Legal Issues For College Kids
By Amy E. Feldman
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - There are some legal issues you must discuss with your kids before they head off to college.
To those of us who remember rapper Eminem's song "Hailey's Song" about his 2-year-old daughter Hailey, we can stop congratulating ourselves on how hip and young we are. Hailey just graduated high school.
The big legal issues the kids face on campus these days are drinking, hazing, and sexual assault, so you need to talk to your kids about them, even if, like Marshall Mathers, you made stupid decisions in your own youth.
Look, drinking is illegal until you are 21-years-old in every state, so if you're not comfortable saying 'Don't do it', try saying 'I'm paying a lot of money to send you to school, don't get yourself kicked out for drinking'.
As for hazing, kids die at the hands of other kids. If your kid is worried about his safety or that of others, tell him to walk away; no fraternity membership is worth that. And get help if he thinks there is danger. As for sexual assault, many campuses have shifted from thinking it's assault if she says no, to it's assault if she hasn't or can't say yes, and if she's drunk, she can't legally consent.
Talk about your values and the campus rules. Let your kids know they're not alone. Not alone. That's from an Eminem song. But you knew that.