The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 39, No. 2 & Volume 40, No. 1 - 82

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

drug violation (Clouse, 2003).
The university in this study used a letter to
notify parents of their student’s disciplinary
violations. According to the survey’s quantitative results, a substantial majority (95.7%) of
parents felt it was appropriate to use a letter
as the means of notifying them of their student’s disciplinary violations. However, some
parents expressed confusion regarding the
right of the university to communicate information about the violation while academic
and financial records cannot be released
without prior authorization.
Although the majority of parents reported that the use of the letter was appropriate,
20.3% indicated that the letter provided insufficient detail, and 15.7% thought that instructions for finding additional information
about their student’s violation were unclear.
However, nearly 70% of parents found that information contained in the letter was helpful
in initiating a conversation with their student
about high-risk behavior.
Three open-ended questions in this section
of the survey provided researchers with useful
qualitative data regarding additional information that parents would like to have received in
the notification letter. Findings of the qualitative analyses revealed that parents would like
(a) additional details about the circumstances
of their student’s violation, (b) clarification of
what specific substance was involved in the
violation, and (c) details of the actions taken
by the university in response to the violation.
One parent indicated they would have liked
the letter to “differentiate between alcohol and
drugs. . . . The letter does not distinguish and
leaves the parent not knowing and full of fear
of worst case scenario.” Parents also expressed
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concern about the length of time between the
incident and the receipt of the notification and
preferred to receive the letter close to the date
of the violation so they could address the incident in a timely manner. Additionally, some
parents wanted to receive a secondary form of
notification or a follow-up contact, such as an
email or phone call.

Parental Actions in Response to
Notification
The second research question dealt with the
actions parents took as a result of receiving
a notification letter. Survey questions asked
parents whether or not they took any action,
such as having a conversation with their
student or taking disciplinary action, as a
result of notification.
The majority of parents reported that the
primary action they took was to have a conversation with their student. A high percentage (82.4%) of parents indicated that they had
a conversation with their student following
receipt of the notification letter, and 18.5%
indicated they took disciplinary action. This
action included making the student responsible for all legal obligations and fines or denying
parent-provided resources such as a vehicle or
financial support. Parents who chose to have a
conversation with their student used it as an
opportunity to learn additional details of the
violation and to discuss the risks and consequences of alcohol or other drug use. Of the
95 parents who described the content of the
conversation they had with their student, more
than one-third indicated that they had discussed the current and future consequences of
the student’s decisions, including personal, academic, legal, and career-related consequences.
Specifically, one respondent described discuss-

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

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