Mommy and Daddy employ various forms of punishment for "bad behavior" with young children. Different tactics include the "timeout," spanking, an early bedtime, "grounding" or in very mild cases of punishment when "Mario Brothers" was the hottest thing on the market in the '80s, "No Nintendo for two weeks".
The University of Wisconsin announced last week that it will begin sending letters home to parents of students involved in "extreme alcohol or drug incidents." This, of course, means that any 18, 19, or 20-year-old student caught drinking "excessive" amounts of alcohol by the authorities or who ends up in detox, will be "tattled" on by the university.
Chancellor Wiley released a statement saying, "We respect the independence of our students and aim to treat them as adults during their stay here on campus. However, university staff members sometimes deal with alcohol and drug overdoses that are, literally, matters of life and death." It should be noted that this statement of concern for the safety of students comes from the same Chancellor Wiley who has been grossly incompetent and negligent in dealing with pedophile professors convicted of felony sex crimes who work at this university.
Wiley was also upset with the UW's ranking as the number one party school by the Princeton Review, which he dismissed as "junk science." Interim Dean of Students Lori Berquam echoes Mr. Wiley's sentiment, saying, "We're the number one party school and that's a problem."
Unfortunately, Chancellor John Wiley has become the kid who "tattles" on students at the UW and brings Mommy and Daddy back into the fray. Just when you thought you had become an adult, finally free of parental involvement and able to take responsibility for your actions in preparation for the "real world," you get slapped back into childhood once again. It isn't enough for a student to get hit with a huge fine, thrown in jail, and have a nice criminal record for public intoxication. The UW feels that it needs to involve Mom and Dad.
If Chancellor Wiley really wants to be productive, I suggest that he go to the state Legislature or even the federal government and attempt to change the age of legal adult status from 18 years old, to let's say, 22 years old, when most undergrads graduate from the UW. On second thought, maybe it should be 30 years old, so that we cover most of the graduate students who may be doing three-story beer bongs before UW football games.
What John Wiley and the UW administration fail to understand is that life involves risks. Children are reprimanded because they are children, deemed by society to be legally less responsible and competent than adults. In addition, parents are often legally responsible for the actions of their children and can also be criminally negligent if they fail to perform as a responsible parent or guardian for that child.
Adults enjoy the freedom to make their own decisions. With that freedom comes responsibility for one's actions, which may include jail time and harsh fines for things like public intoxication. That punishment may or may not cause a student to change his or her drinking behavior the next time around, but it should not be the UW that intervenes to send a letter home to his or her parent, treating the person like some fifth grader who was just sent to the principal's office to be later scolded by his mother.
Excessive amounts of alcohol can be extremely dangerous, as most people clearly understand. The majority of students will be responsible drinkers and never cause any serious problems. Some will become violent and get arrested, fined and jailed. A few will even die as a result of over-consumption. This campus is not Brigham Young University; drinking alcohol is just part of the reality of student life here.
Most students are not alcoholics, but some are, and it is noble and compassionate to want to help them out. However, anyone who knows anything about alcoholism understands that an alcoholic must want to get help on his or her own. Any threats, such as sending letters home to parents, do nothing but make the person less likely to seek help and push the individual into a state of further denial, compounding the problem.
It is in the best interest of the UW and its students to treat adults like adults. Students who drink underage know the risks involved. If a student gets caught, he or she is responsible, not the parents. The worst thing a university can do is get into the business of being babysitters and tattletales, further delaying adults in college the ability to prepare for the world of adulthood and responsibility. Hopefully there won't be any letters sent home to parents for the "f*ck you, eat sh*t" chants among students at home football games, or we'll all be in trouble!
Casey Hoff ([email protected]) is a UW student and host of "New Ground with Casey Hoff," live Monday through Friday, 9-11 a.m., on Madison 1670 The Pulse.
