The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 39, No. 2 & Volume 40, No. 1 - 72

Erika L. Beseler Thompson • Thomas E. Hall • Myron A. Eighmy

campus communities. Students’ ability to
succeed in higher education may be impaired
by high-risk substance abuse that could result
in missed classes, lower grade point averages, and overall academic problems (NCASA,
2007; Wechsler, Lee, Kuo, Seibring, Nelson,
& Lee, 2002). Additionally, students who
engage in high-risk substance use are at increased risk for injuries, alcohol poisoning,
and unintended sexual activity (Hingson,
Zha, & Weitzman, 2009; U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, 2007; Wechsler,
Molnar, Davenport, & Baer, 1999).

INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSE TO
STUDENT SUBSTANCE ABUSE
In response to the negative effects of substance use on campus, college and university
officials in student affairs, including residence life and student life departments, have
tried a variety of methods to curb the highrisk use of alcohol and other drugs among
students. These include offering counseling
and support services; developing educational
interventions such as brochures, presentations, and peer education programs; and instituting environmental management efforts,
such as increasing the number of alcohol-free
events on campuses and altering policy to
control substance use (Henning, 2004).
As part of an environmental management
approach, many campuses implemented the
practice of informing parents of students
under the age of 21 about their student’s
alcohol or drug-related violations of federal,
state, or local laws or institutional policy. Parental notification policies are intended to
facilitate collaboration with parents and to
create a channel of communication with the
72

intent to decrease alcohol or other drug use
(Clouse, 2003). One of the impetuses behind
informing parents of their students’ violations is the belief that making them aware
of these violations can reduce future policy
violations by facilitating supportive parental
intervention or scaring students into compliance (Henning, 2004).

FAMILY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS
AND PRIVACY ACT (FERPA)
Campus parental notification policies evolved,
in large part, from a 1998 amendment to the
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of
1974 (FERPA), a federal law that has historically limited parental rights to access educational records of college students by allowing
students to control the release of their own
records, even to their parents (Palmer, Lohman,
Gehring, Carlson, & Garrett, 2001). In response to the increasing prevalence of alcohol
and other drug use and abuse on campuses,
as well as the highly publicized alcohol-related
deaths of five college students in the state of
Virginia in 1997, Congress passed Section 952
of the Higher Education Reauthorization Act
of 1998 (HERA) as an amendment to FERPA
(Lowery, Palmer, & Gehring, 2005; Palmer et
al., 2001). This amendment gave institutions
of higher education the right to notify parents
of students under the age of 21 of their student’s violations of federal, state, and local
laws, as well as campus alcohol or other drug
policies. Specifically, HERA allows, but does
not require, institutions of higher education to
notify parents of students under the age of 21 of
any violations of institutional alcohol or other
drug policies (Zweig & Thompson, 2001).
In July 2000, the United States Depart-

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 39, No. 2 & Volume 40, No. 1

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