Drinking policy gets parents involved

The University at Albany has seen a decline in repeat underage drinking offenses since it started reporting the offenses to students' parents four years ago.

"The decision was made for several reasons. The first one being that many times parents were unaware that their student was at risk of being removed from the residence halls and/or suspended from school based on more than one violation of the alcohol and drug policies," said Laurie Garofola, the director of Residential Life, in an e-mail. "This meant it wasn't until their student was actually removed or suspended that they found out."           

 Many universities do not notify parents of students caught drinking about the offenses. According to a report on Yahoo! News, the University of North Carolina Wilmington does not notify parents for minor offenses.      

They only notify the parents of an under-21 student before they are suspended. Their take on the matter is that students come to college to learn to be a responsible adult and therefore they must learn to take responsibility for their actions.

Garofola agrees with UNC Wilmington that students do need to grow in to adults at college, however she doesn't "think this is necessarily compromised by including parents."  

She says that a careful balance must be held between letting students find their own way, and completely removing their parental influence from their lives.
UAlbany Director of Conflict Resolution Clarence McNeill notes that parents do not always have to be notified in the case of underage drinking on campus. In cases where students are compliant with the staff that initially catches them, and  further can build a good rapport with the residential director who further examines the issue, the student can be let off with a warning.

It is more than likely, however, that in that situation that a behavioral letter will be sent to the students home without further action such as probation. This letter informs parents of the nature of the infraction and how the university will deal with it.

There are a lot of sides to every story, and residential directors try to take all of them into account. McNeill notes that sometimes students come from other countries where they have been drinking legally for a few years, or they come from families where drinking at certain events is completely allowed.  

Many times students get really unlucky, notes McNeill. If a student walks into a friend's room during a party and two minutes later an RA walks in, that student should not be issued as serious a sanction as the host of the party.

McNeill did note that even if a student consistently finds themselves in that unlucky situation, the line will be drawn somewhere where the warnings turn in to residence hall probation, disciplinary probation, or removal from the campus.

According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 55 percent of high school students report having been drunk before and 72 percent have had a full drink.
In accordance with this statistic, McNeill said that one thing the university should change about its alcohol policies is in the education it provides students before they ever come to UAlbany, more than the briefing they get a orientation. McNeill compared the student who gets caught drinking underage on campus  to somebody who gets pulled over for talking on their phone without a hands-free device.

As it was the student's choice to have alcohol on campus, it was the drivers choice to use his phone. And as easily as a policeman could let the driver off with a warning, it wouldn't teach the driver not to do it next time.