Mental and Behavioral Health
In the summer of 2016, Devin Underhill, a student at University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, summited Mount Katahdin in Maine, culminating nearly five months on the Appalachian Trail. As he hiked, Underhill raised $10,000 for Next Steps, an organization he founded to connect UVA students with mental health providers in Charlottesville so that they can continue therapy started at UVA’s Counseling and Psychological Services. “I wanted to do something with the hike, to make it more meaningful than just me walking in the woods for several months,” Underhill said.
The University of Oklahoma Undergraduate Student Congress, in conjunction with Oklahoma State University’s Student Government Association, voted in favor of a resolution raising awareness for mental health and suicide prevention.The unanimously-passed resolution sends information about the mental health crisis on Oklahoma college campuses to state university administrators and calls for the student governments of Oklahoma University and Oklahoma State University to work together.
At a meeting last week, the University of Texas at Austin Student Government requested help from state- and University-level entities, including the Counseling and Mental Health Center, to address the “mental health crisis” on campus. The Student Government formed a resolution declaring the crisis, pointing to high demand for counseling and lack of funding for more services. The resolution requests that the Student Services Budget Committee, which issues 90 percent of the counseling center’s budget to prioritize, free services and increases in counseling staff.
The University of Wisconsin Athletics Department of Clinical and Sports Psychology is dedicated to helping student-athletes address their mental health. While many of the issues that student-athletes face are the same as any other student on campus, there are several pressures and obstacles that set athletes’ apart. University Health Services’ sports psychiatrist Claudia Reardon said athletes face stigma around receiving help for mental health issues due to the “tough-it-out attitude” prevalent in athletics.
Each year, The Steve Fund, an organization dedicated to promoting the mental health and wellbeing of young people of color, brings together college counselors, psychologists, academics, school officials and other mental health workers for its Young, Gifted & @ Risk forum. The conference, which is in its fourth year, highlights issues that place students of color at a greater risk for mental illness. This year, over 300 attendees from higher education institutions across the country gathered at the University of Pennsylvania to participate. Speakers encouraged audience members to talk among themselves about how racist events are affecting their wellbeing and that of others on their campuses.
The Spectrum, the University at Buffalo student newspaper, featured a story of one student who suffered with mental illness and was ultimately hospitalized while at school. Sharon Mitchell, director of UB’s Counseling Center, explains that while it’s hard to single out one factor that leads to high rates of mental illness among college students, common triggers include financial problems, cultural shock, family problems, physical illness, lack of adequate academic preparation and longing for a sense of community.
In a Letter to the Editor of the Daily Pennsylvanian, Penn’s student newspaper, co-chairs of the College Dean Advisory Board (DAB) say too many students are unaware of the resources that exist on campus for mental health, sexual assault, and academic issues. In an effort to address this problem, the DAB compiled a list of resources on its website, with the goal of making a succinct, user-friendly guide that includes the numerous outlets available to students. Meanwhile, this week the school announced plans to expand efforts to strengthen the quality of its campus mental health services, adding staff and launching a community campaign for student wellness.
Joey Julius, an award winning Penn State football player who publicly shared that he suffered from an eating disorder spoke recently at an event to kickoff Penn State’s Mental Health and Wellness Week in State College, telling the crowd, “Socially, we have always been told we need to be skinnier, taller and better looking. Those are things I will never have. I learned to love myself through hours and hours of therapy, talking to friends and surrounding myself with people who are better for me.”
Diversity and Inclusion
The New York Times profiles Edward Blum, a financial adviser without a law degree, has orchestrated more than two dozen lawsuits challenging affirmative action practices and voting rights laws across the country. He is behind the Supreme Court case attacking the consideration of race in admissions at the University of Texas. Now, he is arguing that Harvard University’s affirmative action policies deny high-achieving Asian-American students admission through an illegal quota system. Blum says he acts on a pure principle — that people should never be judged by the color of their skin.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on the aftermath of this summer’s Charlottesville violence on the University of Virginia. UVA President Teresa Sullivan has been criticized for her response which stopped short of clearly condemning the neo-Nazis who marched with torches through the campus. Through a public records request, the Chronicle obtained correspondence between administration officials, and others in the UVA community that “reveal a university laboring to articulate its values at a visceral moment.”
The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the use of race in Harvard University’s admissions practices and is accusing the university of failing to cooperate with the probe. The Department is investigating complaints that were the basis of a federal civil lawsuit filed in 2014. That pending lawsuit, brought by a nonprofit called Students for Fair Admissions, alleges Harvard intentionally discriminates against Asian-Americans by limiting the number of Asian students who are admitted, and that the practice violates federal civil-rights law.
Sexual Health
In a letter to the editor of the Notre Dame student newspaper The Observer, freshman Angela Viducich argues that the school needs to implement sex education. Notre Dame ranked seventh among the least sexually healthy campuses by The State of Education.
Sexual Assault and Title IX
In an op-ed to the New York Times, Vanessa Grigoriadis, the author of “Blurred Lines: Rethinking Sex, Power, and Consent on Campus” writes about what the “Weinstein Effect” can teach colleges about campus sexual assault. Grigoriadis writes, “The cultural shift around sexual assault is a necessarily messy process, one that will take years to resolve fully, and it involves a lot more than reining in powerful men. We must encourage discussions among one another by carefully broadening our understanding of sexual violence. At the same time, we should educate young people on appropriate behavior rather than cutting them off by focusing on insufficient due process in campus courts.”
Brigham Young University has been under scrutiny for the way it has treated victims of sexual assault, in particular is a policy that says that BYU students who claimed they had been sexually assaulted could be investigated by the Honor Code Office for conduct violations. Recently, an amnesty clause was adopted to prohibit this from happening and the school has been active in amending its policies to create a more welcoming environment for victims of sexual assault. A recent survey showed that 93 percent of responding students still believed if they reported sexual assault, their honor code compliance would be investigated.
Physical Health
The University of Washington student newspaper, the Daily UW profiles student Andy Zeiger, who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes during winter break of his junior year and later co-founded a College Diabetes Network (CDN) chapter at the UW to reach out to other students. Read about CDN in the last issue of the Mary Christie Quarterly.
Disability
The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit news organization that researches inequality in education, found that about two-thirds of students with disabilities who attend a four-year college do not graduate within eight years, due largely to to gaps in learning “soft skills” like time management, studying techniques, and self- advocacy. Boston University is hoping to change that. Dori Hutchinson, director of services for BU’s Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation told the the BU student newspaper, the Daily Free Press, that the university provides avenues for students to learn these soft skills through a class called LEAD BU held at BU’s Fitness and Recreation Center.
Free Speech
In response to the increased pressure to accommodate white nationalist and alt-right speakers on their campuses, colleges have sought to distance themselves from hateful messages while avoiding counter-protests. A popular approach has been to hold an alternative event for officials and students — a place to go instead of standing in the crowd and shouting down the speakers, or hiding in their dorm rooms. Texas A&M organized the “Aggies United” rally, an alternative to the white nationalist Richard Spencer’s campus appearance the same night, that gathered actors, musicians, dancers, student leaders and athletes, the president, the chancellor, and a Holocaust survivor.
The Chronicle of Higher Education created a collection of ten articles, entitled Dealing With Controversial Speakers on Campus that gives an overview of how college leaders, and their campus communities, have responded to speakers with unpopular messages.
Cairn College, a small college north of Philadelphia, organized an event in conjunction with University of Pennsylvania aimed at teaching students how to civilly debate political issues in a polarizing time. The event, called “Can We Talk? Political Dialogue in Donald Trump’s America,” brought students from six Philadelphia-area institutions together for two hours to learn from an ideologically diverse group, how to talk, listen, and disagree.
Greek Life
Ohio State University suspended most of its fraternities amid investigations of hazing and alcohol violations at many of the chapters. The university has barred the Interfraternity Council chapters from all recruitment and social activities.
College Affordability
The revision of higher-education tax benefits in the bill passed in the House of Representatives last week would cost students and families more than $71 billion over the next decade, according to an official analysis by Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation. Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee said, “At a time when higher education costs are skyrocketing, it is extremely disappointing Republicans are trying to jam through a plan that will take money from students and families who are trying to send their kids to college — all to pay for a massive tax cut for corporations and the richest among us. Republicans need to stop playing partisan games with our students’ education, and start working with us to provide more opportunities for all.”
According to a pair of reports released this week, older African Americans and college students with children disproportionately bear the burden of education debt. The researchers found older African Americans are three times as likely to hold education debt for themselves compared to their white counterparts. Another report found, based on data from Department of Education that among college students with children who borrowed to pay for their education in 2003, almost half defaulted within 12 years of enrolling, double the rate of borrowers without children. Researchers say that the data shows the need for nuanced solutions from higher education.
Substance Abuse
Starting next fall, the University of Maryland, will offer The Haven at College, a private provider of on-campus addiction treatment and recovery support services. The Haven will provide off-campus housing and a range of clinical outpatient services including peer mentoring, individual counseling group therapy, life and social skills development, academic counseling, drug and alcohol testing and weekly meetings with an addictions counselor.
The Stanford University Office of Alcohol Policy and Education OAPE, which works to empower students to make healthy choices around alcohol consumption, is studying ways to expand its programs. Through OAPE, Stanford provides educational programming as well as safe rides every night, safe walks and tables of water and snacks near party locations on weekends. Stanford has distributed more than $70,000 to student groups and residence halls to enhance alcohol-free events.
