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Colleges to Notify Parents When Students Violate Alcohol/Drug Rules



Right to privacy vs. duty to inform is a sticky, complicated issue. By law, I must maintain my patients' confidentiality unless they sign a release form indicating I can share information. But what about underage drinking on college campuses? Does the college have a duty to inform parents when a student violates alcohol or drug use policies? Until recently, most universities cited privacy laws - they did not inform parents.

An article in the Wall Street Journal, Colleges Move Boldly on Student Drinking examines a "loop hole" in federal privacy law that is allowing colleges to inform parents when a student violates a campus drinking or drug use policy. The law, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (Ferpa), was enacted to protect the privacy of student education records. Under the law, students and/or parents must give written permission before their information can be released. The law was enacted in 1974, but according to the WSJ article,


"The college parental-notification policies for alcohol and drug violations utilize an exception added in 1998 to Ferpa that allows schools to call parents if a student gets an alcohol or drug violation and is under 21 years of age. After the law was changed, some colleges created parental-notification policies, while others insisted that contacting parents would go against their goal of nurturing independence in their students."

College drinking and drug-related incidents are staggering. According to the National Insitute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA),

  • 1700 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes.
  • More than 696,000 students between 18 and 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking.
  • More than 97,000 students between 18 and 24 are victims of alcohol-related sexual assaults or date rape.
The Virginia Tech shootings and other recent campus tragedies have made college administrators less sure of their historic stance of protecting students' privacy. But some parents argue that being notified of alcohol/drug violations inhibits their child from learning to make good choices.

As a substance abuse counselor and mental health therapist, I can certainly see both sides of this issue. But I do know that involving family when a student has an alcohol or drug problem can have a very positive effect.

What do you think? Violation of privacy or safety issue that overrides it?


Nancy L

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