The Drug-Free Student Loans Act, a provision of the Higher Education Act of 1998, mandates that applicants and students convicted of drug offenses forfeit eligibility for federal financial aid. The provision stipulates that first-time drug offenders are ineligible for one year, second-time offenders for two years and third-time offenders indefinitely.

Students can recover their aid early upon successfully completing a recognized treatment program.

The political issue has been heated at the national level. Rep. Barney Frank `61 (D-Mass.) has introduced a bill to Congress aimed at repealing the provision, which currently has 29 co-sponsors.

Opposition to the provision also comes from the single-issue Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform (CHEAR). CHEAR includes the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People-neither of which have Harvard College chapters-and over 30 other national groups.

Concerns focus on what critics see as unfair targeting of nonviolent offenders as well as the practice's potential for racial discrimination.

"It really is a double whammy, especially on the African-American community," said Chris Evans, campus coordinator for the Drug Reform Coalition, which is a member of CHEAR.

Gary Orfield, a professor of education and social policy at the Graduate School of Education (GSE) and the Kennedy School of Government, is another critic of the law.