a federal lawsuit that affects every college student who applies for federal financial aid. In March, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education saying a rule that denies students convicted of a drug crime from getting financial aid is unconstitutional. In addition to the ACLU, a Northern State student and two college students from different states are named as plaintiffs in the legal action.
As Kraig Selken walks across the Northern State campus, he says his future at the school remains uncertain. He doesn't know if he'll be able to return next year, or even graduate, as he had planned to, in 2007.
Fourth year Northern State student Kraig Selken says, "If I was able to get my financial aid back I'd be able to return to school come this fall without worry about how I'm going to pay for it or whether I can still continue."
For the next year, Selken won't get financial aid from the federal government because he plead guilty to a misdemeanor drug crime in October. According to a class-action federal lawsuit filed against the Department of Education by Selken, two college students from Wisconsin and Indiana and the American Civil Liberties Union, Selken entered the plea, "after law enforcement officers found a small amount of marijuana in a house he shared with two other students."
A law put in place in 2000 denies federal financial aid to any student for up to a year for their first drug conviction, and the penalties increase for second and third offenses. After that time has passed students can qualify for federal financial aid again, but it's a rule Selken and the ACLU think is unconstitutional.
ACLU Attorney Adam Wolf says, "The federal government is saying no we're not going to allow you to have an education. It's un-fair, it's unjust, and it's irrational."
The group says the rule punishes drug offenders twice. Once, when they are convicted of and sentenced for their crime, and then another time when their financial aid money is taken away. They also say this law singles out drug offenders.
Selken says, "If someone else was convicted of a different crime was able to go to school why should I have been denied."
Wolf says, "Convicted murderers to convicted shop-lifters can continue to get an education. The only group that's denied an education by the federal government are those convicted of drug crimes."
And while the ACLU says this rule is taking money from students that they need to fund their education. The congressman who came up with the law says this lawsuit is taking money from taxpayers.
In a written statement to Keloland News, U.S. Representative Mark Souder, a Republican Congressman from Indiana, says, "The ACLU lawsuit is simply grandstanding, a publicity stunt that-unless it is summarily dismissed-will force taxpayers to spend more money defending the law, money that could be spent on education."
But the ACLU insists the law is unconstitutional and affects thousands of college students every year.
Wolf says, "It doesn't deter drug use, it deters education. We're going to move as quickly as possible to ensure that students across the country are going to get the aid that they deserve."
Souder discredits the lawsuit and the ACLU's attempt to overturn the law by saying, "The lawsuit is yet another example of why the loser should pay. The ACLU should have to refund taxpayers for this harassment."
But as one of the students affected by the law, Selken disagrees with the congressman who sponsored it.
Selken says, "Well, mistakes can be made, I would say that your tax-payers money are going to be used to help a student with their education or they can be used for other means, building more prisons, other such things that really don't advance the idea of society."
The department of education says the rule is becoming less restrictive this summer. As of July first only those who have been convicted of drug crimes while in school or while they are receiving financial aid will fall under the rule. Right now anyone with a drug conviction can have their financial aid taken away.
The department of education must file a response to the lawsuit by the end of the month.
