At U.S. universities this fall, in loco parentis is suffering from rigor mortis.
Students at Notre Dame, for example, went back to school in September spoiling for a fight: they had decided that the behavioral restrictions traditionally imposed on them were too demeaning to tolerate any longer. But over the summer, President Theodore Hesburgh blandly did away with the bulk of the rules. The resulting mood of Notre Damenew responsibility, dampening of protest, search for a more influential and meaningful student role in college affairsis typical of most schools, barring Harvard's aberrations....