Spring Break
Death ends right to privacy
Mara Rose Williams, MCT Campus
Issue date: 3/27/09 Section: News
KANSAS CITY, Mo.-Before University of Kansas student Jason Wren died, reportedly after a night of binge drinking, records describing his violations of dormitory alcohol policies were off-limits to his parents.
After the 19-year-old's death, KU turned over the records.
Jay Wren says before his son's death he begged for a description of his behavior in the dormitory, and was told those records were protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, which shields student grades, health and behavior information.
The federal law and the way universities interpret it often pit students' right to privacy against what some parents deem as their right to know.
How schools interpret the law differs. For example, Kansas State University tells parents about underage drinking. KU does not.
"There is no national evidence that parental notification makes a difference," said Marlesa Roney, vice provost for student success at KU.
Some students say they want to take responsibility for their lives and learn from their mistakes. Others want their parents to know what's going on.
College Parents of America recently began pushing schools to share more about their underage students with parents.
"The law does leave a great deal of interpretation to colleges and universities," said Jim Boyle, the group's president.
Boyle continued, "I believe they should use their interpretation to better inform parents about their son or daughter, and not use FERPA as an excuse to withhold information."
Wren, who knew that his son drank alcohol even in high school, said he would have pulled Jason out of KU if he'd known about the repeated alcohol and behavior infractions that led to his son being kicked out of Oliver Hall.
He said that according to the records he recently received, his son was caught with alcohol at least twice in Oliver, put on probation and warned that his residence hall contract was in danger of being terminated.
After the 19-year-old's death, KU turned over the records.
Jay Wren says before his son's death he begged for a description of his behavior in the dormitory, and was told those records were protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, which shields student grades, health and behavior information.
The federal law and the way universities interpret it often pit students' right to privacy against what some parents deem as their right to know.
How schools interpret the law differs. For example, Kansas State University tells parents about underage drinking. KU does not.
"There is no national evidence that parental notification makes a difference," said Marlesa Roney, vice provost for student success at KU.
Some students say they want to take responsibility for their lives and learn from their mistakes. Others want their parents to know what's going on.
College Parents of America recently began pushing schools to share more about their underage students with parents.
"The law does leave a great deal of interpretation to colleges and universities," said Jim Boyle, the group's president.
Boyle continued, "I believe they should use their interpretation to better inform parents about their son or daughter, and not use FERPA as an excuse to withhold information."
Wren, who knew that his son drank alcohol even in high school, said he would have pulled Jason out of KU if he'd known about the repeated alcohol and behavior infractions that led to his son being kicked out of Oliver Hall.
He said that according to the records he recently received, his son was caught with alcohol at least twice in Oliver, put on probation and warned that his residence hall contract was in danger of being terminated.
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