This is confusing…. since her son was in college, he is an adult, the college can’t share personal information / health information about an adult to a parent. Drugs are an evil force in too many youth, this is a sad situation. From the story, it is hard to say that the college was negligent.
What if the kid hadn’t turned 18 yet? Would the school be responsible to notify the parent that their kid had been caught using drugs and they were using him as an undercover buyer if he wasn’t technically an adult yet?
I understand the kid was over 18, but I’m genuinely asking if you think the school could/should be liable if the scenario was the same except the kid was under 18.
At the very least, the application for student aid/FAFSA relies on your parents income information when you reapply yearly, almost regardless of age–the cutoff isn’t 18, for sure.
And currently, college kids can stay on their parents’ health insurance until they’re 26.
And the school is negligent because…………….oh, because they aren’t. Nice to know that mom has a price in mind for her son, but she was too busy to be a mother.
I can’t believe she has the audacity to even bring this suit.
Agent,
What about alcohol, or sugar, or caffeine? Instead of blaming a myth that marijuana is a “gateway drug”, perhaps we should look at the real reasons why he had a drug addiction. Depression? Socioeconomic issues? Stress? You know, real reasons why people choose to do drugs like heroin. I’ll give you credit, you did drop the ‘e’ at the end of the word this time. Something had to frustrate this kid enough to lead to choosing heroin. And, it’s not because 2 years ago he smoked a joint. I have seen heroin up close and she was clinically depressed. She wasn’t a pothead.
Amazing – story after story about people pointing the finger at others. Logic, accountability, and responsibility have been turned on their head. Lawyers have only helped this decline.
The school has policies & procedures in place stating that if your kid (up to age 21) gets caught either drinking or doing drugs on campus, you, as a parent will be notified immediately. I have been following this story from day 1 since I have a student there. There is so much more to this story from the university using students as confidential informants, hiding things from the public, etc. The mother has been an advocate in making the university stop strong-arming students in to becoming confidential informants without legal representation. Additionally, the kid that sold the heroin (who she is also suing) was a PAID teacher’s asst at UMASS (UMASS wiped him clean out of their system to hide this). It took close to 2 yrs to get the prosecutor to do something and they only did after 2 UMASS journalism students researched what happened and proceeded to uncover it on the front page of the Boston Globe (Sunday edition). The lead prosecutor runs on a platform of stopping heroin usage, etc., yet this was buried under the rug and, when the story broke, he had to cover himself with the press insofar as why nothing was done with the dealer, etc. I could go on and on with this, however, the point in her lawsuit is to put UMASS in the press again to force them to adhere to their policies & procedures (they wrote them!!) so that this does not happen to another kid. She was on 20/20 and, at the end of the day, she did NOT know; her son was on scholarship, his grades did NOT drop and there were no signs of drug usage. For those who are judging her of not being a ‘mother’, you should stop because she is doing what she’s doing to save YOUR kids. And, BTW, she did manage to get them to abolish the Confidential Informant Program.
Interesting back story that was also not reported here either. I don’t blame the mom for chasing this down due to it being swept under the rug and given the facts that you presented, but the school didn’t make or encourage her child to become a heroin addict and I certainly don’t need her help to save MY kids. Sounds like UMASS needs to clean up their act.
Technically an 18 year old is an adult, so policy or not they would be violating the student’s privacy by telling on him to his mommy. So the policy just needs to be deleted, not enforced. That said, your added facts about the dealer being on UMASS payroll and strong-arming the student into being a confidential informant…that makes them responsible regardless of the policy.
Ridiculous! The college should sue her back for $5 million for her sending them a druggie student. Things are getting out of hand!
This is confusing…. since her son was in college, he is an adult, the college can’t share personal information / health information about an adult to a parent. Drugs are an evil force in too many youth, this is a sad situation. From the story, it is hard to say that the college was negligent.
What if the kid hadn’t turned 18 yet? Would the school be responsible to notify the parent that their kid had been caught using drugs and they were using him as an undercover buyer if he wasn’t technically an adult yet?
I understand the kid was over 18, but I’m genuinely asking if you think the school could/should be liable if the scenario was the same except the kid was under 18.
The mom probably has standing.
At the very least, the application for student aid/FAFSA relies on your parents income information when you reapply yearly, almost regardless of age–the cutoff isn’t 18, for sure.
And currently, college kids can stay on their parents’ health insurance until they’re 26.
Doesn’t matter. The cutoff is 18.
Though there might be an exception for issues that may involve a student’s health or safety.
And the school is negligent because…………….oh, because they aren’t. Nice to know that mom has a price in mind for her son, but she was too busy to be a mother.
I can’t believe she has the audacity to even bring this suit.
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You are truly the biggest idiot ever Agent…a Zebra can change his name to “Deplorables”…but can’t change his stripes!
I’m sorry, I sort of lost track of who is addressing who. Are you suggesting that I (Jax Agent) have changed my name to Deplorables ?
Agent,
What about alcohol, or sugar, or caffeine? Instead of blaming a myth that marijuana is a “gateway drug”, perhaps we should look at the real reasons why he had a drug addiction. Depression? Socioeconomic issues? Stress? You know, real reasons why people choose to do drugs like heroin. I’ll give you credit, you did drop the ‘e’ at the end of the word this time. Something had to frustrate this kid enough to lead to choosing heroin. And, it’s not because 2 years ago he smoked a joint. I have seen heroin up close and she was clinically depressed. She wasn’t a pothead.
Amazing – story after story about people pointing the finger at others. Logic, accountability, and responsibility have been turned on their head. Lawyers have only helped this decline.
The school has policies & procedures in place stating that if your kid (up to age 21) gets caught either drinking or doing drugs on campus, you, as a parent will be notified immediately. I have been following this story from day 1 since I have a student there. There is so much more to this story from the university using students as confidential informants, hiding things from the public, etc. The mother has been an advocate in making the university stop strong-arming students in to becoming confidential informants without legal representation. Additionally, the kid that sold the heroin (who she is also suing) was a PAID teacher’s asst at UMASS (UMASS wiped him clean out of their system to hide this). It took close to 2 yrs to get the prosecutor to do something and they only did after 2 UMASS journalism students researched what happened and proceeded to uncover it on the front page of the Boston Globe (Sunday edition). The lead prosecutor runs on a platform of stopping heroin usage, etc., yet this was buried under the rug and, when the story broke, he had to cover himself with the press insofar as why nothing was done with the dealer, etc. I could go on and on with this, however, the point in her lawsuit is to put UMASS in the press again to force them to adhere to their policies & procedures (they wrote them!!) so that this does not happen to another kid. She was on 20/20 and, at the end of the day, she did NOT know; her son was on scholarship, his grades did NOT drop and there were no signs of drug usage. For those who are judging her of not being a ‘mother’, you should stop because she is doing what she’s doing to save YOUR kids. And, BTW, she did manage to get them to abolish the Confidential Informant Program.
Interesting back story that was also not reported here either. I don’t blame the mom for chasing this down due to it being swept under the rug and given the facts that you presented, but the school didn’t make or encourage her child to become a heroin addict and I certainly don’t need her help to save MY kids. Sounds like UMASS needs to clean up their act.
Thanks for providing the missing information. Makes more sense now.
Technically an 18 year old is an adult, so policy or not they would be violating the student’s privacy by telling on him to his mommy. So the policy just needs to be deleted, not enforced. That said, your added facts about the dealer being on UMASS payroll and strong-arming the student into being a confidential informant…that makes them responsible regardless of the policy.