cannabisnews.com: UVM Student Government Votes To Dump Drug Question





UVM Student Government Votes To Dump Drug Question
Posted by FoM on December 06, 2000 at 17:45:26 PT
By April Patti
Source: Burlington Free Press
The Student Government at the University of Vermont voted Tuesday night to join the fight against a new policy that delays or denies federal financial aid to students with illegal drug convictions.After half an hour of debate, about 30 voting members decided to add UVM's name to the list of more than 20 colleges and universities nationwide petitioning to rid the Higher Education Act of the drug provision.
A new question on the federal financial aid form asks college students whether they have any drug convictions. A conviction keeps them from receiving federal aid.For those seeking aid next year, the question will become more strict: Students will no longer be able to get away with simply leaving the question blank.UVM Student Government President Chris Allen said the issue is being handled very seriously within the student government and he will see to it that a letter stating UVM's position on the issue is sent to senators James Jeffords and Patrick Leahy and Rep. Bernie Sanders. Allen said the student government is making a statement by joining the protest."If you can accomplish that, then you have a chance to really catch somebody's eye," Allen said.While the measure passed easily Tuesday night, it was not unanimous. Patrick Collins, Student Government speaker of the senate, was against it."I don't think our dollars should be used to subsidize students who break the law," Collins said. First and second drug offenses make a person ineligible for aid for one or two years, he noted. "I don't think (the provision) has the long-term damaging effects it has been made out to have."If the move to dump the provision makes it to the House, it might find support from Sanders.A spokesman for the congressman said he "thinks that criminal justice is a separate sphere from education." Source: Burlington Free Press (VT)Author: April PattiPublished: December 6, 2000Copyright: 2000 Burlington Free PressContact: letters bfp.burlingtonfreepress.comWebsite: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.comRelated Articles:7,000 U.S. Students Forfeit All or Part of Aidhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7422.shtmlThe New Anti-War Protestershttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7287.shtmlNo Loans for Stoners http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6178.shtmlStudents Seeking Aid Not Answering Drug Question http://cannabisnews.com/news/5/thread5143.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by Gaspee Days Committe on March 17, 2001 at 18:13:24 PT:
Gaspee
You have an interesting viewpoint on the history of the Gaspee. If you'd like to expand on that topic, we'd consider posting it on our Gaspee Virtual Archives at the sublink of Virtual Archives on our website of http://www.gaspee.com
Gaspee Virtual Archives
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Comment #2 posted by freedom fighter on December 08, 2000 at 18:17:35 PT
Don't you stop believing!
I hear you ripper even when I am deaf.I see you ripper even when I am blind.It does not take a deaf and blind man to know.Drug War is sooooo anti-freedom!People, are you listening to ripper? Stop the Drug War!
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Comment #1 posted by ripper on December 06, 2000 at 18:27:48 PT
freedom
Lieutenant William Dudingston served the Royal Navy well. And by so doing, brought on what might be called a preliminaryaction of the American Revolution in the year 1772. With admirable vigilance, Dudingston spotted, pursued, and capturedsmugglers who operated among the many tricky channels and rocky coves of Rhode Island Narragansett Bay. And servedhimself well,too. When his swift patrol ship, the revenue cutter Gaspee, succeeded in catching one of the smugglers, and thevictim's goods were sold after court action, Lieutnant Dudingson got a handsome share of the proceeds. He was fierce towardAmerican merchentmen who dared bring in such goods as molasses from the French West Indies. For he was determined toforce obedience to the Acts of Trade, which sought to keep colonial business within the confines of the British mercantilesystem. And he was equally fierce toward skippers of whatever law-abiding ships he stopped and inspected-for who new whatthey might be carrying. The colonist had begun to demonstrate a rebellious mood, and the navy must be on the alert. Thisofficiousness was intolerable for such enterprising merchants as John Brown of Providence. His firm Nicholas Brown andCompany, had been doing business in many parts of the world for the better part of the century. His ships, and those of otherRhode Islanders, would one day reach china and the east Indies and were presently plying between Europe, Africa and theWest Indies. If the cargo from Africa often consisted of slaves, and if the cargo from the Antilles was not always Britishproduced- wasn't that the way fortunes were made? On the afternoon of June 9 1772, Lieutenant Dudingston pressed his luck abit to far when chasing a smuggler close to shore: he ran aground on a sand pit below Providence. Hearing of the Gasspee'saccident, John Brown recalled how Rohde Ilanders had wrecked another costomes boat some four years earlier. And,collecting a band of armed men ready for any action against the crown, He rowed out to the helpless ship, wounded thelieutenant and set the Gaspee ablaze. Somehow the culprits could not be found, even though the outraged British cabinetdemanded that the offenders be brought to justice they offered a 500 pound reward. Parliment, for its part, had declared 4months before that setting fire to a navy vessel was a treasonous crime, punishable by death. The investigation accomplishednothing, besides persuading many Americans by the severity of its language that England was determined to put a noose aroundthe neck of all who believed in freedom. The Gaspee assault was but a prelude to many other battles, including the one on April19, 1775, at Concord and Lexington which is generaly treated as the opening ingagement of the American Revolution. Thissounds very much like the drug war to me. What do you think?
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