Daddy's little girl. That's me. I always will be, as long as a gazillion pictures of me - as a five-year-old, on my horse and on every single first day of school - are scattered around the house. But Daddy's little girl is 20 now and in that limbo-land between adulthood and the legal drinking age. To most college administrators, I have entered the danger zone.
I'm old enough to go to college but not to participate in the alcohol culture so closely associated with student life. I'm old enough to set my own schedule and curfew, but not old enough to want to be home at midnight. I'm old enough and smart enough to procure what the law says I can't have, but am I old enough to handle it? The federal government doesn't think so.
As adults, we can order off QVC without parent permission. We can vote, serve in the military, buy cigarettes, and be hounded by credit card salesmen who call at eight in the morning after your friend's 21st birthday.
If you've joined me in limbo-land and you're under 21, you better have been sober at your friend's party. Thanks to Congress and general nationwide paranoia about underage drinking, universities now can notify parents of underage alcohol abuse. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, enacted last year, includes an amendment allowing schools to involve parents in that same alcohol culture, but on the hangover side.
The original bill, enacted in 1975, was meant to serve a purpose opposite that under contention today: It was meant to protect students from exposure, not open them to it. Kids will be kids, and kids occasionally screw up. But in the media age whose midwife was Watergate, those screw-ups became public knowledge. Suddenly public leaders were under scrutiny for their college years, and youthful indiscretions returned to haunt them.
Perhaps in a spirit of paternal love and sympathy for their future counterparts, lawmakers defined college students as independent, thus making release of their educational records a violation of privacy. Even parents could not request release of files.
Last year's amendment reversed the definition. Now, any undergraduate student is considered dependent. Thus their files are open to those who still have financial control over them - in most cases, parents. Parental poking into undergraduate files is no longer considered a breach of privacy. As such, the gag is untied, and universities can use varying degrees of parental notification polices to deter students, appease lawmakers and comfort parents.
The toughest policy in Virginia is that of Longwood College - all violations of underage drinking are relayed to parents. If an Old Dominion University student is convicted of an alcohol violation by the school's judiciary system, the student must call a parent in the presence of an administrator. The University of Delaware's program is even stricter: The administration notifies parents of any breach of the code of conduct, and after the third strike, students are out...for one year.
The University of Delaware has reported a dramatic drop in binge drinking, and, amazingly enough, they still have a student body in attendance. But is this the sort of glorified high school atmosphere we want here at the University?
Dean of Students Penny Rue assures us that the University's policy will not change. Administrators only notify parents when a student puts his or her health at serious risk, or when a pattern of abuse appears and parental involvement could be helpful. Students with a good excuse not to call home - abuse, for example, or fear of overly harsh repercussions - may be exempt from the policy.
Unlike ODU's administration, ours is thankfully and rightfully not raiding disciplinary files ... yet. Most incidents are red-flagged when a dean gets a late-night phone call from the police department or the emergency room.
As students, we are given a golden opportunity. Here we can learn to be adults while we still have something resembling a safety net. As we grow, that safety net should drop farther and farther away and become more and more sparse, easing our transition into the real world.
With student self-governance, we get both sides of the deal. We get independence and its consequences, and learn how to accept the results of our actions. This transition has oops and bleeps and regressions and progressions just like any transition, but the change is necessary and we learn from our mistakes.
The lesson is this: We're still young, and we make mistakes. But we must be allowed to make mistakes and deal with the consequences on our own, not with Mom and Dad frowning over our shoulders. In cases of addiction or another serious condition, a student may need more personal attention than the University can provide.
Here's the deal: You have to be responsible. If you act like an adult and treat yourself well, adults will do the same. And the administration has to give us a chance. FERPA doesn't require that parents be notified for every alcohol incident - it simply provides for notification when necessary. By striking the right balance, students can get the best kind of education: one in accountability and responsibility.
(Emily Harding's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily.)
Read More
EDITORIAL: Scapegoating students will not stop hazing
By Editorial Board | 10 hours agoInstead of retroactively responding to extreme hazing allegations, we, and especially the University, must begin asking more probing questions about the role of fraternal organizations on Grounds.
EDITORIAL: Celebrating and reflecting on The Cavalier Daily’s independence
By Editorial Board | 6 days agoOur independence grants us the ability to ask the hard questions and to say what University representatives cannot.
ARRAS: U.Va. must revise the Sexual Assault Prevention Training module
By Aoife Arras | April 17, 2024In addition to its failures in interactivity, the module lacks details specific to the University and discusses key concepts in universal terms.
