Tuesday, April 14, 2009
When someone dies, it is easy to play the “what if” game. What if I had taken her to the hospital sooner? Or what if I had better explained the dangers of drugs to him?
But we never know. Just like we will never know whether notifying Jason Wren’s parents about his campus alcohol violations would have kept him from dying of alcohol poisoning. Regardless, it was the underage drinking, not the lack of parental notification, that caused his death and is the real issue in this case.
According to the article “University re-examines its privacy policy,” on April 6, Jay Wren, Jason’s father, wants the University of Kansas to re-evaluate its interpretation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
I appreciate Mr. Wren’s desire to find ways to prevent other students and parents from suffering the same situation his son and family did. However, I think changing the University’s policy is not the most effective way to approach the situation.
Even if the policy were changed, it would be impossible to make every student sign the FERPA waiver allowing the University to release information about alcohol and other violations. Students have the opportunity to sign the form, but the form is not required. And the University is allowed, but not required, to release the information.
And if the parents are notified of these violations, there is no guarantee that will solve the problem. A kid can easily say, “Mom, I won’t do it again,” and then later try to become the national champion of beer pong with his buddies.
The policy also does not monitor or cover students’ drinking underage off campus. Granted, drinking happens on campus (The Wheel 2: McCollum Hall), but a lot of it happens off campus, too. How can we notify parents about these incidents?
In addition, college students are considered adults. We are supposedly capable of making healthy, positive choices in our lives and should take responsibility for our actions. We will never grow up, and college will become high school all over again if we must report to our parents every single thing we do.
The solution is to attack the real problem: underage drinking. We have all heard lectures and read pamphlets on how underage drinking is bad, real bad. Of course, some of us seem to just go along with it, just like we did with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. But then we have to find out for ourelves how bad it really is.
For some students, learning the hard way themselves, through a bad hangover or an incredibly embarrassing drunk moment (pictures of it later found on Facebook, of course), will make some underage students stop drinking, or at least make them more responsible when drinking.
For others, something more drastic might be in order. And perhaps a little good can come out of the horrible tragedy of Jason Wren’s story, if the consequences of underage drinking become more real to young people. The issue is put into painful terms students won’t forget. When tragedy has a face, it’s easier to prevent the next time.
Making students aware of stories like Jason’s will be more effective than changing the University’s privacy policy. This will not completely stop the issue, but it can make a difference. The students, not the parents, need to be aware of underage drinking and its consequences.
— Hartz is a Stilwell junior in creative writing.
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Comments
Hartz: FERPA not the real problem in underage drinking cases
Here's a solution that would work for about 90% of the students here: "I don't pay your tuition, housing, etc until you sign the waiver" Seems pretty straightforward to me. If you're paying for you're child's vacat...um school, at least you can be more informed about what sort of lifestyle you're supporting. No rule changes needed. And lets be honest here, most of the high risk students are sending their bills back home, so you address the problem of parental notification with the parents who most need to know. "I think it was too much alcohol that caused his death. Even if he was 21, that amount would probably have killed him." Finally linguo, something I agree with you about :)
Hartz: FERPA not the real problem in underage drinking cases
PEOPLE! It was not the University's choice according to the law. THERE IS AN EXEMPTION TO PRIOR WRITEN CONSENT RULE #9 and it reads: "9. Parents of dependent students as defined in the Internal Revenue Code."
READ FROM THE LAW YOURSELF!!!
http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/leg-history.html
It's pretty darn clear. Parents have a RIGHT, it's not a choice the University has because IT'S A LAW!!!
Hartz: FERPA not the real problem in underage drinking cases
While I realize you want to try to compel the University to give more information to parents, I regret to inform you that my opinion about the law is that it is NOT a RIGHT of parents to be informed; it only PERMITS the University to disclose information.
From 20 USC 1232g(b)(1) "No funds shall be made available under any applicable program to any educational agency or institution which has a policy or practice of permitting the release of education records (or personally identifiable information contained therein other than directory information, as defined in paragraph (5) of subsection (a) of this section) of students without the written consent of their parents to any individual, agency, or organization, other than to the following—....
(H) parents of a dependent student of such parents, as defined in section 152 of title 26;" (That section is part of the Internal Revenue Code.)
20 USC 1232g(d): "Students’ rather than parents’ permission or consent
For the purposes of this section, whenever a student has attained eighteen years of age, or is attending an institution of postsecondary education, the permission or consent required of and the rights accorded to the parents of the student shall thereafter only be required of and accorded to the student."
Therefore, if the University has a stricter policy than is allowed, it doesn't have a policy described in 20 USC 1232g(b)(1) that would prohibit it from receiving federal funds - since the policy does not permit the prohibited disclosures.
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