2008 Woodie Awards
Booze ruling may give UWT lasting hangover
In loco parentis sets dangerous precedent that means more than just a dry campus
Mark Dodson
Issue date: 4/6/06 Section: Commentary
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Don't believe the hype - in loco parentis is alive and well.
It's been said by many that the idea of
"in loco parentis", "in the place of a parent", is an idea that had its usefulness back in the day, but was largely eliminated by the courts in the 1960s as the student rights movement started to take hold and students and their respective governments began to become involved in the social issues of the day.
The trouble is that the courts didn't exactly void the concept as much as it allowed it to evolve into something different. That concept in its current form is being played out here at the University of Washington, Tacoma in the form of the emerging alcohol policy for students.
The concept in its original form allowed colleges and universities to become involved in all manner of the students lives under the guise of protecting them from outside influences. This is not as nefarious as it seems at first glance, as many administrators sincerely believed that students required protection from influences that could corrupt or harm them.
During the 60s many colleges became, I suspect, more concerned with their own legal culpability rather than the students' right to engage (sometimes with violent results) social controversies directly and the courts started to ease up on permitting colleges to be found responsible for the actions of their student populations, but not completely.
This, according to authors Bickel & Lake, was the beginning of the "duty-no duty" university. This is where the problem lies.
Court decisions starting with Dixon v. Alabama State Board of Education have issued vague or contradictory rulings that have left modern colleges with little responsibility, but much of the liability when things go wrong.
Flash forward to fall 2006 and enter the freshmen class. It is rumored that UWT's Building & Facilities Use Committee (BFUC; yes, you read that correctly and no, I'm not making it up) has reconstructed the alcohol policy not just in regards to the incoming 1st year students, but for everyone, to include forbidding any and all alcohol from campus for any student-centric event. If true, is that too extreme?
It's been said by many that the idea of
"in loco parentis", "in the place of a parent", is an idea that had its usefulness back in the day, but was largely eliminated by the courts in the 1960s as the student rights movement started to take hold and students and their respective governments began to become involved in the social issues of the day.
The trouble is that the courts didn't exactly void the concept as much as it allowed it to evolve into something different. That concept in its current form is being played out here at the University of Washington, Tacoma in the form of the emerging alcohol policy for students.
The concept in its original form allowed colleges and universities to become involved in all manner of the students lives under the guise of protecting them from outside influences. This is not as nefarious as it seems at first glance, as many administrators sincerely believed that students required protection from influences that could corrupt or harm them.
During the 60s many colleges became, I suspect, more concerned with their own legal culpability rather than the students' right to engage (sometimes with violent results) social controversies directly and the courts started to ease up on permitting colleges to be found responsible for the actions of their student populations, but not completely.
This, according to authors Bickel & Lake, was the beginning of the "duty-no duty" university. This is where the problem lies.
Court decisions starting with Dixon v. Alabama State Board of Education have issued vague or contradictory rulings that have left modern colleges with little responsibility, but much of the liability when things go wrong.
Flash forward to fall 2006 and enter the freshmen class. It is rumored that UWT's Building & Facilities Use Committee (BFUC; yes, you read that correctly and no, I'm not making it up) has reconstructed the alcohol policy not just in regards to the incoming 1st year students, but for everyone, to include forbidding any and all alcohol from campus for any student-centric event. If true, is that too extreme?