Public higher education institutions should have an incredibly limited place in the private lives of the individuals who choose to attend them. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for one Missouri college.
Linn State Technical College, or LSTC, in central Missouri is drug testing its students for 11 illegal substances, including marijuana and methamphetamines. The college is rationalizing this invasion of its students’ privacy by saying the drug tests are necessary to keep students safe as they work with heavy machinery and do other hazardous tasks.
To add insult to injury, the college makes students pay the $50 to take the drug test.
Students, as young adults, already are held accountable for their actions. They are responsible enough to be trusted without being tested.
Alcohol is an intoxicant, but students aren’t asked to take a Breathalyzer test at the beginning of each school year. It isn’t necessary because the college accepts that some students will choose to drink in a way that does not disrupt their studies. The private decisions of students are just that — private.
The college also claims to be helping students by drug testing them, saying they will encounter drug testing in their future as employees.
That’s true; but businesses, as private entities, have the right to screen potential employees in that manner. Institutions that are supported by public tax dollars — and recently, hefty student loans — do not.
Some aspects of the drug policy are palatable. The probationary policy of the college allows students to continue taking classes while completing an online drug-prevention course.
The probation period also only lasts one semester. But those aren’t good enough reasons for colleges and universities to trample on the rights of students.
Perhaps if the institution only tested the students who work with heavy machinery, or at the very least paid for the students’ test, this would be less of an infringement on students’ rights. However, as it is, this shows a mistrust of the student body by the university.
The Fourth Amendment confirms citizen’s rights to “be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” An unwanted — or unwarranted — drug test is very much a search of an individual’s body. If taken to court, the college would have a hard time establishing otherwise.
The potential for legal trouble alone should dissuade other institutions, such as MSU, from implementing similar policies.
Although the logistics of testing every student are much easier at a small college, such as LSTC, rather than a large university, such as MSU, the principle of unjustly poking around remains the same.
MSU has stayed out of the private lives of its students, and they should continue to do so.
MSU
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