News Highlights

President backs effort to tell parents about student drinking

Privacy law debate

President Richard Davenport is leading an effort to allow universities to inform parents when their sons and daughters violate campus alcohol policies.

2008-01-07
By Jeff Shelman, Star Tribune staff writer [published in the Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN, 1/7/2008]

A freshman at a public university in Minnesota is caught with beer in a dorm room, gets cited for underage drinking and then gets nabbed for possession of marijuana.

Should the deans notify the parents?

The law says they can't, if the student is at least 18 years old, because the state Data Practices Act considers those situations "educational data" and therefore protected from disclosure.

Administrators in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system would like to see that rule changed, especially after the alcohol-related deaths this fall of three current or former students at MnSCU campuses. A bill allowing the disclosure will again be proposed when the Legislature convenes next month.

"When the families don't know about it and we can't tell them about it, they can't be part of the solution," said Minnesota State University, Mankato President Richard Davenport.

But college students, almost all of whom are considered adults under the law, aren't exactly cheering on the prospect. The Minnesota State University Student Association doesn't have a formal position on the proposed change.

"There are two sides to the issue, and I think students understand the two sides," said Kara Brockett, the group's president and a student at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall. "With the exception of [Post-Secondary Education Option] students, all students are 18 years old, they are away at college and they're treated like an adult in every other situation. For them to then be told or reported to their parents ... just seems counterintuitive and an invasion of privacy and a lack of respecting someone as an adult."

Currently, MnSCU schools are allowed to contact parents only in cases where there is a health or safety emergency or if students have signed a waiver.

After several alcohol-related deaths in the Fargo-Moorhead area, university leaders at Minnesota State University, Moorhead approached local legislator Rep. Paul Marquart, DFL-Dilworth.

The bill would allow parental notification to parents if a student violates a law or school policy governing "the use or possession of alcohol or of a controlled substance." It has been introduced twice before.

In 2006, the bill was passed by the House but stalled in the Senate. A year ago, the bill didn't receive a hearing.

"Those that were opposed were concerned that college students are young adults, and Mom and Dad shouldn't be brought into it," Marquart said.

He said he will push for the bill to get a hearing this time.

"It would be a way for a red flag to come up and for the parents to at least be aware that their son or daughter is having problems," said Marquart, who has a daughter in college.

"I think the more people you can bring in to help a young adult get through some tough times, the better ... If it can help prevent a very unfortunate event in the future, it's well worth it."

The issue of parental notification has gained momentum after what was a deadly 2007 for Minnesota campuses.

In April, 19-year-old University of Minnesota freshman Kyle Sharbonno fell from the third floor of a parking garage and died. Two U students have been charged with providing alcoholic beverages to a minor that resulted in death.

In October, former Mankato student Amanda Jax drank herself to death on the night of her 21st birthday. In November, Mankato student Rissa Amen-Reif was killed when she was struck by a car, and police say alcohol was a factor. On Dec. 14, Winona State University sophomore Jenna Foellmi died of acute alcohol poisoning.

"People do things to the extreme much more than in the past and suffer the consequences of uncontrolled behavior," Minnesota State University, Moorhead President Roland Barden said. "Hard drinking in this day and age has a character to it that I don't remember seeing."

Barden said he hopes the deaths will spur action.

"It is time to make some changes and try to do things differently," he said. "Clearly we are asking for a strengthening of tools."

Alcohol use and abuse are significant issues on college campuses across both Minnesota and the nation. According to a recent University of Minnesota survey of nearly 10,000 college students from across the state, more than 70 percent -- regardless of whether they were of legal drinking age -- said they drank in the past 30 days. More than 81 percent reported having drunk in the past year.

Traci Toomey, a professor in the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health, said parental notification by itself will not end the problem of risky drinking.

"It's a promising approach. My concern is that too often we say, 'The parents are going to solve the problem,'" Toomey said. "Parents can influence college-aged students, but they have less influence on college-aged students than they do on high school students."

Email this article | Permanent link | Topstories news | Topstories news archives