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One bourbon, one scotch, one call home

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by Badger Herald Editorial Board

Monday, September 26, 2005

It comes as a particularly brazen slap across the faces of students throughout the University of Wisconsin that the administration has recently implemented a policy of quasi-Orwellian paternalism, threatening most undergraduates with a call (or letter) to Ma and Pa Kettle whenever their son or daughter crosses the wrong side of a cop with a ticket pad in a bar. Ignoring the entire concept of adulthood being achieved at the age of 18, UW will now implement punitive action against its own clientele by involving the parental units who have already shipped their children off to college.

That many students pay their own tuition, work jobs when not in class and are basically in charge of the entirety of their lives seems to not phase the brass atop Bascom Hill. And that all students are receiving as part of their college education a firm lesson in the maintenance of an independent lifestyle seems to go unnoted as well. Rather, this new policy seeks to treat the majority of undergraduates like students of the high schools from which they long ago graduated. The resemblance of this new alcohol offense notification system and the letters once directed home by principals and homeroom advisors is all too frightful.

But what we find perhaps most disturbing yet is the larger reality of UW's selective implementation of Big Brother-eque behavior. When a certain comparative literature professor was on the receiving end of some rather frightful legal allegations involving a child in 1998, not only did UW fail to take action but, by all accounts, the school proved completely ignorant of the situation. Over the course of this past year, as that same professor, as well as two of his colleagues on campus, ran afoul of the law via disturbingly felonious acts, UW once again proved helpless — taking months to merely investigate before initiating punitive action.

Yet for undergraduates there will be no such lengthy investigations, 41-page reports or seemingly endless appeals processes. No, justice at the hands of Bascom will be swift — humiliating calls or letters will be directed in parents' directions, intellectual growth and independence will be at least temporarily staggered as the days of hall passes are briefly revisited and the notion of equal treatment amongst bar guests who run afoul of the law will be thrown out the window. After all, this new policy means that being a UW student will lead to your being subjected to punishment more extensive in nature than if you were a college drop out or high school graduate finished with education.

We are glad UW is so concerned about what its students do off-campus on the weekends. But before the school goes forth with this new policy, we must ask if, given the recent barrage of professors unleashed, Bascom really has its own house in order.

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Craig Chester (September 26, 2005 @ 7:15am):

ah, the rewards of being the #1 party school. I bet this would never have happened if UW stayed of the list.

Anonymous (September 26, 2005 @ 12:01pm):

Holy crap! I agree with the BH board. In all seriousness, the UW policy on calling the parents of students with drinking tickets is part of two disturbing trends in american higher ed and society as a whole. Increasingly, as a recent newsweek article also pointed out, parents are becoming increasingly involved in thier college student's lives by going as far as to question seasoned professor's grades for thier adult children. While it is perfectly natural for a parent to inquire about ones grades in college the actual tampering or interfering with the college grading process is completely over the line. Being an '04 graduate, i was lucky to have parents who made the distinction that once I was 18, and no longer lived in their house i made my own rules, and was accountable to myself. The good grades, the bad grades, the hangovers, mess ups, and even the run-ins with the law were all, as they should have been, my responsibility. Secondly, this is a larger trend to stretch out adolescence way beyond the 18 year old mark. True some, if not most, 18 year olds are adults in the truest sense of the word, but if you can die for your country, smoke, be held for trial as an adult, be a porn star - whatever, at the age of 18 than you are an adult. However, conflicting messages are sent by the American society (such as the 21 year old drinking law, and now the UW and other colleges notification of parents) to 18 year olds that they arent truly adults. I'm not saying there is a clear demarkation line when someone is an adult and when they are not, but since the law says 18, then its 18. Calling parents when a adult does something wrong only serves to inforce the notion that they are not accountable, and if students are not truly held accountable, when will they learn the valuable leason of being thier own person?

Anonymous (September 26, 2005 @ 7:18pm):

I'm a TA here. If parents call me to ask about their children's grades, federal law prohibits me from disclosing anything, on the grounds that doing so would be a violation of the student's privacy. My question, then, is how is this any different? What gives UW the right to say anything to a parent about a student's private life when we can't even tell parents anything about your grades?