Southern Illinois University was the first university in this country that brought college-level education to Illinois’ inmates 34 years ago. And now SIU as well as NIU will not be renewing their contracts with the Department of Corrections because they refuse to ask their instructors to submit to the 1980s version of a witch hunt—urine tests.

The DOC started testing new employees this year in an effort to stem the flow of drugs to the prison population. The intentions behind the policy are good—but so were the intentions of the witch-burning Puritans of Salem.

NIU Provost Kendall Baker expressed the university community’s opinion extremely well in his Feb. 26 letter to DOC Director Michael Lane, where he questioned the rationale of testing new employees and automatically exempting those who were involved with the department at the time the current problems arose.

DOC director Michael Lane researched the controversial urine test and found that there is at least a 20 percent margin of error in the basic urine tests.

The urine test is not exact to say the least. Some reports put the margin of error as high as 40 percent. There are just too many variables.

The urine test is best used as an administrative tool in confirming suspicions about an employee having a substance abuse problem.

But the DOC’s current policy is not aimed at helping the individual nor is it truly aimed at stemming the flow of drugs. If the DOC believed in drug testing strongly enough, it would require all employees to be subjected to the test, which requires an eye-witness to be present while the urine sample is given.

Rather the DOC is merely throwing the anti-drug coalitions a bone so it won’t have to deal with the real problem—the corrupt employees who have been trafficking the drugs for years and will continue to supply the prisoners until the system is radically altered.

NIU and SIU made the right decision by choosing not to renew their contracts with DOC, and they set an example for all institutions considering to enact a drug testing program.