U. nears decision on telling parents of alc. violations

Penn may notify parents when their children violate U. alcohol rules. After nearly a year of discussions about whether the University should notify parents of alcohol-related incidents and violations involving their children, a special committee will soon report its recommendations to University President Judith Rodin for approval. The debate follows the passage of legislation in Congress last September which authorizes universities to notify parents of students involved in drug and alcohol-related situations. Previously, they were not allowed to do so. At Penn, a committee chaired by College of Arts and Sciences Dean Richard Beeman recently gave a list of recommendations to Provost Robert Barchi about ways in which the law can be made applicable to the University. Rodin is expected to review the report within the next several days. "The very clear intent of our committee was to respond to changes in federal legislation giving universities greater flexibility in the area of parental notification that would best serve the health and well-being of our students," Beeman said. Although officials have not yet released details of the recommendations, the University had previously only notified parents of students whose condition had been serious enough that they had been taken to the intensive care unit. But after Congress gave schools the green light to contact parents for less serious incidents, Penn decided to carefully consider its policies. "We had the obligation to carry out a thoughtful discussion? and to promulgate a public decision," Barchi said. The University is also examining the issue of opening student judicial records in certain specific circumstances, an issue Congress also is now letting colleges and universities decide on their own. Beeman's committee -- composed of students, faculty members and administrators -- began meeting early in the spring semester and continued to meet into the summer. Beeman said he also contacted administrators at other institutions to get a sense of how they were responding with the law. Barchi said the opinions he has heard from student leaders have been mixed but he noted that many students with whom he has spoken support the idea of parental notification in one form or another. Undergraduate Assembly Chairperson Michael Silver said the UA planned to have an open forum soon to discuss the notion of parental notification. "It's a really tricky issue and there are arguments both ways," the College senior said. Barchi suggested a "rising concern about alcohol abuse on campus" as one possible reason that the law was passed last year as part of a series of new rules regarding campus crime and security issues. Administrators insisted that notifying parents would not be intended as a punitive measure and would not indicate a lack of trust in students. "We are not here in loco parentis," Barchi said. Added Beeman: "All of our discussions about the instances in which parents might be notified in the case of alcohol-related incidents were aimed at protecting the health and well-being of our students, not toward disciplinary action." Still, as a father of two children, Barchi said he thought that parents should always be notified when students have endangered themselves by binge drinking. "I can't imagine you would not tell me if my children's lives were at risk," Barchi said.