Waiver Law Meant To Help State Colleges Communicate With Parents

The shootings this week at Virginia Tech echoed a problem that Tennessee tried to address two years ago.

Authorities at the Virginia campus say they knew the student who became the shooter needed help — but were barred by federal privacy law from informing his parents.

In 2005, Senator Rosalind Kurita of Clarksville guided a bill through the Tennessee legislature to allow college students to sign a waiver saying the school could talk to their parents in such a case. Kurita says she worked with Middle Tennessee State University

to develop the waiver, which basically allows the school to bypass the federal Buckley Amendment, which establishes student privacy. MTSU began a pilot program.

“We would have a consent form, a waiver if you will, that the child would have to sign. And it would be presented in front of the parents on the day that they do orientation, or the day that the parents write that check, because that’s the day that you can communicate the importance of this to the parent and to the child.”

Kurita says this fall all Tennessee colleges and universities are supposed to have the waivers available.

“The mechanics are in place. The problem still exists that most parents have no idea that the schools will not take it upon themselves to call the parent and tell them that their child needs help.”

Kurita says the procedure is not designed to violate the student’s privacy but to help protect students through an often turbulent first year of being away from home. She pushed for the bill because first year college students have an elevated suicide rate.