Drug convicts denied financial aid; DOE faces suit

By Christal Bolden
Contributing writer

More than 170,000 college students were denied financial aid because of drug convictions, though Congress recently passed a law permitting financial aid — a situation that has placed the Department of Education in a lawsuit.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy, or SSDP, is suing the department, because it refuses to release a list of students with drug convictions who remain ineligible for financial aid because of the Higher Education Act Drug Provision, according to the SSDP Web site. The DOE will not release the information for free, because it could lead to drug legalization and the organization might profit from it, the site stated.

But Chad Colby, spokesman for the DOE, said in an E-mail that the department refused to grant the fee waiver, because the “organization failed to demonstrate that its request was in the public interest” and “it was not primarily in the commercial interest of the SSDP.”

The SSDP is a non-profit organization that represents young people and ensures that punitive drug war policies don’t impede people’s access to education, said Tom Angell, the campaigns director of SSDP.

New programs of study offered for fall

By Tami Livingston
Assistant News Editor

The University of North Florida Board of Trustees recently approved two new degree programs to be offered to students in the fall of 2006.

A new undergraduate degree in pre-k/primary education was approved, as well as an undergraduate degree in sport management.

In previous terms, both programs were available as tracks under other majors. The approval will place the tracks as stand-alone degrees.

The pre-k/primary education degree will not differ much from its previous design, according to Dr. Janice Wood, Crawford Early Literacy Faculty Fellow. It will meet all state standards and its students will meet all state competencies, she said. Upon graduation, students will be certified to teach children from 3 years old through the third grade.