Parents deserve information about students

It was refreshing to see some students at Southeast Missouri State University take a practical view regarding parental notification.

In the years since a federal privacy act, passed in 1974, virtually shut off the flow of information to parents regarding a student's grades or behavior, students have failed courses, jeopardized scholarships and broken laws while parents mostly were kept in the dark.

This is, proponents of student privacy claim, a part of the maturation of young adults who must learn to cope on their own.

The privacy act was amended, however, in 1998 to allow administrators to tell students' parents of any alcohol and drug offenses committed by students under age 21. Some schools have done this, but others have not. Southeast is among those schools that lean toward a blackout on any information about students unless the students specifically authorize the release of such information. The school also makes some exceptions when a student is considered to be in physical danger.

Students at Southeast who were asked about privacy laws last week generally expressed the view that parents who pay college bills are entitled to information about their sons and daughters. Some students, however, maintained that even parents who write checks aren't entitled to basic information such as grades.

Needless to say, many parents have been frustrated by the clamp on information that schools adopted after the 1974 act. In some instances, parents trying to contact their children through school administrative channels haven't even been able to learn if their sons or daughters are enrolled.

Most parents, it is reasonable to assume, understand the difference between students who are seeking a college degree on their own and those who are doing so at the expense of a parent's checking account.

The issue remains cloudy at schools too. In the wake of the 1998 amendment to the privacy act, some schools have found ways to convey relevant information to parents. But others continue to hold on to the notion that a student's privacy has more priority than a parent's right to know.

The head of one individual-rights organization said notification policies "infantilize" young adults, bolstering his position with the argument that college-age men and women serve in the military or work in factories without having their performance reported to their parents.

True. But parents aren't writing checks to the armed forces or to factories.

Even if the privacy laws aren't changed to give information to parents they deserve, parents can take action. They can tell their son or daughter that bills for tuition, fees and housing will be paid -- provided the students sign an authorization to release information to parents.