A newly enacted policy will allow Virginia Tech administrators to contact a student’s parents or guardians following a drug or alcohol violation.
An e-mail from the Division of Student Affairs announced that the Office of Student Conduct would be able to contact parents “any time a student under the age of 21 is found responsible for an alcohol and/or illegal drug violation.”
Parents would be notified of student violations through mail notifications, the same way that notifications are sent for major violations. Previously, minor offenses that were labeled “probationary” were not passed on to parents.
“What’s now caused us to rethink this is we’d have students who had a minor offense, so parents weren’t notified,” said Ed Spencer, vice president of student affairs, who approved the policy on Nov. 6, 2009. “They then would commit a major offense, which would give them two strikes.”
As a result, parents would only find out about a student’s violations after they had already been suspended.
“We’ve had several cases where parents have been upset they weren’t notified about previous offenses,” Spencer said. “They felt if they had known they would have been able to talk to their students.”
The notification policy officially started at the beginning of January. Letters will not be sent until after a case is resolved.
The rules match a 1998 amendment to the Family Educational Rights Protection Act, which states that schools may disclose information to a parent about an alcohol or controlled substance violation of a student under the age of 21.
The change in policy is similar to those made by Radford University for the fall 2009 semester. While the university held out on sending letters to parents with exceptions for second offenses or students whose alcohol consumption endangered their safety, the school now contacts parents for every alcohol or drug violation.
David Horton, assistant dean at Radford University and director of the school’s conduct program, said the policy was changed to engage parents as their students “show signs of trouble with drugs or alcohol.”
“Most students don’t want their parents to know if they’ve made a mistake, but they realize the importance of being open and honest,” Horton said. Noting that the policy had not received a major negative reaction from students, Horton said the change in policy has been met with approval from parents.
“The parents are very happy they’re being notified,” Horton said. “I think it allows the parent to be more interactive with their students.”
Steve Clarke, director of the Campus Alcohol Abuse Prevention Center, stressed the importance of communication between students and parents involving alcohol and drug use.
“Some parents don’t know what is happening,” Clarke said. “I think that was a major concern to address.” Clarke noted that part of the issue stems from a lack of knowledge in parents about college drinking patterns.
“Even at orientation, parents may say that their child doesn’t drink,” Clarke said. “They’re not aware of the drinking culture these days.”
Clarke noted that the notification policy could be frustrating for students.
“While parents can be very helpful, they can also penalize students, or do things that students might not be very happy about.”
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This policy should be opt-in on a case-by-case basis. Anything less than that is an extreme violation of student privacy.
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extreme violation of student privacy? give me a break. if you break the law and you are still a dependent of your parents, they should be notified regardless.
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Student privacy should be awarded at all costs, regardless if you are deemed a "dependent" of your parents.
I would have to agree with the first post, that this should be only on a case-by-case basis, or if an individual is deemed an habitual offender.
Students at Virginia Tech are adults and should be treated and viewed as adults. If they break the law, they have to deal with their own consequences. What's the point of telling the parents anyways, are they going to ground them? Take their T.V. away?
The Judicial Affairs at Virginia Tech is put in place for a reason, but adding a new policy of notifying parents seems a little extreme and juvenile.
Let the students make decisions for themselves, one way or another, the consequences will take affect.
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A. If your parents are paying for college and you are underage, they have every right to know if you are breaking the law.
B. Parents may not be able to ground you, but they can cut your auto insurance, take away the keys, the car, they can pull you out of school if you are an alcoholic or a serious drug addict.
C. It may not even be for the offending student's benefit. As a parent, I would like the parents of offenders at my childs campus to do something to help the abuser get well. Think of the other students instead of always thinking of yourself.
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I like the opt-in solution. When I was a freshman, the same was done with grades. Of course, since my parents were paying, they had every right to see my grades. The agreement was that I didn't have to sign the permission form, but I was expected to show grades to them anyway. The difference here is that there's no periodic report that parents can view which says whether or not violations occurred. Still, I think it's sufficient to inform parents that they can be notified, and leave it to them to decide what strings are attached to their benevolence.
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Many students, like did not have parents pay for my school.
Students are old enough to make decisions. Become habitual offenders, as soon as they graduate their in the real without mommy and daddy holding their hands.
Half the stuff most students students do, parents have no idea about.
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I wonder what they will do about the students that are under 21 that commit infractions but are emancipated or otherwise estranged from their parents and/ or legal guardians?
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Sure would be nice if Tech became more proactive and actually investigated the off campus drinking parties, gathered evidence of them while they took place.... ie: a proactive approach.
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Because of FERPA, University officials have had the right to notify parents/guardians of issues concerning students. It is up to school officials to decide when to notify parents. This is not a change in policy, but in how the officials are deciding to react to student issues. I agree that it should be a case-by-case basis, and I think that it still is for many incidents - whether you believe that or not is up to you...
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