New UofM Policy to address Freshmen Alcohol Abuse

Submitted by StephenRKass on

Just saw an article in the Daily about new UofM initiatives to curb alcohol abuse.

As part of the plan:

The University will also pilot a program to alert the parents of first-year-students who incur a second alcohol or drug violation.

Am curious the thoughts of the board on this new initiative. I personally feel kind of odd about this. Seems a bit intrusive and kind of a nanny state thing. Personally, I don't drink, other than a toast at a wedding or the like, so something like this wouldn't impact me. Still, isn't college a place where students start to learn to take ownership for their own behavior? Not sure what to think.

julesh

August 26th, 2015 at 12:21 PM ^

Yes college is that place, but your frontal lobe is still not done developing. If you've proven you cannot be responsible (like by getting not just one but two violations) you clearly still need an actual adult to help you.

julesh

August 26th, 2015 at 3:37 PM ^

Your emotional maturity doesn't magically change at midnight on your 18th birthday. They are given the chance to get help through the legal system on their first offense. If that fails why wouldn't you try another way?

I feel like anyone who objects to this either is 18 or doesn't remember being 18. You may be able to vote and be tried as an adult, but you certainly are not actually an adult.

pescadero

August 26th, 2015 at 4:07 PM ^

Your emotional maturity doesn't magically change at midnight on your 18th birthday.



Your emotional maturity doesn't magically change at midnight on your 18th birthday... your responsibility for that immaturity does.

 

If that fails why wouldn't you try another way?

I'm all for trying another way - a harsher punishment from the legal system for a second offense. An 18 year old violating the law should be treated no differently than a 40 year old violating the law.

 

You may be able to vote and be tried as an adult, but you certainly are not actually an adult.

 

...and if they keep getting coddled and reported to mommy and daddy instead of facing the legal consequences of their decisions, they may never get there. Immersion in adulthood is the way to accelerate the move to mature adulthood.

 

 

 

 

 

pescadero

August 26th, 2015 at 4:29 PM ^

Easing kids into adulthood is one of the biggest societal problems we have.

 

We've created a completely artificial stage of human growth (adolescence) due to the complexity of our society - and we keep extending it later and later into life, thus reducing the impetus for progressing to adulthood.

 

If easing kids into adulthood is what we need to work on - the correct direction is "start the transition earlier" not "push the end of the transition later".

 

 

 

 

pescadero

August 26th, 2015 at 5:31 PM ^

I think it's pretty silly to call someone beyond the legally defining line for adulthood not an adult.

 

Once you've reached the age of majority - you are legally an adult.

 

You can enter into lifelong contracts. You can vote. You can legally consent to sex. You can legally consent to medical experimentation.You can get married... and most importantly - you've reached the age of criminal responsibility and your parents no longer have any legal control or legal responsibility for your actions.

 

Are younger folks the most likely of "adults" to behave in a non-adult manner? Absolutely. Is suffering the consequences of their actions the best way to cure that? Yes it is.

StephenRKass

August 26th, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^

Usually I avoid the drinking threads, but if I click on them, I'm drinking a strong cup of coffee

As regards alcohol, I wouldn't have too much to contribute . . . typically I would have been drinking a simple beer or glass of wine, maybe a merlot, or Liebfraumilch, or whatever was on hand. I remember when I was backpacking in Mexico enjoying a beer called Bohemia. And in Austria, right around this time of year, they had something called "Sturm," or Federweisser. It was newly fermented sweet grapes, and was nice with a fresh schnitzel. In Korea, they had fermented rice called Makoli that was not bad with chop chae and maelchi. That's all I know for interesting/uncommon alcohol.

StephenRKass

August 26th, 2015 at 3:11 PM ^

Between following one son's football team, my daughter in the Navy, another daughter in soccer, having a cottage with stuff to do, reading MGoBlog, spending time with my better half, reading a few books and catching a movie, or going out on occasion, and leading several meetings at night, the schedule fills up nicely, thank you very much.

mark5750

August 26th, 2015 at 12:52 PM ^

If this is a legal issue why not involve law enforcement?  It seems kind of odd that when a young person is trying to figure out how to be an adult the institution that is supposed to help them figure it out says if you do this we will run and tell your parents.

maizenbluenc

August 26th, 2015 at 2:56 PM ^

may have the ability to get through to their son or daughter, and they also have the job benefits to set up alcohol inetevention programs, ect.

As a parent who just sent a son off to college, and will send another in two years, the downside of the 21 y/o drinking age is I cannot legally teach my kids to drink responsibly, know their limits, etc. before they go off to school. In some states you can (link), but not in North Carolina (or Michigan for that matter).

So yeah, I'd like to know if my kid was picked up twice for drunk in public / underage drinking, so I have the opportunity to help them straighten up before they get kicked out of school and take a major step back in life. (And actually, I would prefer they get a couple warnings and I get notified, before it becomes a legal issue provided it wasn't a more significant legal issue like DUI.)

mark5750

August 26th, 2015 at 3:46 PM ^

You make a lot of good points and I still reach out to my parents for guidance on some things, however, you lose out on the opportunity to have someone that society says is already an adult to do adult things like be held personally accountable for their actions and to have to face learning from their mistakes head on.  All situations are different and call for different responses but I have seen a number of people that have had alcohol and drug related incidents and their parents getting involved to try and help their chilldren to not make bigger mistakes only served to cause larger issues in the future because they didnt have to pay full price for their mistakes early on.

bgoblue02

August 26th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^

college is definitely the place to figure this out; but at some point if it starts to become a problem (aka you are dumb enough to keep getting caught) then perhaps notification is needed.



It also gets tricky based off of who is funding the tuition; parents vs. loans vs. scholarships may (should?) have different notifications?  I dunno just tossing that out there. 

Gulo Gulo Luscus

August 26th, 2015 at 12:35 PM ^

I had the same thought.  Parents funding the full cost of attendance for their kid could reasonably be given this option.  Whether that's feasible is a different question.  

However, I'm completely against any such notification for an 18+ student who pays their own way.  Unless there are some laws here I'm unaware of, which is entirely possible.

On a related note - anyone know if certain grants/scholarships have the right to know whether their awardees are cited for alcohol/drug incidents, and if yes do they have the right to pull your funding?

los barcos

August 26th, 2015 at 12:26 PM ^

by the fact that most students keep their license (and thus their parent's homse address), for at the very least their freshmen year.  any court hearings, etc for a violations are sent to the defendant's address.  that's how my parents found about my MIP - not from the school.

Ma1zeandB1ue

August 26th, 2015 at 12:27 PM ^

If I had known that my Alma Mater had the option to tell my parents I was partaking in underage drinking, I would have definitely thought twice about continuing my actions. Anybody remember that scene from Glory Road where the kid's mom shows up at the school to whip his ass into shape?  Yeah that would have been my mom.

hailtothevictors08

August 26th, 2015 at 12:35 PM ^

18 year old kids are allowed to take a bullet for this country abroad. If they can make that choice, they should have the right to privacy from their parents. I told my parents everything, but I had many friends who funded their time at Michigan on their own through loans and jobs. The fact that a public university would release what amounts to a medical issue (alcohol abuse is absolutely a medical issue) is asinine.

somewittyname

August 26th, 2015 at 12:56 PM ^

I respect your opinion, but a vast majority of these students are having their education paid by their parents. I think the parents have a right to know if their kids are fucking up. 18 years may be old enough to go to war, but I know from personal experience, you're usually still pretty much a complete idiot at 18. A lot of kids have not learned the sort of necessary self-control at this age to handle their independence in such a completely different environment. I think it's best that, at least as freshmen, there are still policies in place to prevent self-destruction.

mjv

August 26th, 2015 at 2:56 PM ^

Is "fucking up" an RA busting up a party in the dorm?  Some guys sitting around drinking while playing Madden?  Or is it just getting drunk enough to get in a fight or end up passed out on the Diag?

The University probably takes any minor offense and counts that.  I would rather see the University keep their nose out of it.  If the report card comes back and is total crap, that is where the parents should get involved.  

I knew plenty of students who had a lot of fun and still brought home awesome grades.  The bottom line was they were getting the education and anything else was immaterial.

Oregon Wolverine

August 26th, 2015 at 3:09 PM ^

and written by the lawyers -- being one myself, I can flush one from the weeds pretty easily.

In the world of the Nanny State and Helicopter Parenting, Parents are having a hard time letting go of the chains, but it is somewhat understandable considering we are being told that we have to continue to "foot the bill" for 18-24 year olds who cannot make up their minds about what their bachelor should be in.  If we do foot the bill, we do have a skin in the game, after all.

UMich undoubtedly wants to avoid being sued.

I'm a soon-to-be 49 year old lawyer with two degrees from M (BA and JD), three kids, and who myself moved out of the house at 17, and paid my dime throughout school including working as a RA at the "dry" Cousins dorm in 1987-88 school year.  I was hardly "dry" in my two years in Bursley which included being the organizer for the then annual 7th Douglas progressive.  That shit was sloppy, but it was respectful.  We held hall meetings before, we planned, a couple of kids who were not into it were cool with staying elsewhere.  No one got arrested, no security got called, except by me before hand giving them the head up.

Being an RA was a new experience.  Contrary to dorm policy, my hall was not "dry" or without white buffalos, but it was respectful and built on relationships and dialogue, and we had no problems.  It took work, open communication about expectations and boundaries, and not just a few wet towels to contain the buffalos in rooms where everyone was ok with them.

Policies like this are written by lawyers to try and keep lawyers from taking their clients' pots of money, to send a message to scare those who are slipping out of control and to cover for those who are unwilling to manage.

legalblue

August 26th, 2015 at 2:18 PM ^

My Mom recieved a letter from the University of Michigan my sophmore year relating to a party that was thrown at my fraternity.  It indicated, amongst other things, that underage alchol consumption had occured.  The only criminal matter that arose from that party was a noise ticket as far as I'm aware.  There weren't any other reprecussion with the University either.  The IFC had a field day with it , but it's not quite the same thing.  I was not placed on probation or any sort of suspension through the University nor was anyone else in the house.  It might have been threatened in that letter though I can't recall for sure.  Still, I believe that my mom and I had a less than pleasant phone conversation that day.

I don't see this as some massive shift in policy of notifying parents of bad behaviour.  It certainly applied more stringently to all members of the Interfraternity Council as far back as the early 2000s.       

Blue_sophie

August 26th, 2015 at 12:37 PM ^

Minors should probably have their parents notified at the first "alcohol or drug violation" automatically. I can't believe they don't do this already!

Of course many freshmen are 18, so that is a different story. I'm not sure that these should be reported to parents, but I could see an opt-in program, where parents and students together sign a document that would voluntarily enroll them in a reporting program. This would give parents an opprotunity to speak with their kids about responsible alcohol and drug use, or to strategize ways to abstain from using in the face of peer pressure, etc.

KBGoBlue

August 26th, 2015 at 4:07 PM ^

Freshmen who are under the age of 18 already faced different consequences for alcohol violations.

They are treated by the police as children, not minors. They don't get written MIPs and released when a party is busted, they get taken into custody and their parent is usually contacted. If they're local, sometimes the police hold them until their parents can pick them up. 

Also, the consequences for providing them with alcohol can be very different. It's not providing alcohol to minors, it's providing alcohol to a child. From what I've heard, AAPD has pursued that legally in the past. I think it played a factor in IFC fraternities checking MCards at Welcome Week parties to prevent high school students from entering. (However, that doesn't catch your <18 freshmen, who are often oblivious to the different consequences they will face if they are caught drinking by police.)

Source: Was a RA in Markley. Was Greek.

KBGoBlue

August 26th, 2015 at 4:22 PM ^

To be clear, I was talking from a legal perspective. And I'm not a lawyer or a police officer, just a ResStaff alum. I think I have the jist of things correct, but the specifics could be wrong.

My basic point: I always told my 17 year old residents not to drink to excess. Especially if they cared about the people who were buying them alcohol, or if they didn't want their parents to find out.