ACLU Challenges NCAA Drug Tests

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the NCAA, charging that its drug testing of student athletes is an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.

The ACLU filed the suit in Santa Clara Superior Court on behalf of the captain of the Stanford women’s diving team, Simon LeVant, who was barred from all diving events because she refused to consent to urinalysis testing.

“The NCAA program punishes those who stand up for their rights to privacy and dignity,” San Francisco attorney Robert A. Van Nest said on behalf of the ACLU.

“Here we have an excellent athlete who has spent her whole life preparing for this competition, and the NCAA bars her from competing in all intercollegiate events--not based on any drug test results, or even on any suspicion that she has used drugs, but simply because she refused to give up important civil rights,” Van Nest said.

In January, 1986, the NCAA enacted drug testing legislation that requires student athletes to sign a consent form submitting to random drug testing. If a student refuses to sign the consent form, he or she is barred from taking part in all intercollegiate competition.