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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1998)
NEWSROOM: (541)546-5511 E-MAIL ode@oregon. uoregon.edu ON-LINE EDITION: www.uoregon.edu/~ode EDITOR IN CHIEF Ryan Frank EDITORIAL EDITOR Kameron Cole Old enough to vote, old enough to choose Recent legislation demeans underage students by allowing universities to notify their parents when they are caught with alcohol You are caught with alcohol, you are a minor and it is not the first time. A school official drags you into an office to discuss the problem. Exasperated at your, behavior the official warns, "I am sorry but we have to take action. 1 am going to call your par ents.” ... You are: A. back in high school, B. hav Opinion Stefanie Knowlton ing a bad dream or C. an adult attending a universi ty somewhere in America. Yes, boys and girls, the correct answer is C. President Clinton re cently signed a higher edu cation amendment that al lows universities to notify parents of their child’s drinking habits. The last time I checked, students on average are 18 years or older when they enter college, which would, according to the law, make them adults capable of voting, going to war, making their own decisions and suf fering the consequences. What place does parental notification have in this legal definition of adult? None. Apparently, universities, parents, Con gress and the president believe students cannot function properly at college with out parental supervision. Where is the interference going to end? Are we going to get parent chaperons at every university-sponsored event too? Ridiculous as this amendment may sound, it has good intentions. Prompted by recent alcohol-related deaths on uni versity campuses, the parental notifica tion clause was designed to decrease un derage drinking and presumably deaths When an I AN Adult P v .-rr, -r * ¥ - Giovanni Salimena/Emerald or injuries associated with it. In addition to infringing on a student’s right to privacy, the new law may also be more dangerous to students’ health than it is helpful. Because the university’s jurisdiction is limited to the campus itself, only the dorms, fraternities, sororities and those caught on campus with alcohol will be subject to the new law. Instead of choos ing not to drink, many students may de cide to drink off campus, which could in crease the number of those who drive under the influence. According to a Harvard University study, the greatest risk with alcohol-relat ed behavior is to students driving under the influence. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that 2,209 young adults ages 15 to 20 died in alcohol related automobile accidents in 1997. These figures far outweigh the handful of campus-related deaths because of un derage binge drinking. Elaine Green, associate dean of student life, explains that the University is going to be cautious when deciding what to do with the new legislation. Other universities may not be as insight ful. We need to focus on real solutions and not revert to treating students like chil dren. Students are going to drink. How safe students are when they drink should be our main concern. Are they driving? How much are they drinking? Instead of calling parents we should make repeat offenders get involved in al cohol counseling. And this should apply to all students, not just those who are un derage. It is impossible to get students to make mature decisions about drinking habits when the universities are treating them like children. Any way you look at the new amend ment, it is a bad idea for students, the community and the university system. ... The official proceeds to dial your par ent’s telephone number. Someone picks up. It’s your mom! “I am sorry to inform you that your son was caught drinking on campus,” the offi cial says. The response? “He is 20 years old and perfectly capa ble of making his own decisions.” Stefanie Knowlton is a columnist for the Emer ald. Her views do not necessarily represent those of the newspaper. She can be reached at sknowlto@gladstone. uoregon edu. THE WiBSITt ENTER WERE Q3 * — AT LEAST HFS NOT DOWNLOADING the STARR REPORT... -in« O"'*^’**£**■*<»-998 ...SAVE HIM? HFS GONNA GET US ALL KILLED/// SI DEMSV SENKTlfp DEMSI %
