Starting this fall, Ball State University will notify parents if a student under 21 violates Ball State's alcohol or drug policies.
The new policy results from a 1998 amendment to a federal law governing privacy of student records. The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act permits colleges and universities to inform parents or guardians of illegal activity.
The vast majority of students are 18 or over and are legal adults. Many students are fully independent of their parents and no longer receive financial support from them. They can vote in elections, sign legally binding contracts and be tried for crimes as adults.
It only makes sense that students, who are fully responsible for illegal acts they commit, should be the ones to choose when, how and if they should inform their families.
This new policy is nothing less that a violation of privacy. Students found breaking the law will have enough problems without Ball State getting involved in their family situation.
Brian Farber, chairman of the Parental Notification Task Group, said, "This first year will just start us on the path to changing the college culture of using drugs and alcohol."
Penalties for breaking alcohol and drug laws are already severe enough. Students who break the law inspite of those risks will not alter their behavior due to this policy.
While the idea of keeping parents abreast of their sons' and daughters' activities is noble, the knowledge will not help parents to change the behavior. Short of removing the student from the university environment, what can parents do that the law does not?
Ball State's responsibility is to educate young adults, to make them well-trained critical thinkers. Ball State has no responsibility to play the role of a tattle-tale.
The university is a place for students to strike their own paths and take responsibility for their own lives. The university is not a babysitter or a family counselor and has no business meddling in this part of the relationship between parents and students.
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