<p>I would suggest your daughter read the student handbook so she is familiar with the rules.
I think the only time it will come to light in the future is if she applies to law or med school. Some government jobs also require full disclosure beyond eight years.</p>
<p>I believe that you should do the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>Get all the details of the story from your daughter</li>
<li>Contact a good lawyer </li>
</ol>
<p>The lawyer should handle the issue with the school’s administration/legal office in a friendly way such that she would get a minimum disciplinary action in such a situation.</p>
<p>It is highly unlikely the school will even discuss this matter with you. Other than the small detail of being on the hook to pay the cost, you are not entitled to any info about your student because she is legally an adult. As an adult, it was up to her to handle. I suggest you sit down and talk to her about this issue, and see if getting an attorney involved, one who is experienced in this sort of thing, if she will go along with this, and you are able and willing to pay for it. </p>
<p>It is a very tough thing for us parents to realize that they are adults. They can spit in your face and leave and do what they please. You can’t call the police and have them brought home anymore. They can ask for your help and include you on their “help team” on things, but there is no requirement for them to do so. You can force your way in by threatening to withdraw financial and contact support, but they still have to agree. </p>
<p>You can insist on a full report of what happened, on paper, from the univerisity, for starters by telling your daughter you want it and if she balks, you can either make this an ultimatum for support or back off. Then you can read exactly what happened at the college and make a decision based on those facts and from what your daughter has said, as to whether to insist that your daughter, not you, but your daughter pursue this case, with you on board as well. It has to be your daughter, not you, because, remember, she is an adult. </p>
<p>You can also get an opinion as to what the ramification of this are on her file. Under what circumstance it comes up, where it can make a differnece. Yes, some of these thing as well as things that happen off campus that you may also not be aware of can come and bite her in the back side in the future. My friend’s DD and some other I have known had to do some clean up and payments for back misdeed when they applied for federal security positions and went through the vetting for the bar. </p>
<p>My son has found all kinds of work and his horrible record of conduct has never come up. Maybe someday it will. But yes, he done it all. The press will have a field day if he is ever named to a cabinet position or runs for office.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why folks are suggesting a lawyer. The university did not press criminal charges, and handled this as a university matter.</p>
<p>Thumper, depending on what the situation, an attorney might be in order. Or not. Might not do any good at all. But sometimes schools, or any thing that takes action internally is doing so outside of the law or has done something that puts them in a spot to be sued. Not saying this is one of them, but I’ve seen it. Until one sees the whole story about what happened and what the ramifications of this are, it’s hard to say.</p>
<p>One of my friends had a situation where her daughter was treated unfairly on a situation that occurred, and when the parents got involved and protested, AFTER, with daughter right there, reviewed what happened, got some consequences removed, and some costs returned. In her case, she was moved from one university apartment to another due to some staliking issues and some incidents with a roommate. The parents only became aware of the details when they got the bill for a more expensive apartment and interrogated their daughter about what happened. In this case, an attorney was not even needed as the school capitulated when confronted by the parents. They got away with it with a 20 year old , but not with middle aged parents. Sometimes getting involved as a parent is useful and if something is truly wrong, and there is a good chance that attorney involvement will change it, getting one might be the right thing to do. Don’t know enough about this to make judgement, and frankly neither does the OP at this point.</p>
<p>It is accurate that the school does not need to contact you (as the parent of an 18 year old.). But your daughter can give her consent for you to be involved or even ask that you are. One way for her to do this is for both of you to be present at a meeting that she asks for with the Dean of Students or someone like that. You can have the meeting on SKYPE if it is too far for you to travel. I agree with other comments that you are missing information - perhaps about your daughter or perhaps about school policy or both. You need more information.</p>
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</p>
<p>An 8-year ‘record’ seems excessive to me. A local attny, who has dealt with the college on similar matters, could advise if there is any way to get that penalty reduced to perhaps, 2+ years, which would eliminate it from the transcript in time for grad school apps. It would be worth a couple of hundred bucks to me for at least a meeting.</p>
<p>College Deans can act as judge and jury. Sometimes it helps to obtain outside advice, particularly with every College, is a gazillion of exceptions to the rule.</p>
<p>What kind of a “record” is this? If it’s an internal school record, no one will probably ask to see it, unless she wants to join the CIA. My D got in trouble in freshman year- her roomate took some street signs from a frat house (the frat boys had stolen them)- and they were ignorantly displaying them in their dorm room. The maid turned them in. Even though my D had nothing to do with it (or so she says), she had to go through a disciplinary hearing. We all now know this can be considered a felony! She had to write an essay to apologize, and nothing has happened since. I wouldn’t worry about it if it’s not an official arrest. I overreacted at the time, calling the school and such, but I let her handle it. A bunch of her freinds got “arrested” for undie run (running around after finals in the underwear)- I’m sure their careers will not be affected.</p>
<p>^^^from the original post:</p>
<p>“This will remain on her disciplinary record for 8 years!”</p>
<p>Sure, it’s a simple transgression, but no transgression is better a simple one, IMO.</p>
<p>I’m convinced that getting a “Legal Advice” would be the best option here.</p>
<p>Sounds as if this could be guilt by association - the school does not approve of who she is with on the roof (and who posted the facebook photos) and are targeting her for it.</p>
<p>Do the people who were with her have disciplinary problems? If so, that could be part of it.</p>
<p>Being on a roof by itself does not seem to warrant a 8 year probation (which goes on a record, too) by a university, however, her grades may not be stellar or her associations may be not approved.</p>
<p>You could probably have it waived if you both act swiftly and she distances herself from the associations if they are a part of the issue. Any record is one you do not want!</p>
<p>I know a girl who was EXPELLED for bringing alcohol to a football game, went to another school, then transferred AGAIN to the high school she graduated from, partying the whole way.
She’s a freshman at the best school in California (with a 7% acceptance rate…) .
There is hope for everyone.</p>
<p>To help you feel better, I have a family friend who at some point in his highschool career decided that it would be a good idea to dig up a dead body in a graveyard with some of his friends (they made sure the person had no living relatives and that everyone they knew was dead). He ended up with criminal charges, but he was accepted into MIT which I’m sure is at least on par with any college you could be considering for your daughter haha.</p>
<p>Somehow, I doubt a grad school or potential employer will be terribly concerned that the girl in question went to the roof of a building.</p>
<p>I agree that this shouldn’t hold your daughter back in life, but she needs to make sure that if this does go on a record that will be seen for others, there is an explanation provided. If the same notation goes on the transcript for walking on a roof, smoking pot, and plagiarizing a paper, I think it is worth fighting what would in that case not be a fair penalty, with an attorney’s help, if necessary.</p>
<p>Putting this out there, as a friends kid and friends did something foolish like this, and similar disciplinary actions were taken. Now can’t divulge too much, but will say this, during the escapade the kids went thru a restricted area to get to the destination, no other way to get there, they had them on security tapes. The area was restricted for a reason. Just by them going thru this area they caused thousands of dollars worth of damage, no they did not know they contaminated the area. Again it was restricted for a reason.</p>
<p>You really need to ask your daughter what type of building was it, was it a research facility, perhaps just trespassing is not the issue, but other things. Compromising classified areas, college kids wont know this ahead of time, is taken seriously.</p>
<p>
She could have known that going on the roof was prohibited even if there was no sign. In fact, I suggest that the way the facts have been presented, she did know that it was prohibited.</p>
<p>the door was not locked, there were no signs - and yet still 8 years probation and nothing else? Really?? And what does probation cover? That she cannot go up on top of roofs or that she cannot violate ANY school rules no matter how minor, and if she violates probation, what is the outcome? It is almost pointless to make a plan until you have ALL the facts, not just D’s side of the story (which, sorry, but has the smell of something fishy in Denmark). If this is a large university, your D will be, or has been, provided with a written report of the outcome that outlines the charges and the sanctions and appeal process - which as a parent who presumably is paying the college bills, you can and should get from your D even if you cannot get that information direcly from the school. And check the school’s code of conduct, chances are it is online. </p>
<p>Good luck! Been there, done that with my own S during his freshman year! ;)</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure building codes would prevent an exit door from being locked on the inside. I also would be surprised if there was not a sign that said something about “emergency exit only” or similar.</p>
<p>What do they mean by “on your record”? If it’s not on the transcript, how would a future job or grad school know about it?</p>