KEEPING PARENTS INFORMED

DEBATE: Do alcohol, drug violations warrant letters
home?

One good thing about being at college is that parents are far, far
away. They can't wake you up in the mornings to get you to go to
class. They have no idea if all you eat for dinner is chips and ice
cream. And they don't see you stumbling in at 4 a.m. on a Saturday
morning, only to spend the remainder of the night puking into your
trash can.

Actually, scratch that last part. Now, if you are arrested or cited
for driving under the influence, public intoxication or being a minor
in possession, some universities are taking it upon themselves to
notify parents. Yes, this goes for off-campus student violations as
well as dorm violations.

Renowned party school University of California Santa Barbara adopted
this new parental notification policy just last year to curb dangerous
drinking behaviors on and around campus. Sound illegal? Well, it's
not. Arrests and citations fall under the category of public record;
all the university is doing is taking it upon itself to make sure your
parents see that record. A little sneaky maybe, but not against the
law.

And so far, the policy seems to be working -- in Santa Barbara at
least. Since implementing this policy just this past summer, there
have already been more than 130 letters sent out to students' parents
to notify them of their child's drunken run-in with the law. Who knows
what happens then, but already citations and arrests are down in Isla
Vista, the student living community surrounding the Santa Barbara campus.

As you can imagine, Santa Barbara students are anything but happy
about this "invasion of privacy," as some have called it. As if the
excruciating hangover and possibly even more excruciating time spent
in the drunk tank are not enough punishment -- now parental wrath must
be added to that list. All the price just for having a good time.

As tempted as I am to sympathize with the alcoholic-college student
cause, I can't seem to see past the fact that, well, if you end up in
the drunk tank -- or worse -- you probably did pose some kind of
danger to yourself. Besides, unless you're in the small minority of
Santa Clara students that don't depend on their parents for tuition,
rent and food, then your parents have a right to know what you're
doing with their money.

Santa Clara's current policy on notifying parents of alcohol and drug
violations states that parents or legal guardians will be notified
when students under the age of 21 are found to have committed serious
or repeated violations of federal, state, local law or university
policies related to the possession, use, or distribution of alcohol or
a controlled substance.

"Typically letters are only sent if the student is seen by medical
staff, or if the student is placed on some type of probationary status
- -- housing contract probation, housing contract cancellation,
disciplinary probation, suspension or expulsion," said Assistant Dean
for Student Life Matthew Duncan.

He goes on to point out that Santa Clara would not inform parents of
an alcohol-related arrest incident, unless "the university is informed
of the situation." Although not as severe as UC-Santa Barbara's
policy, Santa Clara seems to be moving in that direction -- and
rightfully so.

In his Nov. 21, 2002, letter to parents, President Paul Locatelli,
S.J., shed light on the "abuse of alcohol and marijuana by students."
He asked for parental involvement and support in the matter, and also
alerted parents of the notification system. He pointed out that the
university required an on-line interactive alcohol course this year,
which "85 percent of all first-year students completed." These are
steps in the right direction toward curbing dangerous and excessive
alcohol abuse and possibly saving students' lives.

The university is by no means trying to ignore students' wishes for
independence and responsibility. It is simply promoting discussion
about critical issues that affect student life, this is a gift to
students (even if it is in disguise).

I realize that many students will disagree with such a policy -- no
one wants to have their fun spoiled by parents and administrators --
but how much fun was it for the friends and family of those college
kids that have died as a result of alcohol poisoning or drunk driving?

Want to be treated like a responsible adult? First start acting like
one.

REBUTTAL

Copy Editor

The last time I checked, how a college student chooses to spend his or
her free time is his or her business.

Yet, this doesn't seem to be the case at the University of California
Santa Barbara. Recently, the university began enforcing a policy
requiring school officials to notify the parents of students who have
been either arrested or hospitalized for excessive drug consumption.
It seems that this is nothing more than an attempt, albeit a
well-intentioned one, by an educational institution to play the role
of a surrogate parent. I believe that college administrations have
absolutely no business exerting that kind of influence over one's
personal life.

People come to universities to receive an education and to get out
into the world on their own. We have to figure out our limits for
ourselves, and the only effective way this happens is if we face the
consequences of our actions without mom and dad's help. In being
forced to operate without the safety and assurance of our parents'
help, though, we earn the undeniable right of not having those
essentially dictatorial figures breathing down our necks when we do
something wrong.

Adolescents intuitively know this, yet those older seem to have
somewhat of a problem understanding the relationship between increased
personal freedom and the increased gravity of the consequences of a
serious mistake. By instituting the aforementioned policy, UC-Santa
Barbara assumes the role of parent, thus defeating one of the key
purposes of college: for students to learn how to be adults.

Luckily, Santa Clara's parental notification policy isn't quite so
intrusive, being limited to repeat violations and federal
law-breaking. Still, according to Assistant Dean for Student Life
Matthew Duncan, parents of Santa Clara students will be informed of an
alcohol-related arrest if "the university is informed of the
situation." There's something about that statement that seems like the
university is overstepping its bounds, especially considering the
number of Santa Clara students who drink regularly on the weekends.
All the policy will accomplish to remind students not to get caught.

It must be kept in mind that undergraduate college students want and
need the freedom to be able to do things without having to worry about
someone standing over our shoulders saying "don't do that." This is
not to imply that college students don't make mistakes: even the most
superficial observation of college social life would lay that notion
soundly to rest.

This is also not to say that we don't expect negative consequences
from potentially dangerous activities -- we're not that stupid.
Rather, it's that we don't want to be reminded we've messed up after
we are already completely aware of it. We also don't want to have to
deal with unnecessary repercussions (such as long-winded lectures from
parents addressing the evils of drug consumption) that grown men and
women typically don't have to endure when they make similar mistakes.

Additionally, even without a school administration directly notifying
the parents of a given student's debauchery, chances are that the
parents will eventually learn of it anyways. For example, because a
college student usually cannot afford health insurance, he or she is
usually listed as a dependent on their parents' plan. Should a student
end up in the hospital because of his or her unchecked ingestion of
narcotics, the parents of the student will inevitably learn of it
without a college administration's help. Both hospital and insurance
protocol dictate that the owner of the insurance policy is notified
when its coverage has been used.

All a school notifying the parents of the hospitalized student
accomplishes is to make an already uncomfortable situation worse. By
repeatedly informing the parent that their son or daughter has been
foolish, a school will merely fuel the parental disappointment and
anger a student will have to suffer when they have recovered. Usually,
coming close to losing one's own life is more than enough to teach a
person that, no, you can't drink a bottle of Jager or Vodka in one
sitting, no matter how much fun you think it would be.

And as for being jailed, well, in most families I know, even if the
school didn't notify the parents directly, the parents would
eventually find out. Parents seem to just do that.

Let's just hope that such a ridiculous and essentially detrimental
policy is never instituted at Santa Clara as it has been at UC-Santa
Barbara.