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</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/education/12education.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1189602636-457HuT6R9cVReTWZpOcUqQ[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/education/12education.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1189602636-457HuT6R9cVReTWZpOcUqQ</a></p>
<p><em>shakes head</em></p>
<p>I’m a fan of meeting with binge drinkers, screening for alcoholism, and follow-up by the campus medical center. I’m a fan of university shuttles that provide safe transport for the intoxicated. I’m a fan of confidential medical transport, and a fan of Good Samaritan policies that ensure that in most cases students won’t be punished if they call for help for a drunken friend. Calling the parents…I am not a fan of in loco parentis.</p>
<p>Policy at the school my son attends:</p>
<p>"Will I be notified if my student is charged with a violation? </p>
<p>The Family Educational Rights to Privacy Act (FERPA) prevents us from disclosing information regarding judicial charges to parents unless the charge is related to alcohol or drugs. </p>
<p>Therefore, parents are only notified by the Office of Judicial Affairs when their student is found responsible on campus, or arrested off campus for a major alcohol or drug violation or a second minor alcohol or drug violation. If your student is charged with any violation, we may discuss the case with you if your student signs a FERPA waiver form. We encourage you to talk to your son or daughter directly regarding any judicial charge."</p>
<p>It wouldn’t bother me (as a parent), and I don’t think that my kids’ would object either. They are very honest with us about the drinking situation at their college, within their social circles, at parties, etc.- to the point of some things that I’d rather not know. If my son had a drinking problem to the point of detox, I’d want to know, and he’d probably come to me about it anyway, since he’s been pretty up front with other issues (even those he knows I don’t approve of).</p>
<p>I too would want to know. Binge drinking KILLS STUDENTS EVERY YEAR.
I’d rather get a call from the school than the city morgue. Intervention can save kids lives. It would be irresponsible as far as I’m concerned if a school were pull a kid out of detox a couple of times and not alert parents of this very real warning sign of a very real problem.</p>
<p>doubleplay: You’d want to know, and your son would tell you. Sounds like a good setup to me, and I commend you for having such a good relationship with your kids. 
Students and parents should be responsible for their own communication. The college doing it is a pretty gross privacy violation. What’s next? Colleges calling parents because students sought mental health help/counseling? Colleges calling parents to tell them that students missed their doctors’ appointments, or that students obtained emergency contraception from the medical center?</p>
<p>What next? There’s always suspension or expulsion.</p>
<p>I suspect that the university is trying to do two things, only one of which it is openly acknowledging: enlisting parents’ help in curbing binge drinking and protecting itself in case things do go wrong, a student dies and the parents decide to sue.</p>
<p>With the former, it is obvious that the university feels it has a problem and cannot deal with it alone despite well stated policies. Whether or not enlisting the help of parents is making a dent in the problem remains to be seen. But universities have been at the receiving end of criticism from both the general public and from concerned parents for not doing enough.</p>
<p>Expulsion. What a lovely idea. How long do you think it would take to get the underage drinking problem under control if there were a rule that said one warning and you are out? Unfortunately it will never happen. Parents would raise hell. Universities are powerless to a large extent because so many kids have no respect for their parents, the law, for rules, for authority, for their elders. It’s disgusting.</p>
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<p>When I was a student, that was my opinion. Now that I am a parent of a student, I have a different opinion.</p>
<p>Amazing coincidence, don’t you think?</p>
<p>Seriously, I think some parents want to know about these dangerous situations because of the fear that by paying at least some of the college expenses, they are “aiding and abetting” a lifestyle that gives young people a great deal of leisure time and a reprieve from some of the responsibilities of adulthood. If their kids went straight to work and lived a truly independent life, the same parents probably would not expect notification.</p>
<p>I think the idea that someone should be ruined, should lose the university spot that they earned, for having an alcoholic drink, is disgusting. </p>
<p>Also, that driving drinking further underground is not really what colleges want to do, for purposes of student safety. And I shudder at the idea of students being too afraid to seek medical help for themselves or friends who need it because they are afraid of getting suspended or expelled.</p>
<p>midmo: If parents expect notification, they should make that clear to their kids. I’m not saying that kids shouldn’t inform their parents, I’m saying that the college shouldn’t.</p>
<p>Leisure time…I worked longer hours as an undergrad than I do as a professional engineer, with a lot more stress. The finance one, I’ll give you - at least in my own case. I know plenty who pay/paid their own way.</p>
<p>I will also note that some students drink as psychological escape from bad family situations. Turning those students in to their parents is a bit counterproductive.</p>
<p>Jessie:
I was responding to your “What’s next?”</p>
<p>Notifying parents is much less drastic than suspension or expulsion. At least, the universities are not getting rid of problem students by sending them back to their parents who then would have to cope with binge drinking, uneducated young adults. They’re trying to prevent students from harming themselves; they do not think they can do it alone, so they’re enlisting parents’ help. </p>
<p>In fact, this is the corollary to helicoptering parents, who want to be notified of everything their students, their roommates, their dormmates, the faculty and administration do. Or even call RAs and deans when their kids do not phone home often enough.</p>
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<p>They expect to improve the family dynamic by proving their immaturity? If they are away from home, at college, they have already escaped the bad family situation. I just can’t see the reasoning here.</p>
<p>With reference to Univ. of Wisconsin, in particular, since it is highlighted in the original post: both my husband and I have a degree from there. Despite their amazing facilities, illustrious faculty and lovely location on Lake Mendota, my son would not even consider applying there–because of the party rep. (He didn’t object to the public status or the size, since he did apply to MI and UIUC). I think Wisconsin is wising up to reality.</p>
<p>marite: I agree with you that this is a corollary to helicopter parents. As you might guess, I’m not a fan of that phenomenon either. :)</p>
<p>Let me re-explain, for anyone reading this thread: I am not saying that parents should not be notified. Parents and their kids have a variety of dynamics and expectations. I think it’s inappropriate for the college to enforce a particular dynamic. I just don’t believe it’s the college’s place.</p>
<p>I do believe that student safety is important, and that binge-drinking can be a major safety problem. I think there are numerous ways that this can be addressed without the parent-calling, some of which I’ve already mentioned (I wonder how many, if any, U of Wisc has tried):</p>
<ul>
<li>Confidential medical transport</li>
<li>Alcoholism screening for students who have gone into detox, and follow-up with the student by a clinician or counselor. My own school used a program called TIPS for screening.</li>
<li>Shuttles running through campus and to fraternity/sorority houses, with a greater frequency on weekend nights or other nights that historically have a lot of binge drinking, so that students will have safe transport.</li>
<li>Good Samaritan policies so that students will not worry that they will get in trouble if they call for help for an intoxicated student.</li>
<li>Signs posted in dormitories and fraternities/sororities outlining the symptoms of intoxication, how to help an intoxicated friend, and when to call for help.</li>
<li>Community service related to alcoholism awareness, responsible party hosting education, or something else relevant, as a punishment for alcohol infractions on the level that is grounds for disciplinary action.</li>
<li>Mandatory party host training for Greek house and dorm/hall social chairs.</li>
<li>Loss of social event privileges for living groups with a history of being irresponsible hosts with regards to alcohol.</li>
<li>Enforcement of anti-hazing policies.</li>
<li>Registration of events at which alcohol will be served, with penalties if you don’t register.</li>
</ul>
<p>I bet the creative folks here can think of others - most of these, I’m cribbing from my undergrad institution. :)</p>
<p>jessie, I agree that expulsion is a bad idea. I’ve never felt that punishment is a good response to substance abuse, whether underage, overage, alcohol, illegal drugs, prescription drugs… Punishment doesn’t solve anything, and the substance abuser ends up worse off.</p>
<p>At the school my son attends there is a three strike policy. On strike three, I believe that the student is given a one semester minimum suspension.</p>
<p>jessiehl,
What’s your solution. It’s all just great? Host parties and serve beer? Get rid of the drinking age and provide vommitoriums?
Neither of my girls are drinkers. Maybe it’s because we started talking about it’s ills at at early age and were not big “partiers” ourselves, I don’t know. We also told them that if they could not have fun w/o drugs or alcohol that there was truly something wrong with them. I believe in teaching kids to respect their bodies and their minds AND THAT ACTIONS MEAN CONSEQUENCES. Life is about choices . If students knew the consequences were serious and not negociable maybe they would make different CHOICES.</p>
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<p>I’m a parent and I don’t like this plan much.</p>
<p>Old rules … my kid is drunk at a party and some of his/her friends are a little bit worried so they (hopefully) shuttle her/him to the health center.</p>
<p>New rules … my kid is drunk at a party and some of his/her friends are a little bit worried but they don’t want me to be called or for my kid to get a strike towards expulson so they decide they’ll wait to see if my kid gets worse.</p>
<p>To me the rule sounds good on paper … but the unintended effect may be horrible … in some cases kids will wait longer longer to get help, do it less often, and not go to the closest place to get help.</p>
<p>The $64,000 question is … will less kids get drunk because they are concerned about the rules … or will more kids get help later. We’ve tried prohibition and we’ve had a 21 year old drinking law for 25+ years … my vote is the outcome would be slight deterance of drinking and lots more delayed medical help. Not my idea of good policy.</p>
<p>The colleges with strict drinking policies (like Miami-Ohio) are doing the students a disservice. The policy is designed to make the PARENTS feel better, but there is no way to apply it consistently and fairly. As a result, a few random kids get busted by a particularly strict RA, and the other thousands of partiers/binge drinkers continue on.</p>
<p>I am opposed to suspension or other strict disciplinary action by a school, unless there is a blatant violation of a known rule- such as selling to underage students etc. My son, unfortunately, does binge drink, and if he wound up in the hospital, I would want the school to notify me.</p>
<p>It is not the job of the university to solve the student’s drinking or drug problems. It is their job to encourage a safe and legal environment so expelling abusers from the student population is a good approach. Drunk/drugged students are a danger to themselves and especially others. No reason to keep them around.</p>