The Linkes' primary objection to the Northwestern drug testing program has exclusively to do with civil liberty. Students have a basic right to privacy, they felt, especially if there is no reason to doubt them. "Our position has always been if a kid comes to school and is suspicious and is acting out, we don't have any problems with testing in that case," says Noreen Linke. But why, she wonders, should good kids, scholars and athletes, like her children, be humiliated by having to pee in a cup?

Administrators at Northwestern, and other schools, argue that random testing is a necessary step for the overall good of the school -- that in order to provide a "safe and secure environment for learning" (a phrase favored by principals and administrators alike) for all students, drug testing is a necessary evil, just like locker searches and closed campuses and video surveillance.

The key word in the debate is "unreasonable." Americans are protected by the Fourth Amendment from being forced to undergo unreasonable searches. But those in favor of school drug testing insist that the pervasiveness of drug problems among teens makes it perfectly reasonable to ask all students to undergo random drug testing as a way of solving the problems.

Superintendents and principals of schools where drug testing occurs enhance this argument by stressing that their programs are "voluntary." In reality, this is something of a fib. Requiring all public high school students to participate in drug testing programs would be a violation of the students' constitutional rights, and everyone knows it; but if students volunteer to do it, well, that's another matter altogether.

The school authorities where testing takes place insist that if the kids don't want to be tested, well then, they don't need to sign up for band or cheerleading or French club. This is called "volunteering" for testing, though this label blithely disregards the fact that extracurriculars are hardly "voluntary" for any kid interested in getting into a good college.

This is the sort of logic that makes civil libertarians shudder. Supreme Court decisions like Vernonia already have diminished the right to privacy for kids in public schools. How far, wonder critics of testing, can school authorities take this? Why stop just with drugs? Sex has become a problem in high schools, too, notes Noreen Linke: Does this mean we subject kids to chastity tests next?

"Parents have been conditioned that for the safety and peace of the whole, we'll give up whatever rights need to be given up," she complains. "Every time they can establish a health or safety issue for the kids, the school can do anything they want."

Equally worrisome, say civil libertarians, is the long-term social impact of such programs on personal privacy rights: What happens to the expectations of kids who grow up thinking it's perfectly normal to pee in cups when asked, and be observed by cameras at every corner? As the ICLU's Ken Falk points out, there's been a reduction in expectations about personal privacy over the years, and there is every indication that the erosion will continue. "The stuff we lose now we have a hard time getting back because of legal precedent," says Falk, "but also, we have a hard time getting it back because of attitude." Rarely are privacy rights that have been removed reinstated, he observes.

Indeed, at least at school, giving up Fourth Amendment rights is becoming a way of demonstrating patriotism. Scott Linke explains the mentality that is now prevalent in Kokomo about drug testing: "People say, 'I'm a good person, therefore I don't need my rights, because what do I have to lose? Go ahead, I'll show you I have nothing to hide.'

"Acceptance of this is a badge of honor," he says. "That's nefarious: It's being guilty until proven innocent. That's not the American way: It's the totalitarian police state. But an entire generation is being raised with this mentality."

Linke's fears are echoed in the words of Katie Sheehan, a bright and opinionated cheerleader at Rushville High, who says she isn't bothered by the drug testing at all. "I don't have anything to worry about, and I don't feel like it's a violation of my privacy," she says. "The things they test for aren't legal for anyone to do. Don't do them and you won't get in trouble."

Perhaps the Linkes and Falks of the world would be more understanding about the drug testing programs if there was evidence that drug use was waning because of them. But there isn't. "There's no proof the program works," says Noreen Linke. "With the drug issue, it's symbolism over substance: 'We don't care if you produce four studies that prove this program is ineffective, we have to do something and this is what we're going to do.'"

At Northwestern, superintendent Snoddy says that only a handful of tests ever come back positive; most of these are for tobacco, he says, with a few others testing positive for marijuana or prescription medicines like Ritalin. He also confirms that recent surveys about student drug use have shown no substantial change in intoxicant usage since drug testing began.

Still, Snoddy believes that testing sends a strong message to the kids: He says that some kids have told the principal that the program "makes a difference," and gives them a good excuse to deflect peer pressure. "Drug testing is another crutch for students to say 'No, I don't want to participate in that lifestyle; I don't want to run the risk of testing positive,'" he explains. "It provides an avenue for increasing the risk that Mom and Dad might find out, which leads to the opportunity for communication between parent and child."

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