Editorials

In most circumstances, college students are legal adults — they're usually at least 18 — who can do what they want when they want. But often they are adults only in the legal sense; some still need a governing figure who can lessen the remnants of their adolescent-like immaturity and help them when they're in need.

To that end, how much should colleges stick their noses into the private lives of their youthful students? Should universities notify the parents of students who are struggling with underage drinking or illegal drug use?

Alabama's colleges and universities are split on this issue, as highlighted in a recent report in The Tuscaloosa News. Three schools — Jacksonville State University, the University of Alabama and the University of North Alabama — notify parents of underage students of alcohol or drug policy violations. Two others, Auburn University and the University of West Alabama, do not, though UWA may alter its policy.

Clearly, there is no consensus in Alabama. It's not an issue easy to dissect.

Students' personal information is protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, an ultra-strict legal mandate enacted in the 1970s. Without a 1998 amendment that allows colleges to notify parents of "rampant" drug or alcohol violations, administrators could not offer families information about students' education records — good, bad or otherwise.

The schools that do not notify parents seem to be taking a short-sighted, hands-off approach that should be discarded. That especially seems to be the case at Auburn, where administrators "felt like being a tattletale to parents might affect the trust students had with the administration," Jim Hardin, the university's senior program advisor, told The News. That attitude of placing students' trust above students' well-being is neither an attractive trait nor a comforting thought for parents of prospective students.

Whether underage students or not, the protection of our privacy is of the utmost importance; we need look only at recent actions of the Bush White House to see the critical importance of our personal privacy and civil liberties. Any path we take that offers even a sliver of our personal information or private lives to others is a course we should not take without ample consideration.

Nevertheless, many parents send their college students — even those young, impressionable and still immature — each year to campuses that are home to top-flight educators, not babysitters. But it's not too much to ask for universities to assist those teens and young adults who live and study on their campuses. It's the humane, right thing to do.