The State of Student Activism, and Other Stories, in the New Mary Christie Quarterly
We are pleased to present the fall issue of the Mary Christie Quarterly, featuring a cover story on student activism in the age of COVID. We also cover upcoming research on student activism and the correlation to college student mental health in “Innovations in Behavioral Health,” our peer-reviewed column, this time featuring Samantha Smith from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Our line-up is both new and familiar. Today’s releases include: Ashoka University’s addressment of India’s college mental health crisis; The Frontlines column featuring Dr. Sarah Van Orman from the University of Southern California ; Opinion from the Active Minds Fellows and other student voices. And If you missed them, also check out the Quarterly interview with developmental psychologist Jeffrey Arnett; The Time We Wish We Had, by Harvard senior Mollie Ames; a profile of the Wiley Network; and a Q and A with the authors of “Did That Just Happen?” We hope these stories inform and inspire you and, as always, we would love your ideas and feedback.
The MCI Team
Mental and Behavioral Health
Main Stories
The Chronicle reports that the Education Department and the Justice Department warned colleges and schools of the pandemic’s impact on students’ mental health in a letter last week. Education Department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, Suzanne B. Goldberg, wrote about the “profound toll” the pandemic has had on mental health and needing to support students with mental health conditions, as required under federal law.
The Washington Post covers the mental health struggles college students are grappling with as the pandemic continues. Last week, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill held a wellness day and cancelled classes after news of two deaths by suicide. Recent studies show that students are experiencing an increase in anxiety and isolation during the pandemic. University officials are hoping to increase mental health efforts and implement new ways toward emotional support. Samantha Meltzer-Brody, chair of the department of psychiatry at UNC, says, “Mental health has historically been underfunded nationally.”
Inside Higher Ed reports that student health centers are reporting high demand for services for mental and physical care. With students back on campus, counseling centers are having difficulty hiring healthcare workers due to the competitive healthcare market and labor shortage. Staff members are reporting that they feel overwhelmed and overworked while handling all of the COVID-related visits and concerns. M. Scott Tims, assistant vice president for student health at Tulane University in New Orleans said, “I think what makes this year unique in this regard is the overlay of having been in a pandemic for a long time and the stress of that. We’re seeing a significant mental health load, which again is not unusual, but I also think it’s a little different than the typical transition issues that we see. These are folks who are struggling with a fear of COVID, folks who have missed out on their junior and senior year of high school.”
Other Stories
On Saturday, 1,000 backpacks were sprawled across the lawn of Harvard yard to symbolize the number of college students who die by suicide every year. The exhibition, “Send Silence Packing,” was organized by its Active Minds chapter, with backpacks that once belonged to students who died by suicide or donated from their families.
The Editorial Board of The Heights, Boston College’s student newspaper, argues that the school should evaluate their mental health services, implement digital appointment scheduling for University Counseling Services (UCS) and hire more staff that manage referrals to off-campus mental health care providers.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Inside Higher Ed reports that a new study found that faculty diversity declines during times of crisis, such as the The Great Recession, and this trend could continue during and after the pandemic. The research, which was published in Sociological Science, shows that tenure-track hiring was cut by 25% during the Recession, and hiring of people of color declined at four-year institutions. Hiring of Black men and women declined by 45% and by 35% for Hispanic men and women.
This week, a federal judge ruled that The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill may continue using race as a factor in admissions. Judge Loretta C. Biggs wrote, “While no student can or should be admitted to this university, or any other, based solely on race, because race is so interwoven in every aspect of the lived experience of minority students, to ignore it, reduce its importance.” The plaintiff, Students for Fair Admissions, which is pursuing a similar case against Harvard, vowed to appeal if necessary all the way to the Supreme Court.
Last week, students at Howard University protested through a sit-in on a lack of representation for the university’s board of trustees and housing conditions. Students occupied the Blackburn University Center for two days and are asking for an in-person town hall with Howard President, Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick. Students described the protest as peaceful while occupying the hallways “in a quiet manner.”
The New York Times reports that the University of Southern California will be issuing honorary degrees to Japanese students displaced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, which led to the detainment and internment of people of Japanese descent post the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Jonathan Kaji, former president of the Asian Pacific Alumni Association at USC, looked into the university’s treatment of its students. Many Nisei students, children of Japanese immigrants, were unable to complete their studies and even prevented from receiving their transcripts to transfer.
Reproductive Rights
Inside Higher Ed reports that thousands of college students across the nation are protesting the new Abortion Ban in Texas. The passage of SB 8 bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, a period of time when many are still unaware they are pregnant. The law also allows people to sue anyone who assists in providing abortions and rewards $10,000 to the defendant. Access to abortion could become even more restrictive as another law, scheduled to go into effect in December, will limit the timeframe for physicians to prescribe abortion-inducing medication from 10-weeks to 7-weeks.
Student Success
The Chronicle has released a data table on student outcomes from 2,263 institutions. The chart depicts graduation rates, transfers, and total enrollments for students at four-year and two-year institutions from the 2018 to 2019 academic year. The data can also organize institutional data by races, ethnicities, and genders.
New federal data shows that half of all college students take online courses. Based on the Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, 51.8% of college students took at least one online course in 2019-2020 – a jump from the 37% of students who were enrolled in online coursework in the fall of 2019. The Department of Education began collecting data on distance learning in 2012. Experts in higher education are interested in seeing enrollment trends, the benefits of distance learning, and its issues. Jeff Seaman, director of Bay View Analytics, said, “The real exciting thing here is … it addresses the question of how consistent are students in their enrollment pattern, [and] that we didn’t have an answer for before.”
Inside Higher Ed reports on California’s new legislation that will allow two-year institutions to award four-year degrees. On October 6th, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation Assembly Bill 927, which will make baccalaureate programs at 15 community colleges permanent and open doors for other community colleges in the state to also begin similar programs.
Higher Ed Dive briefs new data from the Council of Graduate Schools, which shows graduate applications increased by 7.3% in the fall of 2020. Between the fall of 2019 and 2020, first-time enrollment for Latinx students rose by 20.4% and 16% for Black/African-American students. International student enrollment for first-time graduate students, however, declined by 37.4%. The most popular graduate fields, making up 45% of first-time graduate enrollment, were business, education, and health sciences.
College Affordability
The Department of Education has settled a 2019 lawsuit, brought by Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and eight individual AFT members, that argued that the Department, under the leadership of then-Secretary of Education Betsy Devos, had failed to properly manage its promise of student loan forgiveness for public employees. The complaint alleged “gross mismanagement” of the program leading borrowers to struggle with receiving relief on their loans.
In an op-ed in The Hechinger Report, Neal Hutchens, professor of higher education at the University of Mississippi, and Frank Fernandez, assistant professor of higher education administration and policy at the University of Florida, argue that states should play a role in preventing predatory for-profit colleges from taking advantage of students. They write that states could adopt rules that would hold for-profit colleges accountable, such as requiring mandatory disclosures on metrics like graduation and job placement rates for particular programs, student passage rates on required licensure or certification exams and student loan debt.
In The Chronicle, reporter Scott Carlson explores the various methods of measuring college’s return-on-investment, and questions the usefulness of major or program-specific earnings data for students and families, noting that “the choice of a major is often highly personal.” He also suggests that students may find greater value in better advice on optimizing their specific interest and talents, and “understanding the relevant knowledge and useful skills they would learn in the disciplines they chose.”
Coronavirus: Safety and Reopening
The Wall Street Journal reports that some students are pushing back on COVID mitigation measures implemented by their schools, objecting to tactics such as vaccine and mask mandates, restrictions on their travel on and off campus, and increased surveillance. Students have held protests against mask and vaccine mandates, and circulated petitions to stop the use of location-tracking apps and requirements to wear sensors that monitor vital signs, saying they violate their civil liberties.
