<p>If your child knew the rule, and knowingly violated the rule, I wouldn’t argue with those who say keep out of it. But it may not be that simple, and your child may lack the maturity to resist a false accusation. I think a parent should at the very least have a full understanding of the rules and the facts in order to make an evaluation of whether the accusation is justified or not.</p>
<p>Again, IMO this issue is not crystal clear on many campuses. As I mentioned, my son’s school publishes info about “responsible drinking” - including tips on eating before you drink, and the number of drinks you can ingest without becoming impaired (based on weight etc). Many schools who have binge drinking problems have gone in this direction - perhaps acknowledging that’s it’s a more realistic strategy given the stats on drinking. But as with most large organizations, the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. So, despite these messages on responsible drinking, the police target kids who just happen to be at a party where there is drinking, or kids who are walking home in the wee hours of the morning. One drink or ten drinks, it makes no difference. You are breathalized and you lose your drivers license. There are no slick posters on this practice - no warnings. And they nab lots of kids each year.
I agree that Mommy running to the dean and screaming about their kid makes no sense. But I don’t think there’s anything wrong parents pointing out disconnects with what is communicated to students and what is actually happening. After all, most of us are paying for this. Do what you say…say what you do.</p>
<p>toneranger I agree with your post. I see too much in the way of mixed messages too. Are you saying that underage drinkers are losing their driver’s licenses for walking home drunk? Wow. I never heard of that before. My son knows someone who had to go to court for being drunk in public, and it was not on a college campus. He had to pay a for a class about drinking and do 50 hours of community service. He did not lose his driver’s license though.</p>
<p>Yeah, in PA you lose your drivers license for 3 months on a first offense, and one year on a second offense. This is on top of the fine and “drunk class” ,which costs in excess of $300. “Nabbed” kids can have serious trouble getting or keeping summer jobs as a result. I just learned this recently, after a number of my son’s friends were targeted. NONE of them (all freshman) knew about this rule…total surprise. This should not be a “word of mouth” kind of thing. Given the serious consequences of having one beer, students should get hit over the head with this stuff - early - and often.</p>
<p>Wow, I just had no idea. I did know that the drinking class fee was over $300 (which is fine, IMO), but I did not know about losing a driver’s license. I think that could encourage a few teens/college students to drink and drive (so they won’t be seen). That is far more dangerous than walking home drunk! Just my opinion.</p>
<p>NEMom; My thoughts too. It’s crazy. I’ve had some discussions about this with my son, and I’m hard-pressed to come up with a reasons to defend this “special” PA law.</p>
<p>At Penn many of the bars and restaurants do not even card the kids, and the ones that do accept fake IDs. However, my kid managed to try the fake ID in a shore town in NJ, got arrested and spent a night in jail. This is a felony charge (he wasn’t even the one using his fake ID- a friend with him was…) The lawyer cost $5K- you get off with probation and nothing on your record IF you hire the lawyer… An expensive lesson. So- beware.</p>
<p>At Penn State, they DO card at all the bars, and they actively target fake IDs, so most underage kids stay away. That’s fine with me.
From what I understand, hiring a lawyer for a underage drinking charge at Penn State is a waste of money. The drivers license suspension is AUTOMATIC, as long as the breathalyzer result is conclusive (a positive result can be triggered from a half a beer). And the judges are very strict. So there’s no chance there in most cases…even if the ‘rents’ have lots of cash.
I’ve learned a lot about this after seeing what a friend has gone through..and I have made it a point to warn my son regularly!</p>
<p>It is crazy. I really think that the wrong punishment can result in death. We want to discourage binge drinking and keep our children alive. I want to see kids freely calling for a cab, calling for help if someone needs it, and not getting behind a wheel drunk. I don’t think that walking home with having had 3 beers or less should result in a driver’s license being taken away. If a minor had a liter to drink, then they have bigger problems, IMO, and need professional help before it is too late. In fact, that goes for someone over 21 as well.</p>
<p>the hard part about complaining about punishing kids for doing the right thing after a “wrong” (debatable) situation, is it becomes a “you don’t support the troops” catcall…</p>
<p>catching teen drinkers walking home has to be similar to the fish in a barrel for the police. I mean I can understand their pov on the issue. They are just doing their job in the easiest possible way as there is not much risk in stopping college students walking home. Again it becomes an issue of is this the best use of law enforcement and tax dollars?</p>
<p>There are also mixed messages. Students know the law, but according to what I have heard at times there are groupings of hundreds of drunk college students, many who are underage. The police are there and they don’t do anything at all. When they see just 1, 2, or 3 drunk students on the street they are sometimes stopped.</p>
<p>Wow, MOWC! I’d never heard of that kind of issue here in NJ with a fake ID (and my S had one–I was really glad when he turned twenty-one.) I thought they genrally just took it away if they identified one.</p>
<p>“Catching teen drinkers walking home has to be similar to the fish in a barrel for the police.”</p>
<p>Drunk pedestrians are at risk of being injured by being hit by a vehicle. A couple of students in my college town have died that way.</p>
<p>I agree, though, that a driver’s license shouldn’t be taken away because of being a drunk pedestrian even if one is underage.</p>
<p>garland- I guess the shore towns are notorious for busting kids with fake IDs. It is a good revenue maker. My son said the “cop” was a lifeguard by day and looked about 12.</p>
<p>Toneranger - I totally see how kids are getting mixed messages - about most things these days. I guess what the campuses are doing in teaching alcohol safety is trying to prevent a student from getting into dangerous situations if they do break the rules. It is sort of like giving your teenager a condom and saying “Don’t have sex - wait until you grow up. But here, take this with you, in case you do it anyway”. </p>
<p>The university’s warnings don’t mean that you will get in any less trouble if you are caught.</p>
<p>Taking away someone’s driver’s license who is an impaired pedestrian is absurd. They could be arrested for public drunkeness, if such a law existed.</p>
<p>“Drunk pedestrians are at risk of being injured by being hit by a vehicle. A couple of students in my college town have died that way.”</p>
<p>these aren’t students who are drunk, they are being cited for consumption, not quantity consumed. I kid who has two beers and blows a .01 shouldn’t lose his license or for that matter be stopped walking. </p>
<p>Public drunkeness is a nonissue, if you’re that bad, spend the night in jail. What I am talking about is the people who aren’t that bad. Not everyone who consumes… overconsumes… </p>
<p>Angain it is easy work with little risk to law enforcement. Which in some ways is fine, but if a kid is not being a vandal (sorry idaho), is relatively quiet and headed home from breakfast at denny’s why? unfortunately, those kids are getting tagged in these things, because they also tend to be the most compliant.</p>
<p>Opie, I agree with you.</p>
<p>Nurse…</p>
<p>any update on your son’s situation? I hope things are working themselves out ok…</p>
<p>I want to thank all of you for your helpful advice and stories. I researched the maximum penalties, and found them to be as follows: $100 fine, online alcohol education course, disciplinary probation for remainder of this semester and perhaps next semester. Because these were definitely something we could live with (I had been concerned about loss of scholarship), we decided to let him handle this on his own. He did a great job with the process, including stopping by to introduce himself to the hearing officer in advance of the hearing date.</p>
<p>The hearing was this afternoon, and it sounds like he will get by with a warning only, since this was his first offense and the party had just begun when the RA entered (so no alcohol had yet been consumed). His girlfriend, the party host, may get the penalty I described above.</p>
<p>Anyway, a great learning experience for all, if not a very pleasant one. Again, I sincerlely appreciate your advice and support. Also, thanks for the smiles; I did not expect to be so entertained by this thread! (Crum, you rock.)</p>
<p>The drinking age was 18 when I was in college. It is really hard for me to imagine adults (yes, they ARE adults) being stopped & breathalyzed without a compelling reason to do so. I can’t even imagine something like that happening to me or my friends when we were in school. It just seems really odd. I don’t have a problem with strict rules in high school … but it just seems strange to be so overzealous in college. Yes, I know the law. It just strikes me as odd, that’s all.</p>