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- STANFORD FACES SANCTION IN DRUG DISPUTE
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- Katherine Bishop Special to the New York Times
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- San Fransisco, April 22 - In its latest attempt to force universities to enforce
- anti-drug policies, the Government has warned Stanford University that it risks
- losing Federal money because an instructor there has advocated drug use and
- boasted of carrying illegal drugs on campus.
- Stanford announced today that Donald Kennedy, president of the
- university, had ordered an investigation to determine whether the instructorm
- Stuart T. Reges, a lecturer in computer science, had "intentionally violated
- university policy on drugs and alcohol." The School of Engineering has placed
- Mr. Reges, 32 years old, on paid leave pending the completion of the
- investigation, said Susan K. Hoergor, senior university counsel.
- Mr. Reges said in an interview today that he was stunned by the
- Government's action. "It seems obvious to me that it is an infringement of
- my privacy and free speech rights and of intellectual freedom for me to express
- an opinion," he said. "What they call drug education is indoctrination. Drug
- users are becoming in the '90s what Communists were in the '50s."
- OBJECTING TO BOUNDARIES
- Mr. Reges said that while he supported efforts to stop drug use among
- high school and elementary school students, he believed the Government was
- "trying to move the boundary to include university students among the children."
- The Government's warning comes a month after a drug raid involving
- Federal authorities at the University of Virginia and a declaration last week
- by Bob Martinez, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, that
- the Bush Administration would be monitoring how well universities were complying
- with federally imposed anti-drug policies.
- Stanford rules prohibit possession, distribution or use of drugs on
- campus, in the workplace or as part of any university activity. Violations can
- result in sanctions including dismissal.
- The dispute comes as the private university in Palo Alto is already
- reeling from criticism about its use of public money. A Congressional panel is
- looking into whether Stanford might have overcharged the Government as much as
- $200 million in the 1980s through improper claims for reimbursement on
- federally financed research projects.
- The University moved after Mr. Kennedy was notified by Mr. Martinez that
- Mr. Reges, an instructor at Stanford since 1979, had written the Office of
- National Drug Control policy to express his disagreement with the Government's
- anti-drug campaign. Mr. Reges took particular exception to provisions
- requiring universities receiving Federal money to take action against illegal
- drug use on campus.
- In the March 28 letter, Mr. Reges told Mr. Martinez, "I am doing
- everything I can to make fools of you," including carrying illegal drugs in his
- backpack while on campus.
- Mr. Reges told of how he had advised an undergraduate about
- experimenting with the drug MDA, a chemical variation of amphetamine that
- produces euphoria. he also indicated that de had used university money to
- provide alcohol to students under the legal age of 21 at a university-related
- dinner.
- In his letter to Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Martinez said, "In all candor, I would
- find it beyond comprehension that a man who openly professes to have encouraged
- an undergraduate to ingest MDA could continue to enjoy faculty privileges at a
- pace-setting institution like Stanford University." Mr. Martinez also reminded
- Mr. Kennedy that the university must insure that its drug policy was enforced
- if it was to "retain eligibility for Federal funding and financial assistance."
- In copies of his correspondence furnished by Mr. Martinez's office, Mr.
- Reges says that an undergraduate student sought his advice about MDA, telling
- Mr. Reges he had already had "positive experiences" with other hallucinogens
- like marijuana and LSD. "I naturally reassured him that he had nothing to
- worry about and should go ahead and experiment with MDA," Mr. Reges wrote,
- adding that the two had a long discussion about the "important intellectual and
- spiritual lessons to learn from our drug use."
- In letters to the campus newspaper last November, Mr. Reges described
- MDA as "my own personal favorite drug: because its primary effects are euphoria
- "and a sense of liking everyone."
- "About the most dangerous thing you might do under the influence of MDA
- that you wouldn't do otherwise would be to hug or kiss someone," Mr. Reges
- wrote. He advised readers to openly defy campus drug policy and to refuse to
- allow the Government to dictate private behavior between consenting adults.
- Benjamin F. Banta 4th, Mr. Martinez's press secretary, said today that
- Mr. Martinez had no further comment beyond his letter to Mr. Kennedy.
- Federal money makes up nearly 30 percent of Stanford's annual budget.
- The university expects to receive $122 million for the 1991-1992 school year.
- Only tuition provides a larger source of income.
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