Mental and Behavioral Health
The National Alliance on Mental Illness On Campus (NAMI) at the University of Texas was recently launched to advocate for and support students struggling with mental illness. Student and member Alexis McDonald says the fact that NAMI On Campus is entirely student run makes it less intimidating to approach.
In the fall, Ithaca College will launch an Ambassador Program sponsored by the Center for Counseling and Psychological Services to help incoming freshmen make a successful transition to college. Current students undergo training by CAPS staff members to become prepared to help connect incoming students with resources to promote mental health and overall wellness, including how to manage stress.
You Inc. is a weekly wellness radio program on central Ohio’s NPR station started by Ohio State alumna Ria Greiff in November 2016. The show aims to “elevate the emotional intelligence of the populace,” and each week features a life “tool”, and a guest who exemplifies it, on topics ranging from sibling relationships to overcoming fear.
Framingham State University is offering a new tool to help students access mental health services, a kiosk housed inside the Center for Academic Success and Achievement that allows students to take screening tests for a variety of behavioral health concerns. The kiosk guides students through a series of questions about their feelings and habits. Administrators hope the display will increase awareness of the services on campus, and help shift the way students think about their emotional wellbeing.
In an op-ed in the Cornell Sun, junior Faiza Ahmad calls for increased diversity in mental health services at the school, including socioeconomic, religious, racial diversity.
Marquette University alumni Jim and Kelly McShane are donating $2 million to their alma mater to go towards mental health research and academic support for engineering students. The donation, split into two parts, will go toward funding mental health research in the College of Health Sciences and supporting the development of more comprehensive academic support in the Opus College of Engineering.
In the Daily Texan, University of Texas student Spencer Buckner argues that universities should make it easier for professors to help students struggling with mental health issues. According to Buckner, “Professors are often the most vital promoter of student mental health, but when the University doesn’t provide clear means for professors to help, students…can fall through the cracks.”
This summer, Yale University is expanding mental health services to meet increased demand through the addition of four new clinicians, including three new psychiatrists. Doctor Paul Genecin, the director of Yale Health, said, “In addition to enlarging our clinician staff, MHC will meet the growing need for services by continuing to refer some patients to community psychologists and clinical social workers through the Yale Magellan Mental Health network.”
Last week, University of Missouri hosted a presentation and panel discussion about the stress, mental health and well-being of international students.
Last week, a panel of Bowdoin University student athletes gathered to discuss their personal experiences with mental health and avenues for reducing the stigma around mental illness in an event titled, “Kicking the Stigma.” The panel began with an anonymous online poll asking audience members to share their own views on and experiences with mental health on campus. Of the roughly 24 participants, a majority of the audience thought that there were not enough resources on campus for mental health issues. Every respondent said they know teammates or friends who struggle with mental health. The discussion hoped to communicate how prevalent struggles with mental health are among Bowdoin student athletes.
At a mental health town hall at Brown University, five student panelists praised reforms to mental health and disability services on campus while also vocalizing their discontent with a continued lack of transparency and systemic limits to resource accessibility. Students shared their stories as part of a larger nationwide event called the Disability Justice Day of Action for Mental Health, which also took place at colleges across the country. The town hall was organized by Project LETS, a student-run organization that coordinates a peer mental health advocacy program and provides mental health education on campus. Project Lets’ Executive Director Stefanie Lyn Kaufman was interviewed by The Nation about the goals and impact of her organization, and the state of mental health care on college campuses.
At California State University Fresno, the Student Health and Counseling Center hosted an arts and crafts event called ‘Press Pause and Paint,’ where students attended to unwind by showcasing their creative outlets.
Ryan Fawwaz, a freshman at the University of Southern California argues in an op-ed in the Daily Trojan that the school must address student mental health across the spectrum, from daily stresses to severe illness. Fawwaz calls on the school to provide individual counseling services without a long waiting list, increase transparency regarding its mental health services, and organize transportation to off-campus mental health providers for students who have been referred there.
The Wellness Center at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago is hoping to help students affected by the “loneliness epidemic” by offering mental health first aid courses, support groups and promoting artwork as therapy. The Wellness Center has partnered with the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute, a nonprofit started at Google, which will host a two-day conference where students will learn self-awareness and resilience tools.
Diversity and Inclusion
Last week, Syracuse University fraternity, Theta Tau, was suspended from all activities and later expelled after videos surfaced that showed chapter members taking a racist oath, and making hostile comments toward gay people and people with disabilities. Kent Syverud, the University’s Chancellor, said individual students may also be subject to disciplinary action, including possible suspension and expulsion. Syverud has ordered a “top to bottom” review of the Greek system, explaining, “we know this issue extends beyond one fraternity and one video.”
According to a statement that appeared on Theta Tau’s website early Friday morning, prior to the expulsion, the racist oath was not serious, but a satirical roast of its own members – in particular of “a conservative Republican” in the frat. “None of this can possibly excuse the words that came from our fraternity house last month, no matter the context the words were used in,” the statement says. “However, we do believe that it is important to understand that context.”
The University of Wisconsin at Madison will not remove the names of two alumni with ties to the Ku Klux Klan from campus buildings. Instead, according to a statement from Rebecca M. Blank, chancellor of UW-Madison, the university plans to create an interactive exhibit that will “reclaim and celebrate the voices of those who endured, fought, and overcame prejudice on campus.” The decision follows the release of an investigative report into the history of the Ku Klux Klan’s presence on the campus.
Colleges across the country have been overwhelmed by racist incidents over the past several years, and have grappled with how best to respond to them. According to a new study presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, the best predictor of whether a university’s response to these incidents will resonate with students may be how satisfied they already are with the degree of diversity at the school.
Cambridge police are reconsidering the charges they filed after they arrested a Harvard student, with force, over the weekend. Cambridge Mayor Marc McGovern referred to a video that shows a police officer punch a black Harvard University student several times while he’s pinned to the ground “disturbing.” In a statement last week, he said that the police department has assured him the altercation on the video is being investigated. This is the latest in a series of incidents over the last year for which police officers’ use of force against college students who may have mental health issues has come into question. While the incidents differ, many students on the affected campuses have been alarmed by the way police treated those students.
Five months after the release of research into its historical connections with slavery, Princeton University announced that it would name two prominent spaces in honor of enslaved people who lived or worked on its campus. Both spaces will be the first such commemorations on campus, which has statues and other physical markers honoring slaveholders.
Many poor, minority high-schoolers don’t apply to top institutions even though they could get in. The phenomenon-in which students do not attend the most selective colleges their qualifications suggest they could-is called “undermatching” and disproportionately affects low-income and minority students. A range of benefits comes with attending an elite institution: name recognition, financial resources, and a powerful alumni network. And by undermatching, capable students might miss out on those advantages-exacerbating a trend in which affluent students dominate the pipeline for leadership roles.
An online guide to “Being Not-Rich” on the University of Michigan’s flagship campus has been annotated with dozens of comments and suggestions from students, faculty and staff members since the Google Doc began spreading in January. Messages include suggestions of part-time jobs in Ann Arbor, warnings of tax pitfalls to work-study programs, and recommendations for good deals for eating and drinking. The guide supports students who need help sifting through resources or just want to make connections with other low-income students. Lauren Schandevel, a junior and a creator of the guide said, “There’s this assumption that everyone here is wealthy. Most of the resources here are geared toward that kind of student. U of M hasn’t been able to accommodate these new students coming in who might not be the traditional, legacy, white, affluent students.”
Sexual Assault and Title IX
Temple University officials announced Friday that they are suspending a fraternity and increasing police presence near the chapter after receiving multiple allegations of misconduct. In an “Important Safety Announcement” to the campus, university officials said they had received “multiple credible reports from various sources alleging underage drinking, the excessive use of alcohol, possibly drugs and sexual misconduct, including sexual assault, during social activities at Alpha Epsilon Pi.”
Substance Use
Almost unheard of 20 years ago, collegiate recovery programs are growing rapidly across the country. Over the last ten years, they have increased sevenfold to upward of 175 programs. At West Virginia University, a townhouse provides not only sanctuary from temptation, but also programs for meditation and book-readings, cooking and even dry tailgate parties held during fall weekends.
College Affordability
The American Talent Initiative, a network backed by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Aspen Institute and the research firm Ithaka S+R, brings schools together to increase access to higher education for low income students. Under the initiative, eligible schools (those that graduate 70 percent of their students in six years) pledge to enroll 50,000 additional low- and moderate-income students by 2025. The roughly 100 schools that have signed on share strategies, learn from each other’s missteps and provide data to monitor their progress. Each school has its own goals; to increase the number of Pell Grant students on campus or improve graduation rates.
