MORE COLLEGES ARE REPORTING DRUG AND ALCOHOL VIOLATIONS TO PARENTS

Vicki Rouse has always urged her three children to call home from
college if they found themselves in alcohol-related trouble.

Now, even if they don't, mom is confident she'll get the news.

All three Rouse children attend Hastings College, which sends a
letter home when a student is caught with drugs or alcohol on campus.

The letter goes out even if a student hasn't been charged with a
crime. It generally goes out whether the student likes it or not.

"I want the college to tell me," Vicki Rouse said. "You'd like to
believe that when a kid gets to college they are grown up and know
right from wrong. But when they are 18 or 19, they still need some guidance."

Colleges across Nebraska and the United States are obliging the
Rouses and like-minded parents, increasingly using an exemption
written into federal privacy law a decade ago to notify parents when
a student is caught with a six-pack of beer or possessing a marijuana pipe.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln recently stiffened its marijuana
policy and now phones parents the first time a student is caught with
the drug in a residence hall.

The University of Nebraska at Omaha often mails a letter to parents
when an underage student is caught with alcohol, a violation likely
to increase as UNO builds more freshman and sophomore residence halls
on campus.

And Hastings College leaders made the decision two years ago to
notify parents after every first alcohol offense, a zero-tolerance
policy also in place at the University of Georgia, the University of
New Mexico and the University of Indiana.

"I tell students, 'Look, I'm not trying to intrude in your life
except in this one place,'" said Ron Chesbrough, Hastings College's
vice president for student affairs. "We think early intervention to
involve parents is a lesser evil than simply saying nothing."

Hastings' policy wasn't legal until 1998, when Congress rewrote the
Higher Education Act to allow parental notification when it involved
a student's drug or alcohol use.

Privacy laws still prohibit colleges from releasing many student
records, like a student's transcripts, to parents.

But college leaders say they have gradually shifted to quicker
parental notifications when possible because "helicopter parents" demand it.

These parents often know their student's class schedule and credit
card balances. Predictably, they also want to know if their children
were consuming illegal substances on Saturday night, judicial officers say.

College administrators also have changed, said Kent Lavene, UNO's
judicial officer. A generation ago, many administrators believed that
a student was an adult and had an adult's right to keep information
from his or her parents, Lavene said.

"We used to say things like, 'Hey, they are 18, they are on their
own, they need to deal with these issues on their own,'" Lavene said.
"You don't hear a lot of people saying those sort of things anymore."

At UNL, a shift in thinking means that the school's residence hall
officials have made an estimated 25 to 30 calls to parents this
school year. The majority of those calls notify the parents that
their son or daughter has been caught with marijuana in a dorm room.

Until last year, no such call would've been made. But a rash of
marijuana offenses convinced housing officials that they needed to
strengthen their policy against the drug.

The new policy: The first marijuana offense means a student gets a
ticket from police, has to enroll in a mandatory drug awareness
course and is required to do hours of community service work.

It also triggers the automatic call home, during which a residence
hall assistant generally informs the student's parents that a second
marijuana offense will get him or her kicked out of the residence hall.

Sometimes, after being caught, a student asks for and is granted a
24-hour window so the student can call his or her parents first, said
Keith Zaborowski, UNL's associate director of residence halls.

Not every school is buying into the parental notification trend.

UNL still allows a student to pile up three alcohol offenses before
it calls home.

Creighton University rarely notifies parents of a first alcohol
violation, doing so only if the student in question is dangerously
intoxicated or belligerent, said Tayna Winegard, assistant vice
president for student life.

Iowa State University only calls parents if college officials believe
students are a serious threat to themselves or others.

"We haven't necessarily seen a lot of research that suggests a call
home has a big impact, or that it's a useful tool for how to deal
with students," said Sara Kellogg, Iowa State's interim assistant
director of judicial affairs.

But Hastings College has seen a difference -- the school has sent out
only 16 notification letters this year because the school's 1,100
students have broken far fewer alcohol rules than in years past,
Chesbrough said.

The college vice president has sent out only one letter this year
notifying parents that their child is a second-time offender of the
college's alcohol policy.

Not even those you'd expect to be infuriated by the zero-tolerance
policy -- the students -- are actually all that bothered by it during
the second year of parental notifications.

Some students wonder why the college doesn't treat them as
independent adults, said Aaron Rouse, a Hastings senior and Vicki
Rouse's middle child.

Most, though, simply have accepted the policy like they accept
midterms and calculus.

"My parents always joke around, reminding me that they are footing
the bill here, and I realize what that means," Aaron Rouse said.
"Most students realize that if they get caught, they have to accept the call."

Policies at area colleges

UNL Residence hall officials generally call parents after a first
marijuana offense and a third alcohol offense. On rare occasions
parents are called sooner if a student damages school property or
verbally abuses a police officer, university employee or fellow
student while intoxicated.

Creighton Creighton notifies parents if an underage student is caught
severely intoxicated. Most underage students caught with alcohol must
violate the alcohol policy three times before parents are notified.

UNO The campus' judicial officer handles the notification policy on a
case-by-case basis, but parents are usually notified when an underage
student is caught possessing alcohol.

Hastings College Sends a form letter to parents every time a student
violates the college's drug and alcohol policy. The college toughened
notification policy two years ago.

UNK Notifies parents if a student is hospitalized or jailed for
severe intoxication. Otherwise handles alcohol and drug violations on
case-by-case basis, with an increased chance of parental notification
if the student is a repeat offender.

Iowa State Does not notify parents of a drug or alcohol offense
unless campus administrators deem the student a serious danger to
himself or others.