Now if you get in trouble on campus, the Office of the Dean of Students is going to tell your parents.
Recently LSU Dean of Students K.C. White acknowledged the University is taking a more aggressive stance in notifying parents of all students, who are caught engaged in underaged drinking or drug-related activities on campus.
White cited a clause in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act that allows the University to disclose such information to parents without the student’s consent.
We feel that while it may be within the University’s right to disclose such information, it is a policy that is not fair to students and calls into question whether the administration feels we are responsible adults who can manage their own affairs.
White admitted the policy has not been strictly enforced in the past.
In an interview with The Daily Reveille, White stated, “This is a rule that has been on the books. But I don’t think we have been as consistent about contacting parents in the past.”
The fact that this policy was not consistently enforced shows that some administration officials have felt students’ conduct is their responsibility, not their parents’.
In Louisiana, as in all states in the United States, a person is considered a legal adult at 18. At 18, one can register to vote, serve on a jury and serve in the armed forces. Most of all, one ‘s considered to be responsible for his or her actions.
If we as students are responsible enough to choose our leaders, determine a person’s guilt or innocence or fight a war, surely we are responsible enough to handle our own affairs privately, whether they be criminal or academic. College is a time for learning, and one of the main things learned by all who have passed under the oaks of LSU is how to be responsible for the choices we make.
We are no longer living under our parents’ roofs. Should someone really be running down the hall to tattle on us every time we get in trouble?
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