Virginia Tech and some other colleges notifying parents of minor alcohol violations

Parents Forum
1

<p>I wonder how many parents care about such behavior. It seems that many parents think that underaged drinking is normal and expected.</p>

<p>"At Virginia Tech, where tailgating and raucous apartment complex parties are time-honored rituals, university officials are turning increasingly to Mom and Dad to curb problem underage drinking.</p>

<p>This semester, the school in Blacksburg, Va., began notifying parents when their under-21 students are found guilty of even minor alcohol violations such as getting caught with a beer in a dorm room.</p>

<p>Although it's common for colleges to alert parents of major alcohol offenses — or when a student faces suspension — Virginia Tech is part of a small but growing number sending letters home on minor ones....."
Underage</a> drinking? Colleges may tell mom, dad - Addictions- msnbc.com</p>

2

<p>Great idea but how come sharing that information with parents is legal, but sharing information with parents, such as a transcript, or the health of offspring is not?</p>

3

<p>I have the same question, starbright, but the article doesn’t answer it.</p>

4

<p>I wonder if the students sign anything anywhere with a clause stating that they will adhere to alcohol policies or else authorities and/or parents will be notified. Wouldn’t that make it legal? Students rarely read things before they sign them if it’s more than a page.</p>

5

<p>I believe the student can sign a waiver to alert parents now at this school of health problems should they choose. </p>

<p>As to alcohol, I generally welcome parental notification to help with this chronic problem at colleges. Since there is no sign that the national drinking age is going to be legally lowered and with the risks attendant to alcohol and alcoholism, parents may be helpful in this situation. One recent study showed kids are more afraid of their parents’ notification than of arrest.</p>

6

<p>In the 1990s, Sen. Warner of Virginia sponsored an amendment to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act to allow colleges to report underage drinking to parents. The Warner Amendment followed an incident in which a Radford student died after a second underage offense, with the parents having been unaware of the first offense. The opportunity for parental notification is optional on the part of the college, but it’s an option that many schools exercise - as much to manage their own liability as to solicit the involvement of parents.</p>

7

<p>Thanks for the explanation, gadad.</p>

8

<p>Last week I was with my friend and she was intoxicated. Her parents were notified. They just assumed and didn’t give her a breathalyzer or find any alcohol on her. Also, the hospitals around here notify parents. I know someone who went to the ER because she threw up in a cab and the cab called the police… the school wasn’t involved in any of this, but the hospital called the school, who called the parents. I don’t think it’s right.</p>

9

<p>In all honesty, what reasons would there be for not telling the parents? Several years ago a student from CC, whose user name escapes me at the moment, literally drunk himself to death at college. If I remember correctly, he made postings here prior to his death about how it wasn’t that big of deal that he routinely engaged in this behavior.</p>

10

<p>I think the schools that are moving in the direction of more parental notification have got it right. I also think they should move in this direction on notification of grades, etc. and for the same reasons. Yes, college is a time for growing into an independent, autonomous adult. But that transformation doesn’t happen overnight. </p>

<p>Too many kids leave the relatively protected, monitored environment of home and high school, and go straight into the 100% freedom (and its attendant risk) of college. For many kids that’s like falling off a cliff. The kinder, safer, and more effective way would be to have a consistent, but gradual lessening of parental involvement over a span of several years, rather than assuming that one day you’re a dependent child and the next day – poof! – you’re all grown up.</p>

11

<p>xSteven - </p>

<p>“Also, the hospitals around here notify parents.”</p>

<p>May be more of an insurance issue than anything else. If the student is still on the parents’ insurance they are going to see a statement for the hospital visit, and will be expected to pay charges that the insurance doesn’t cover. Telling the parents up-front probably saves the hospital billing office a ton of headaches.</p>

<p>“Last week I was with my friend and she was intoxicated.”</p>

<p>If you could tell that she was intoxicated without using a breathalyzer, I’m sure the campus cops could too.</p>

12

<p>“Several years ago a student from CC, whose user name escapes me at the moment, literally drunk himself to death at college.”</p>

<p>From an article about his death, a death with many parents here tried to prevent.</p>

<p>“In my mind, the best way to prevent a kid from screwing up in college (which, incidentiallly [sic], can be caused as much by slacking off and playing videogames with fellow dormers as it can by alcohol or drugs) is to give him/her more freedom in [high school],” lucifer11287 wrote Jan. 15 on collegeconfidential.com, a college admissions message board. “Contrarily, if a kid is used to drinking/partying and doesn’t consider it novel, then they will probably know how to fit alcohol into a successful lifestyle.”</p>

<p>Lucifer11287 would probably have concluded that Matthew Pearlstone, a Cornell freshman who died of alcohol poisoning on March 17, the morning of St. Patrick’s Day, while visiting the University of Virginia, was a novice drinker. But Matthew Pearlstone was lucifer11287.</p>

<p>Pearlstone, 19, who was from St. Louis, Mo., had a history of heavy drinking. He partied regularly on weekends and occasionally during the week, though “during the week, he’d have trouble finding people to drink with him,” his Cornell housemate, Philip Chow, recalled in an interview, repeatedly referring to his friend in the present tense. “So what he does is he usually calls his friends on the phone and then takes shots with them.”</p>

<p>The story of how Pearlstone died — accidental alcohol poisoning, the local coroner ruled — is not a unique one. About 36 college students die each year for reasons related to alcohol consumption, according to a recent analysis by USA Today. What makes Pearlstone’s story different, however, is how publicly he discussed his drinking habits. And so, his is also a story about the ability of the Internet to capture, preserve and disseminate the otherwise private thoughts of a young man headed for tragedy…"
[In</a> postings, a tragic portrait of defiance - The Daily Princetonian](<a href=“http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2006/04/14/15232/]In”>http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2006/04/14/15232/)</p>

13

<p>I don’t think it’s right to throw up in a cab, or anywhere else where other people have to deal with the mess.</p>

<p>I hope the perpetrator compensated the cabbie. In three figures.</p>

14

<p>That’s the student I was referring to. Thanks for posting that, Northstarmom.</p>

15

<p>That is a very tragic story.</p>

<p>At the University of Miami, they’ve been extremely strict on alcohol and marijuana especially in the freshman dorms, where one offense (even having just alcohol in the room) is a notification to parents, 75$ fine and you need to do AlcoholEdu.</p>

<p>I think it’s pointless because college kids are going to drink no matter what.</p>

16

<p>“I think it’s pointless because college kids are going to drink no matter what.”</p>

<p>Not all college kids drink.</p>

17

<p>While I think it’s true that college kids are going to drink no matter what, I think that anything that tends to hold it in check without diminishing safety is useful. Parental notification of alcohol offenses is such a measure–as long as Good Samaritan agreements are not broken.</p>

18

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<p>Agreed. What I find even more disturbing, however, is the sheer number of them who assume that social networking web pages, blogs, etc. are somehow private and not accessible by employers and university officials, and repeatedly post pictures of themselves intoxicated. I think schools need to be addressing that, too.</p>

19

<p>Yet another problem that would cease to exist if the drinking age were lowered to 18.</p>

20

<p>As long as parents are paying the bills, they should be kept informed. Who makes an investment and then signs away all rights to have anything to do with that investment or to be kept informed about how that investment is doing? That is the deal I struck with my D. I pay, but I get to see everything.</p>