Talking Points

• The large majority of college students are legal adults over the age of 18. Colleges have no business calling home to mom and dad to rat out their students.
• Colleges are supposed to help students to become responsible, successful adult citizens. Treating them like children and tattling to their parents is contrary to this important goal.
• While Congress (wrongfully) allowed colleges to adopt parental notification policies, they didn’t mandate that schools do so. Colleges can and should make the responsible choice to treat student like the adults they are.
• Parental notification policies can make tumultuous relationships between some parents and students even worse. Angry and overbearing parents can exacerbate students’ drug problems by getting involved.
• Students who have serious drug or alcohol problems might be afraid to go to on-campus drug and alcohol counselors because they’re worried their parents will be called on them.

Campaign Materials (please download these templates and edit as you see fit)

• letter-to-the-editor
• petition
• press release
• phone script
• student government resolution
• Campus Change Campaign Grassroots Guide (HTML) (PDF)