In loco parentis is a Latin phrase, which means “in the place of the parent,” which really translates to, treating students regardless of their age like children, and their respective universities assume parental control over the student body. Beginning in the 1960s the parent and child relationship of in loco parentis started to face challenges by students. The U.S. Supreme Court in Dixon v. Alabama Board of Education (1961) was the beginning of the end for in loco parentis. In Dixon v. Alabama, Alabama State College expelled several African American students after they participated in a demonstration when they were refused service at an eating establishment. These students asserted that their constitutionally granted rights could not be replaced by a public institution assuming the role of parent, and relegating them to the status of children, and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed.

Recently, the relatively new University of Southern Maine president, Theodora J. Kalikow, seems to have acted more like a parent than a university president when she announced a ban on all tobacco products on campus. When President Kalikow met with university students concerned about how the tobacco ban would be implemented, she quickly pointed out she wasn’t there to negotiate. President Kalikow certainly demonstrated what most students would have recognized as a parental declaration – no tobacco. More importantly, President Kalikow’s my-way-or-the-highway philosophy was made clear and in loco parentis was back.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has given the University of Southern Maine a “yellow light,” in their green light, yellow light and red light system. The foundation explains on its website that a “yellow light college” has “at least one ambiguous policy that too easily encourages administrative abuse.” If one ambiguous policy may easily encourage administrative abuse, what might inappropriate restrictions on expressive rights, posting policies, internet usage policies, and other speech codes do to encourage administrative abuse?

The best example of this in today’s colleges is the tobacco ban spreading from campus to campus. At the University of Southern Maine, a tobacco ban was put in place on Jan. 1 of this year with no consultation with the student body. The students at USM were given no say on an issue that affects them as students. Instead, the president of the school acted in loco parentis and decided her children would not smoke on her campuses, claiming the smoking ban was for their own good, when in reality the decision may have been motivated by a large sum of money, in the form of a grant for declaring the campuses tobacco free. As the population that is paying to go the University of Southern Maine, with many students living on campus, it is the students’ right to make the decision on if the tobacco ban and the hardships imposed on students living on campus was worth the money that will be given to their university.

The recent referendum at USM showed a result of 63 percent vote in favor of the repealing the tobacco ban. The question, “Do you support a University wide vote on the tobacco ban,” was asked and answered with a resounding “no.” Regardless, if individuals students are for or against the tobacco ban, it is the student body that should decide if the tobacco ban is repealed, not a university administrator. Students living on campus, who have chosen to use tobacco products, are disproportionately effected by the tobacco ban.

USM’s President Kalikow, like a stubborn parent ignoring her children, has utterly failed to respond to the overwhelming support for repealing the tobacco ban. The apparent lack of interest and dialogue coming from the President Kalikow is a reflection on her in loco parentis attitude towards the student body and their elected student senate. The Student Senate and the student body must act as one and persuade our new student body president-elect to confront President Kalikow with the results of the referendum and demand a response.

Christopher Wagner and Jordana Avital are students at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham.