Drinking notifications have benefits for all
After 18 years of fighting to break free of their parents’ watchful eyes, students at some schools will have to continue that lifestyle of fear and worry through college. These policy changes have hit as close as Purdue University; let’s hope it doesn’t come to Franklin.
According to Shelby Salazar’s article on the front page of this issue, Virginia Tech implemented a parental notification policy to be used when under-aged students are disciplined for drug- or alcohol-related violations.
According to a Washington Post article on the issue, Va. Tech originally had a three-strike program. Students would be given two strikes for major offenses and one strike for minor ones. If a student accumulated three strikes while attending Va. Tech, he or she would have to leave the school for at least one semester.
At Franklin College, parents are not notified if students violate the rules. Rather, the school looks at individual violations on a case-by-case basis to determine the sanctions.
The reasoning behind this is simple. "The number one goal is to educate and hold students accountable for their actions," said LaTika Webster, director of residence life.
Webster said this current policy is not being discussed at Franklin; she added that a significant increase in the number of major alcohol incidents, such as transports to the hospital, would be needed before this would be implemented.
First of all, it’s good that the college considers our number of major alcohol incidents to be low. That shows students are practicing responsible drinking habits.
However, there are some parts of the policy that make sense. Although students in college are technically considered adults, parents have the right to know about major alcohol incidents.
If a student consistently has alcohol problems, parents could get help for their children.
There are three main times when the school should be advising parents of their students extracurriculars: a DUI (for the obvious reason), extreme drunkenness and hospital visits.
Extreme drunkenness would fall under the category of having problems with security or police on a continual basis. Hospital visits – like DUIs – are self-explanatory.
There have been times when the flashing lights of an ambulance have been parked along the streets of campus, tending to an overly-intoxicated individual and sometimes even taking said individual to the emergency room. The life of a student deserves a letter to the parents.
There’s no need to try to sweep drinking under the rug; we all know it happens. But, it needs to be kept in check in order to keep the safety of students as a priority.
Parents would – hopefully – be able to sleep better at night if they were able to be notified of their children’s problems.
