Mental and Behavioral Health
An analysis by University of Nebraska- Lincoln compared 2015 and 2016 CARE reports, which indicate a UNL student suicide attempt or suicidal ideation. The analysis found a sharp 65% increase between the two years.
In the wake of Trump’s election victory, college administrators across the country are struggling to maintain a balance between supporting students who feel dismayed and fearful, and avoiding backlash for appearing to be too sympathetic to the political left.
Students at Columbia University who need a medical leave of absence must weigh their health against the financial burden of leaving school for the semester. If a student leaves after eight weeks, they are not reimbursed any of their tuition money.
Diversity/Inclusion
Thirty colleges and universities, including Ivy League and large public universities, announced last week that they will join the new “American Talent Initiative”, which aims to expand access to higher education for students with significant financial need. The initiative, started by Michael Bloomberg’s foundation, aims to raise the number of Pell grant recipients attending the 270 colleges with the highest graduation rates over the next ten years, an increase of more than 10%.
According to a new study from the United Negro College Fund, 4 in 5 undergraduates at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) use student loans to finance their education. The study found that the debt burden for graduates of HBCUs was $26,266 in 2012, 77% higher than the median debt accumulated by of other student loan recipients.
Authorities at University of Maryland in College Park reported that fliers linked to a white supremacist group were found on campus. Oren Segal, director of the Anti-Defamation League’s center on extremism, said that white supremacist and alt-right messages has increased on campuses in recent weeks. Of the messages, Segal said, “It seems to be an extension of this effort by the alt-right and their supporters to try to reach younger audiences.”
Columbia University Mark Lilla spoke with The Chronicle about his controversial New York Times article, in which he argued that “American liberalism has slipped into a kind of moral panic about racial, gender, and sexual identity that has distorted liberalism’s message and prevented it from becoming a unifying force”. Lilla blames liberal obsession with “identity politics” partly on academia, where he says students’ politics have become more narcissistic, and less connected to political themes in the wider world. Lilla mentions the fight over the naming of buildings on campus and the transgender-bathroom issue as examples of the self-induced hysteria and “loss of a sense of proportion” that can be found on campus today. He encourages college liberals to turn their focus outside the universities, to engage with the wider world and direct their energy towards a common goal.
In The Crimson, three Harvard students wrote an op-ed to challenge University President Drew Faust’s announcement that Harvard would not be declared a sanctuary campus. The students took issue with Faust’s claim that the move would “endanger, rather than protect, our students.”
Guns on Campus
Evangelical Christian Liberty University plans to open an on-campus shooting range next fall. The gun-friendly school has historically promoted gun ownership and sportsmanship
Sexual Health
In a biannual survey at Harvard University, 60% of the school’s students reported having had sex in the previous year, and many of them did not use protection. Only 59% of student reported usings a barrier method “mostly” or “always”.
Physical Health
Researchers at the University of Vermont are debunking the “Freshman 15” myth, finding in a new study that college students, on average, gain about 10 pounds over their entire four years in college. The study authors stressed that this weight gain can still put young adults at risk for obesity and weight related problems.
Sexual Assault and Title IX
A reporter from the Daily Iowan sits down with two survivors of sexual assault, one who voted for Clinton and one who voted for Trump, in the wake of the election. “A survivor’s pain has no sole home on the political spectrum,” she concludes. “One in six women will be assaulted in college, regardless of political leanings or present circumstances.
Shanlon Wu, a former federal sex crimes prosecutor at the Department of Justice explains the potential impact of Trump’s presidency on the way sexual assault is handled on college campuses. While the Obama administration opened over 200 investigations of schools for possible violations of Title IX, Wu predicts a dramatically different approach by the Trump administration, one which she believes will reign in enforcement and raise the burden of proof for sexual assault cases on college campuses.
