THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1999

We're adults right?

It becomes increasingly difficult to convince yourself and others that you are an adult, when your university contacts your parents to tell them you have broken campus rules. The parent notification amendment permits all colleges to do exactly this and has been intact since October. If you are a college student between the ages of 18-21 you could be next.

Basically, if you break any local, state or federal laws including school policies, the law clearly permits colleges to contact parents to let them know the juicy details.

Now, surely there are incidents you would prefer to keep private. This does not mean dodging the consequences either. Usually fines, community service or an evening in a holding cell are sufficient. But the key is it is on our time - the decision to discuss our run-ins with the law should be left to our discretion.

Let us further examine the decision to inform parents. Chances are, (if your parents are at all like ours) mom and dad's generation is far removed from our own. It could be too much to ask of them to understand what we do recreationally. Sharing this with them could harm a fragile relationship, not to mention weaken emotional and financial support.

The law is a result of heavy lobbying by a father who lost his son, a college student, who was killed while riding in a car with a drunk driver. The father, Jeffrey Levy, pushed hard for a parental notification amendment. Understandably, the death of a son can impassion one to search for what could have prevented the tragedy. But it is unclear how parental notification could have prevented his son from getting in the car with a drunken driver. The truth is, parental notification will have little impact on what an adult decides to do.

The law states schools are permitted to contact parents if they see fit, but does not require them to do so. Unless, a student is seriously and directly endangering herself, himself or others we feel this measure should not be followed here. We need to teach, especially in college, personal responsibility. And above all, doing the right thing and staying out of trouble should be the chosen path, not the path you are threatened into taking by parental authority.