The change in policy was prompted by the death of 19 year-old Jason Wren on March 8th, a freshman from Littleton, Colorado attending University of Kansas. Wren was discovered dead in his bed at Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity house in Lawrence. Consequently, after repeated alcohol infractions, Wren had been barred from the residence.
In a statement to The Kansas City Star, Wren's father, Jay Wren alleged that despite his efforts, he was unable to find out from the university housing officials what policies his son had violated. Wren argues that if he had known that his son had an alcohol problem, he would have insisted that Jason leave the school. Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, Wren was denied access by the housing officials to information regarding his son.
According to a statement after the death of his son, Jay Wren remarked that the policy needed revising, “I looked up the law — they’ll release full records to other scholastic institutions, they’ll release it to financial institutions, but they won’t release it to the parents. There needs to be an exception; they can’t block out the parents.''
Following Wren's death, another Kansas university student from Shawnee reportedly died after falling from the roof of a three-story hall. According to the provisional coroner's report, 18 year-old Dalton Eli Hawkins was killed due to injuries to his head and chest from the fall and his blood tested positive for alcohol.
The new changes will take effect immediately, and require that all parents and legal guardians be notified of the first known drug or alcohol violation ''that endangered the health or welfare of the student or another person.'' In adherence to the new policy, parents will also be contacted regarding a second known alcohol violation.
Other universities including University of Minnesota-Duluth and University of Wisconsin have also amended their alcohol policy to allow students to seek help for alcohol related emergencies while protecting students from any legal repercussions.
