Academic

Universities Move to Notify Parents Of Underage Drinking

By Dan Filler

Virginia Tech joined an (allegedly) growing movement of universities to notify parents when their kids get busted for drinking under age, the Washington Post reports.  According to the article, parental notification regarding other disciplinary violations is normally prohibited by privacy laws.  (Query: which privacy laws? FERPA?)  But these laws exempt drug and alcohol violations. 

I'm not sure what to think about notification policies.  They are surely right that most parents would want to know if their kids are boozing it up.  And they're also probably correct that many kids would absolutely hate this strategy.  But how should we think about the right of quasi-adults, in that hinterland between 18 (the age at which one can vote and participate in our democracy - which is of relatively little interest to college students) and 21 (the age at which one can drink  - which is a central life concern for many college students)? 

We could say: if mom and dad foot the bill, it's their business.  But in addition to being a dubious principle, this approach has obvious administrability problems.  We could say: mom and dad have a lot of leverage to help their kid.  But it's not clear how many of these students truly need help.  We could say: parental notification is really scary, and is probably the best way to deter violations of  the law and university policy.  But is deterrence the proper driving force here?  And does this method of deterrence carry other costs? 

As a college student, I would have absolutely rebelled against this policy.  I think I'm still against it.  But now, as a grownup and a parent, part of me also wants to reserve the right to say to my kid: Damn it!   If you're gonna drink, make sure you don't get caught!

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on March 01, 2010 (boomark / email).