You may, or may not, be aware, but any educational institution has the right to insist the students in its care make written statements that may turn out to be not in the student's best interests. David Evans admits he cooperated with the officers, as we have all taught our children to respect authority. You can see the result. Your children MUST be instructed to make no statements and INSIST that their parents be contacted.
No institution has a right to tell a young person not to tell his parents about anything.
Precisely.
I always thought the same thing and taught my son that; UNTIL I became a court reporter.
Now I tell EVERYBODY not to say a word until you have legal representation.
And I do mean even in car accidents!
I was not aware of the institutions right to coerce a statement from a student. I always told my children to never say anything until they consulted with me regarding any matter that might have serious consequences. I doubt that they always followed my instructions, but they will tell you that I did tell them to. They are adults now and out from under my control so they don't have to report those things to me, but I can tell you that one child when confronted with a serious situation called her father first before contacting anyone else.
I think Duke has some serious problems if they actually instructed the Lacrosse players not to contact their parents. That is very dangerous interference in the parent/child relationship, I believe.