Keller @ Large: Cautionary Tale For Conscientious Parents

BOSTON (CBS) - Every devoted parent right now knows it's true - you have the power to control the behavior in your home by establishing and enforcing rules and a culture.

If only some of our most prominent institutions could learn the same fundamental lesson.

Remember the recent scandal at Stanford University where a young woman was raped while unconscious by a star athlete after a night of binge-drinking? While the criminal's behavior can't be blamed on drinking alone, it prompted a reassessment by Stanford officials of their alcohol policies resulting in a lame ban on hard liquor at on-campus parties and limits on how much booze they can keep in their dorms, as if that would even slow down Stanford's binge-drinking problems.

I've seen this process in action before right here at our local colleges, where official hand-wringing over student alcohol abuse prompted by some horrendous incident yields token gestures that do little to really solve the problem.

Why?

A poll of Stanford students found 91-percent were opposed to any hard alcohol ban. These high-priced colleges know they'd be risking their gravy train if they try too hard to create a safe culture.

Parents know they only have a few years to raise responsible kids before a booze-peddling pop culture and peer pressure take charge. Once they leave the nest, it's up to institutions - schools and workplaces, for instance - to reinforce boundaries and demand that limits be respected.

Some will do it - others never will. Unless, that is, parents who did their job and are now paying the freight for others to reinforce their work step up and demand it.