Colleges Move Boldly On Student Drinking

 Mindy and Tom Gunn received a letter from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.  18 year old violated the campus’ drinking policy.  Learn about the law- government has a new guide for parents.  Talk to the school- ask about the policy  Get a waiver- ask student to sign a form to waive their Ferpa rights.

 Virginia Tech shooting- potentially suicidal  Administrators allow exception- drugs and drinking  Ohio University- calls parents at first sign of trouble  University of New Mexico- sends letters first time caught drinking or using drugs  School finds themselves in between a rock and a hard place –student privacy vs. personal liability

 Receiving encouragement from the U.S. Department of Education › Ferpa- protects information in a student’s educational record, includes grades and disciplinary reports  Exception- if there is a health or safety emergency  Still much debate over student independence

 It is hard to determine when to notify parents of potential problems with most health and safety issues › Drug and alcohol use are tied to the law, so the responsibility of the university to notify parents is clear  DOE issued three new Ferpa guides in November › Parents › Universities › K-12 schools  Ferpa administered by the Family Policy Compliance Office of the DOE

 Study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA)  Focused on college students in 2001 › 1,700 deaths from accidental alcohol related injuries  6% rise from 1998 › 97,000 students were sexually assaulted or were victims of alcohol-related date rape › 700,000 students were assaulted by another student who had been binge drinking

 Many schools are having a hard time getting a handle on prevalent alcohol and drug situations in college  Problems occurring even after on-line alcohol-related courses, community service activities, and alcohol advertisements being banned  Some colleges don’t want to encounter privacy issues by involving parents

 Some colleges have seen a decrease in underage drinking incidents by allowing the parents to be involved even after the first time a student is caught  Notification letters are sent out to parents if they sign a form saying they want to be informed of their children’s behavior › Only 37 parents have opted not to know › The form covers both drugs and alcohol consumption  Most parents and students agree that allowing parents to be involved helps decrease or monitor drug and alcohol use

 University of Wisconsin  Detoxification Center  Three Violations

 Brian Christ  Personally called home Feb  Addicted to heroin  Taken out of school  Died Dec at age 22

 Parents learned of earlier instances  Notify only after an arrest or health issues  Parents tried to get UVA to adopt new plan  Help students become independent