Mental and Behavioral Health
Yale University Economics professor Steven Berry defended his students against media criticism that called them overly sensitive “snowflakes” when, the day after the election of Donald Trump, he offered his students an alternative to taking their midterm exam.
The University of Maryland’s SGA hosted the school’s first town hall meeting focused on mental health. The “What’s on Your Mind?” discussion brought together health administrators and students to talk about resources and stigma on campus.
The campaign for Harvard’s Undergraduate Council is underway, and all students running for seats advocate for improvements to mental health services. The candidates have proposed ideas such as increased funding for peer support groups and giving counselors dining hall access to allow students to get to know them in a less formal setting.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Chronicle of Higher Education provided a chilling rundown of all the campus climate incidents since Trump’s election. Organizations that track hate crimes have seen a significant rise overall in reports since the presidential election.
Six black students at the University of Pennsylvania were added to a racist group message thread that included slurs, violent pictures, and a “daily lynching” calendar. After an investigation, a University of Oklahoma student, along with two others from Oklahoma, was found to be responsible for the incident.
The student was removed from school. University of Oklahoma President David L. Boren said in a statement Tuesday, “As our university has clearly demonstrated in the past, we have zero tolerance at this university for those who would engage in racism.”
In an incident at University of Central Missouri, a firecracker and bottle rocket were thrown into an anti-Trump protest that was organized in response to reports that some students had been harassed, followed, and intimidated in the aftermath of the election. At the protest, counter-protesters chanted, “Build that wall!” and “President Trump.”
In Los Angeles, high school students and their teachers and counselors are struggling with ways to of cope with the results of the election in a primarily Hispanic school district. “My kids are coming to me for hugs and cries and everything else,” high school history teacher Stephanie Jacob said, “Not being able to answer their questions and give them any comfort or security is really, really hard.”
The morning after Donald Trump won the presidential election, Baylor University student Natasha Nkhama was harassed while walking to class, pushed and called a racial slur. Two days later, three hundred students, teachers and administrators organized on twitter to gather to walk her to class to keep her safe on campus.
Students across the country are pressuring their universities to protect undocumented students, after a presidential campaign that made illegal immigration a focal point of the election year. While students at some schools have planned walkouts and other demonstrations, thousands of students, professors, alumni at Ivy League universities such as Harvard, Yale and Brown have signed petitions demanding that their schools become “sanctuary” campuses. Many colleges haven’t responded to these petitions, or when they do, simply reaffirm their commitment to inclusion, but fall short of making policy promises. Some speculate that a Trump administration will withhold federal funds from sanctuary campuses, as he has threatened to do for sanctuary cities.
Foreign students that were aspiring to apply to college in the U.S. are expressing concern about attending school in a country under Trump’s administration.
At Southern Methodist University, racist fliers were found on campus with the title, “Why White Women Shouldn’t Date Black Men.” The fliers included offensive language such as, “He’s much more likely to abuse you,” “He’s much more likely to have STDs,” and “Your kids probably won’t be smart.”
Sexual Assault and Title IX
Harvard’s central Title IX office launched a new website with detailed information about its policies and procedures. In a university-wide survey last year, 71 percent of respondents said that they knew nothing at all or only a little bit about what happens when a student reports an incident of sexual assault or misconduct.
A 34-year-old graduate teaching associate at Ohio State was arrested for grabbing a student’s genitals. The victim was unacquainted with the TA when the incident occurred.
Cornell is facing a lawsuit alleging that the University’s Title IX coordinator neglected to investigate a complaint by a male student who was involved in a sexual assault. According to the lawsuit, a male and female student accused each other of assault, though he male student claims that Cornell investigators only considered the female student’s complaint based on gender.
Columbia University began mandating bystander intervention training in 2014 using the Step Up! program. However, the school is questioning the effectiveness of the program, which is not scientifically peer-reviewed or proven to increase intervention rates. Other programs such as Bringing in the Bystander and Green Dot, used at other schools across the country, have been scientifically evaluated in a number of peer-reviewed journals.
Guns on Campus
University of Wisconsin students and faculty, met with state lawmakers and community members met to discuss the potential of campus carry gun laws on UW campuses. The schools currently allow guns on campus but not in classrooms.
Hazing
The University of Missouri chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity lost recognition on campus for five years for hazing, which is outlawed on campus. The fraternity was previously under investigation for hazing after alcohol poisoning led to the hospitalization of one of its members.
Wellesley’s founding was a revolutionary act inspired by a vision for democracy and equal opportunity for women across all socioeconomic backgrounds, and for more than 100 years, we have fought for women. At Wellesley, we embrace difference and work to assure that all Wellesley students have an equal opportunity to flourish. We stand for equity and justice, for the pursuit of knowledge that is based in fact, and for civil discourse that is inclusive while challenging in its rigor.
