PRIVACY LAW DOESN'T PROTECT STUDENTS' MISBEHAVIOR

Alabama Schools Differ In Whether To Notify Parents Of Legal,
Substance Use Trouble

MONTGOMERY | Some universities in Alabama are using an exception to
the federal student privacy law to involve parents at signs of student
trouble involving drinking or drug use.

The University of Alabama, the University of North Alabama and
Jacksonville State University notify parents of alcohol or drug policy
or legal violations by their underage students.

The University of West Alabama and Auburn University do not notify
parents if their child runs afoul of campus or civilian laws or
policies, but West Alabama is considering changing that policy.

The University of Alabama notifies parents of alcohol and drug
violations if their son or daughter is under 21.

Tim Hebson, UA's dean of students, said he believes UA was the first
university in the state to use the exception in the federal Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act law that allows colleges to notify
parents of their children's drug or alcohol violations.

"We see it as a responsibility to a good community," he
said.

Hebson said his "best guess" is the school notifies parents of about
600 violations during an academic year. That's out of a student
population of 25,000.

"Parents are extremely pleased the university makes it known," he
said. Offending students are required to attend alcohol-education
classes but multiple violations can eventually send a student home.

"Alabama has a process based on a warning and probation and even
suspension and even expulsion," he said. "It's a case by case basis."

Jim Hardin, Auburn University's senior program adviser, said Auburn
chose not to notify parents.

"We felt like being a tattletale to parents might affect the trust
students had with the administration," he said.

Hardin said he believes the school's internal policies adequately deal
with student violations.

"Here at Auburn, we came to the conclusion that what we were doing we
felt was appropriate," he said. "We started doing some stricter
game-day [actions] and have 120 or 130 people a year ejected from games."

He said that Auburn does involve parents when students exhibit
significant health or safety issues, including threats of suicide.

Auburn does not have its own university police force, so drinking or
drug violations end up in criminal courts, but even then, parents are
not notified when police notify campus officials.

"It's an issue at every school and every school has various policies
how they deal with it," Hardin said. "There doesn't seem to be a
silver bullet out there so every school has to figure out a policy."

Notifying Parents

Universities used to have a responsibility to act as a parent when a
child went to college.

That changed in the 1970s with the Family Educational Rights and
Privacy Act, which protects the privacy of student education records
beyond high school. FERPA was amended in 1998 to allow colleges to
notify parents of student drug or alcohol violations at a time when
the risk of substance abuse may be high.

The U.S. Department of Education in October released new guidelines
expanding family education rights, addressing parents, students, and
institutions.

Under FERPA, parents have a right to review education records and to
request changes under limited circumstances. Postsecondary officials
are advised to balance school safety and individual privacy interests.

Some colleges fear that telling mom and dad doesn't give young adults
the chance to learn valuable lessons in responsibility and the
consequences of personal choices.

But there are growing concerns about one of the most dangerous aspects
of transitioning from childhood to adulthood: substance use on campus.

In a recent report, the National Center on Addiction and Substance
Abuse at Columbia University said student smoking and drinking
continue to be health and safety problems, and not just for students.

The proportion of students who drink is between 60 and 70 percent and
a significant portion of those are binge drinkers. Throw in drug abuse
and pretty soon the incidents of accidents, physical attacks, failing
grades, injuries, illness, sexually transmitted diseases, mental
health issues, rapes and deaths rise, the Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse report said.

The report said that each month, half of all full-time students
between 18 and 22 binge drink or abuse prescription or illegal drugs.
Almost one in four are medically classified as chemical or alcohol
dependent.

In 2001, the center said, 97,000 students nationwide were victims of
alcohol-related sexual assaults or date rape.

Changing Policies

UWA does not currently notify parents unless they ask to be, but
President Richard Holland said he's considering a blanket notification
policy to get parents involved in helping head off problems that may
result in losing a student and even saving his health or life.

"If you're going to address it everyone needs to get involved,"
Holland said Friday. "There are some you can put the fear of God in
and they respond immediately, and some, they have a real drinking problem."

He said issues currently are dealt with at low levels.

"What we do is, let's say they're off campus and something happens
that's a violation of the student code, we have a student life
committee that handles that and we turn it over to them," Holland
said. "It's something we're faced with daily."

UNA spokesman Josh Woods said school authorities do notify parents
under certain conditions.

"The student does have to be found responsible," he said. "The process
is outlined on the student life Web site."

Holland said universities always need more tools to help students
because most of them arrive on campus with little to no experience
with drinking.

JSU President William Meehan said JSU usually notifies parents if the
student is under 21 and "we know the parents are providing the
majority of a cost of education" and "if we are aware of it and have
the evidence."

An exception for any notification could be if a student is a military
veteran under 21 who is on the GI Bill.

Meehan said the university handles some violations
in-house.

"We're starting to see more and more parental involvement who want to
be aware of actions and that is good," Meehan said. "If parents are
involved, they do better."

IN PRACTICE

Universities in Alabama vary in whether they will use a loophole in
the student privacy law to involve parents when underage students run
into legal or substance-abuse problems.

Will notify -University of Alabama - University of North Alabama -
Jacksonville State

Won't notify -University of West Alabama - Auburn University