A Shout Out to Advocates during Suicide Prevention Awareness Month
September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and the official start school for most colleges and universities — a fitting time to raise awareness and resources for what is now the second leading cause of death for college students. It is more important than ever that higher education leaders connect with national behavioral health organizations to form alliances that will prevent suicides and promote positive mental health.
Last week, the American Council on Education (ACE) did just that by bringing together a roundtable of advocates, researchers, administrators and thought leaders to consider how to jointly address the ongoing mental health crisis among college students. As we work within our communities during Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, MCI applauds colleagues like ACE, the Jed Foundation, the Steve Fund, Active Minds, Healthy Minds Network and many more organizations that are dedicated to improving mental health and wellbeing and preventing suicide in young people. Each year, these organizations grow stronger, gain members, and offer more solutions to those who are on campuses doing this critical work. We are proud to work alongside them.
Mental and Behavioral Health
Main Stories
For The Chronicle, Peter Stearns, a history professor at George Mason University, considers how anxiety came to be so prevalent among college students, affecting almost a third of them today. Stearns suggests that the factors contributing to the current mental health crisis did not necessarily form all at once. He points to growing attention to and willingness to diagnose mental illness, social and political changes, and elevated academic competition as some reasons for heightened anxiety on college campuses. Moving forward, he proposes, experts might consider looking to and learning from the past to deal with the present.
Other News
On the podcast “Success is Subjective,” Dr. Sarah Lipson, of the Healthy Minds Network and the BU School of Public Health, discusses her path from a young undergraduate who prioritized athletics over academics to an assistant professor with a dual PhD in health services and higher education. From her personal and professional experiences, Dr. Lipson understands the pressures students are under to succeed and how to support them in the process.
According to NPR, teachers and schools across the country have started to put a greater emphasis on assessing students’ wellbeing—including checking in daily about how they’re feeling—after the pandemic took a widespread toll on young people’s mental health.
An op-ed for The Indiana Daily Student, the student newspaper of Indiana University, suggests that the mental health counselors at the university can expect a “flood” of students in need and should consider bringing in graduate students to provide additional counseling.
The Daily Collegian, Penn State’s student newspaper, hears from international students about how going to college in another country impacts their mental health and what barriers may be keeping them from seeking help.
For The Conversation, Osea Giuntella, an associate professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh, describes his latest research which explores ways to counteract sleep deprivation; and suggests small financial incentives can motivate college students to sleep more.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
For its latest “Special Report,” The Chronicle offers several articles centering the controversy that surrounds affirmative action, as the Supreme Court plans to hear two cases on the matter this fall. The Chronicle’s coverage explores previous court cases challenging affirmative action, how affirmative action responds to racial injustice, and the shortcomings of “race neutral” admission alternatives.
While some celebrate the move away from remote work as a welcome return to “normal,” The Chronicle considers how in-person classes are now limiting accessibility for college students with disabilities. Some student activists with disabilities are advocating for maintaining “full Covid protection policies” on their campuses, believing mask mandates and more frequent testing will protect the health and learning of high-risk individuals.
Higher Ed Dive provides the latest update in the ongoing investigation into the bomb threats that affected more than a dozen Historically Black Colleges and Universities last year. While the F.B.I. has yet to make any arrests in the case, the Department of Homeland Security reasserted its commitment last week to preparing and protecting HBCUs from these threats.
Reproductive Health and Justice
The Washington Post considers the difficult position of today’s medical students, who may want to learn to perform clinical abortions but have fewer opportunities to do so. Medical schools in states with abortion bans are weighing new reproductive regulations against the need to offer some residents training in abortions, leaving the future of the OB/GYN field uncertain.
In states with abortion bans, college communities have questions about how their schools will approach reproductive health care going forward—but often too few answers. As colleges themselves try to understand how new abortion laws will affect them—from enrollment and retention to insurance coverage—The Chronicle finds many have created “working groups” to tackle the unknowns.
WBUR explores how the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is changing reproductive healthcare for college students in Massachusetts, where abortion remains protected. By law, Massachusetts college students now have access to “medication abortion” through their schools, either directly or via referral elsewhere.
Inside Higher Ed covers the controversy surrounding Oberlin College, after a local newspaper announced the school’s plan to outsource “all its student health services to a Roman Catholic-run health-care agency that would only prescribe birth control pills with ‘medical indications.’” While Oberlin has since changed its course of health care, the resulting tensions typify some of the challenges of not only outsourcing care but doing so post-Roe.
Greek Life
Greek Life and Hazing
Inside Higher Ed offers a Q&A with Byron Hurt, the documentary filmmaker whose latest work features the dangers of hazing associated with Greek Life and other campus organizations. Hurt discusses his own experience in a Black fraternity at Northeastern University, the power of trauma bonding, and the complicated human desire for belonging.
Student Success
Inside Higher Ed spotlights a report from the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Florida, suggesting that Black, Hispanic, and low-income community college students enrolled in online courses are more likely to earn their associate or bachelor’s degree than those learning entirely in-person. Those who took classes exclusively online or in-person were both less likely to receive their degree than those who took some combination of the two.
Higher Ed Dive reports that Louisiana’s public colleges have joined the hundreds of other schools around the country that no longer require students to submit standardized test scores in order to apply. For those students who prefer not to submit SAT or ACT scores, the Louisiana Board of Regents has recently approved new admissions standards, including a GPA cut-0ff, to evaluate their applications.
Inside Higher Ed describes how virtual exchange is opening up new channels for low-income students—and others who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity—to connect with international peers. Through virtual exchange, American students can engage in mutual, cross-cultural discourse with students from countries they might never have visited or learned about otherwise.
College Affordability
Since President Biden’s announcement that he will cancel $10,000 (and up to $20,000) of student debt for some borrowers, The Washington Post reveals student loan servicers have been “inundated” with requests for relief and questions about eligibility. Some borrowers who assumed they would qualify are finding themselves ineligible, The Post says, because their federal loans came from a private program.
The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Inside Higher Ed report on pushback towards President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. The $10,000 loan relief plan would cost the federal government between $300 million to $500 million, which critics say could be detrimental by allowing spending authority to Congress. Groups of Republicans may sue the administration as a result.
Higher Ed Dive and The Hechinger Report cover how the Biden administration’s student loan debt cancellation could affect policy around federal student aid. In a recent announcement, Biden has agreed to cancel $10,000 in student loans for those earning $125,000 or lower alongside an income-driven repayment plan. Several pitches on federal financial aid policy reform have been discussed, though how realistic these changes can be made are unclear. Advocates argue that the overall cost of higher education has become too steep to retain today’s college students.
Basic Needs
The Washington Post reports on the University of Maryland raising the minimum wage for student workers to $15 an hour. The hourly wage effect will begin in January. President of University of Maryland, Darryll J. Pines wrote in a message to the community that “a significant multimillion-dollar investment in a key pillar of our strategic plan: to invest in people and communities.”
Politico reports on colleges and universities working through COVID-relief emergency funds in the hope of easing the burden of inflation on students. Due to the high costs of gas, food, and rent, students are struggling to make ends meet.
Campus Safety
Inside Higher Ed reports on Temple University creating a ranking system for off-campus housing in Philadelphia based on security-related issues. In response to an incident of a student being killed during a robbery attempt last month, the new database system will evaluate apartment units based on licensed landlords and qualifications such as working locks, peepholes, sufficient lighting, and more. The university is also offering grants to landlords to improve in these areas.