in the loss of financial aid if convicted of drug-related offenses.

This "Aid Elimination Penalty" is not new to the 2010-11 school year; the law has been intact, but not revised since 1998.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy Organization said the law is an amendment to the Higher Education Acts in 1998.

Originally, the law automatically disqualified students from receiving any federal aid if they had ever been convicted of a drug offense. The law was reinstated in 2006 and currently still stands. The student now has to be receiving aid at the time of conviction to be ineligible of receiving federal aid.

The e-mail was sent by Dean of Students Kandy Mink Salas, who said that the message was encouraged by the CSU Chancellor's Office to serve as a reminder to all students about the consequences in place for these types of offenses.

This e-mail wasn't based upon student behavior, Salas said.

"We don't want anybody to be surprised if something were to happen and they were to lose their financial aid," Salas said.

In 2002, the American Civil Liberties Union under the provisions of the "Aid Elimination Penalty," denied aid to approximately 200,000 students.

Christie Gardiner, criminal justice professor, said that many students have lost their financial aid without even knowing about the law.

Now students can make a more informed choice about the offense and ask themselves if they are willing to risk their financial aid; the law can't change behavior if people have never even heard about it, said Gardiner.

"The idea that she (Salas) is even letting students know about this, I think is fantastic," Gardiner said. "You're less likely to do the act if you know you will be punished."

According to the Students for Sensible Drug Policy Organization, over 325 organizations have called for the penalty to be repealed, including: the National Education Association, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, the Association for Addiction Professionals, the NAACP, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian Church, the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, and the United States Student Association.

The main arguments against the "Aid Elimination Penalty" according to the Students for Sensible Drug Policy Organization are: the government is forcing students convicted of the charges to potentially drop out of school if they can't earn enough money for tuition, drug convictions are the only offenses for which students are denied financial aid (murderers, rapists, burglars, arsonists, and other criminals are all eligible to receive aid), the penalty punishes individuals twice for the same infraction and it keeps minorities out of school due to racial profiling and the discriminatory enforcement of drug laws.

Thomas Cormons, a 19-year-old, said he thought the law was just recently being instated as a new rule on campus.

"I don't think the law should be changed," Cormons said. "I think that it's pretty cool that they are trying to raise awareness about the law, because I had no idea about it before the e-mail."