New Campus Policy Alerts Parents to Offsprings' Alcohol Infractions

By VIC COX

Starting today, the parents or guardian of any UCSB undergraduate who is arrested or cited for alcohol or other drug offenses in Isla Vista will be notified of the action. The only exception, said Dean of Students Yonie Harris, is if the citation follows an infraction that requires medical treatment.

"For years we've urged students to be their brother's keeper," said Harris. "We want friends of minors to make that call for medical help." Even if it results in a citation, it won't trigger notification of the student's parents under this policy.

The policy, which was announced by e-mail to some 17,000 undergraduates last June and was part of freshman orientation this summer, says that if you are arrested or cited in I.V. for an AOD (alcohol or other drug) offense you will receive a "letter of concern" from UCSB. It will refer the undergraduate to sources of assistance. One week later, a similar letter will go out to the student's parents describing the incident, which is public record, and with suggestions to redress the behavior.

Neither letter would be disciplinary, Harris added, nor will they become part of the student's record at UCSB. "We're trying to get students to think about consequences before something bad happens," she said.

Spurring this concern were results from a 2001 campus survey in which 50 percent of UCSB students reported binge drinking--five or more drinks at one sitting--in the previous two weeks, an increase from the 46 percent who said they binged in a 1996 survey.

Last year's inquiry also revealed that about 40 percent of the students engaged in some type of public misconduct at least once during the previous year because of drinking or drug use. This ranged from trouble with police to fighting, driving under the influence, or taking sexual advantage of another person.

When compared to other, similarly sized campuses in Harvard's College Alcohol Study, UCSB falls in the middle range, according to Debbie Fleming, associate dean of students. But "we want to be lower," she said.

Since the 1996 survey, the Student Health Service AOD program, under Dr. Cindy Bowers, and the Office of Student Life, spearheaded by Harris and Fleming, have mounted a coordinated attack against students' substance abuse. They have emphasized a multifaceted approach that included not only education but also early intervention, enlisting faculty and peer health educators, working through the residence halls, athletic programs, and the Greek system to promote substance-free activities. Capping it was enforcement of a Zero Tolerance Policy by on- and off-campus authorities.

The bottom line was that even with 4,000 students who said they do not drink at all, binge drinking was growing. "We had to confront the fact that our best efforts were not enough," said Harris. "It's a hard pill to swallow, that education alone won't do it. But we have swallowed that pill."

Involving parents in the battle against substance abuse, binge drinking in particular, has had positive results on other campuses. UCSB officials hope it will work in I.V., too, at least on a modest level. "This is really a deterrent, not a punishment," said Fleming. "Most students will continue to drink, but maybe more moderately or in a more thoughtful manner, that's the goal."