Mental and Behavioral Health
A new study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry found that student-run mental health clubs emerging at colleges and universities across the country are associated with increased awareness of mental-health issues, reduced stigma and a rise in “helping behaviors.” In what they describe as the largest study of its kind, researchers ranked students’ engagement with Active Minds on their campus — low, medium or high for more than 1,000 students at 12 California colleges. At the end of the academic year, students who were in the low- and medium-engagement groups and became more involved with Active Minds had better knowledge of mental health issues and were less likely to believe stigmas about them. They were also more likely to help other students who were experiencing a mental health crisis. Active Minds is a national organization that supports student-run mental-health clubs on college campuses. “Student-organized activities can improve college student mental-health attitudes and play an important role in improving the campus climate with respect to mental health,” said Bradley Stein, a senior physician policy researcher at the Rand Corp. and one of the paper’s lead authors.
The MindHandHeart Innovation Fund at MIT awarded grants of up to $10,000 to students, faculty, and staff with ideas to make MIT a more welcoming and healthy place. Several of the winning projects aim to promote mental health and well-being on campus, including “MIT Prevention 2.0 Advanced Training for Gatekeepers”, which consists of a series of trainings for MIT “gatekeepers” (graduate resident advisors and tutors, peer mentors, etc.) to better support students; “Sleep Well”, a student-led challenge where members of the MIT community are encouraged to prioritize sleep and develop effective bedtime routines; and “Growth Mindset Video Resources for University Teaching Staff”, videos and supplemental resources to promote growth mindset, which has been associated with resilience. Some projects plan to alter MIT’s physical landscape to build community and foster a sense of calm. “Healing Gardens”, sponsored by LGBTQ@MIT, is establishing indoor greenery in student spaces, encouraging socialization through cultivating gardens that signify growth, healing, and resilience.
Training that prepares college students, faculty and staff to recognize and respond to signs of mental distress among their peers now exists at hundreds of universities across the nation. Clemson University’s “Tigers Together” initiative trains university staff members and professors specifically about suicide warning signs and prevention. This effort is being used with student athletes. Natalie Honnen, Clemson’s associate athletic director for student-athlete services and performance said of the trainings, “We’re going to have all of our coaches trained to understand more of those warning signs. What do you do? What’s the referral process? How do you have that conversation? “We feel like that’s going to be key for our coaches to break that stigma from their end to say, ‘Hey, you talked to me about this, let’s get you someone (to help). This is how we have this conversation, this is who I can refer you to.’” University of Pennsylvania’s training program, I Care, aims to give students, faculty, and staff the skills to recognize and support students experiencing mental-health problems. Students who have had the training say that they can complement university services by noticing problems with peers who aren’t reaching out for professional help. There is a growing recognition that students are uniquely suited to be a kind of early warning system. Researchers have found that two-thirds of students who disclosed their suicidal thoughts first chose to tell a peer, putting college students at the forefront of this crisis.
The Boston Globe reports this week on new research that shows minorities are less likely than white students to seek mental health services or have their problems properly diagnosed and treated. According to the study, Arab and Arab-American students have the highest prevalence of mental health issues and the lowest levels of knowledge about mental health. Researchers found that many students of color deny they need help or opt to deal with the issues themselves. Asian students are least likely to believe they have a need for mental health treatment. Experts in the field of college mental health say schools have begun to take steps to reach more students of color. “We all know that there is need,” said Madeleine Estabrook, the vice president for student affairs who oversees Northeastern Universities efforts around mental health. “I think we’re trying to come at it from as many angles as we think of.”
Diversity and Inclusion
According to data released by the Anti-Defamation League, white-supremacist propaganda on college campuses is rising sharply. During the 2017-18 academic year, the ADL’s research arm, the Center on Extremism, recorded 292 instances of white-supremacist propaganda on campuses. That’s a 77-percent increase from the 165 cases it documented in the 2016-17 academic year. The white-supremacist activity mainly took the form of posters and fliers. In the past year, high-profile controversies at Texas State University, the University of Virginia, and Michigan State University have sparked concern that colleges and universities were becoming targets of the far right.
At the Aspen Ideas Festival, a panel discussion focused on the costs and benefits of recruiting international students for U.S. colleges. Some argue that the country’s higher-education institutions should focus on ensuring more Americans get four-year degrees, especially at public universities that receive substantial support from taxpayer dollars. However, the panelists -all of them current or former university presidents-roundly disagree with the contention that colleges and universities in the U.S. should be restricted to those who live in the country, and highlighted the inherent value of global diversity on campuses.
An article in Education Dive explored how institutions can continue to attract international students, who face numerous concerns with language differences, family income, legal and regulatory constraints in a tight visa application process. Additionally, these students may be feeling increasing anxiety with the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold President Trump’s travel ban. According to the article, institutions can improve the quality of the international student experience and attract more by creating inclusive learning and social environments. Further, the article states, institutions can focus on managing mental health issues by disseminating information and resources at various times of the academic year.
Last week, the Trump administration rescinded Obama-era guidance from the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights and the Department of Justice on race-conscious admissions policies. The Obama administration’s guidance gave colleges leeway in determining whether considering an applicant’s race was necessary. The move by the Trump administration is the most recent blow to the use of race in admissions decisions. The American Civil Liberties Union responded in a statement that read, “Guidance documents do not make law, but they do clarify and facilitate the law’s implementation… This is another attack by Sessions and President Trump on people of color.” The Atlantic reported that this development, along with Justice Anthony Kennedy’s announcement of his retirement from the United States Supreme Court, swing the momentum on the use of race in admissions towards those who wish to prohibit it, and could amount to the biggest shift in the government’s position on the issue in more than a decade.
As top colleges like Harvard, Notre Dame, UVA and Georgetown pledge to become more socioeconomically diverse, admitting the children of alumni, or “legacy admissions” at higher rates complicates these efforts. At the University of Notre Dame, the University of Virginia and Georgetown University, the admission rate for legacies is about double the rate for the overall applicant pool, according to data from the schools. At Princeton University, legacies are admitted at four times the general rate, at Harvard University five times as likely.
Sexual Assault and Title IX
In recent weeks, former Ohio State University athletes and students have shared detailed allegations of sexual misconduct dating back to the 1970s against Richard Strauss a university physician, who killed himself in 2005 at age 67 and is only now under investigation. The eight men, including three who didn’t want their names made public, say they want to see anyone who ignored concerns about Strauss held accountable. An NBC News investigation focused mainly on allegations that Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, knew of the abuse during his time as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State. The NBC report contains specific accusations by former wrestlers and includes more information about Ohio State’s investigation into Strauss’s conduct, which has not yielded publicly available findings.
Two years ago, Baylor University released a 13-page document outlining the “fundamental failure” of administrators and others to adequately respond to sexual assault on the campus. The scathing language in those “findings of fact” was based on a campuswide, “independent” investigation by Pepper Hamilton, a Philadelphia law firm. However, Ian McCaw, who was Baylor’s athletic director for more than 13 years, is accusing the investigation of being skewed. During a deposition conducted by lawyers for 10 women who are suing Baylor, saying its officials mishandled their sexual-assault cases, McCaw alleged that Baylor regents and the university’s general counsel decided on a strategy of releasing a “false” and “misleading finding of fact skewed to make the football program look bad to cover up the campuswide failings.” According to McCaw this was part of “an elaborate plan that essentially scapegoated black football players and the football program for being responsible for what was a decades-long, universitywide sexual-assault scandal.”
Sexual Health
Today, the California State Assembly Committee on Higher Education voted to advance SB 320, the College Right to Access Act. While campus health centers provide quality health care at low or no cost to students across California, no clinics on public campuses currently provide abortion services. SB 320 would change that. Surina Khan, CEO of The Women’s Foundation of California said, “Today’s vote was a historic step towards ensuring that California students have access to the reproductive health services they need, including abortion. All students, wherever they live or go to school, should be able to make the decisions that are best for their unique circumstances and future: including the decision to become a parent, end a pregnancy, or pursue an education.”
Veterans
According to a recent survey of 14,673 college faculty and staff members from 20 geographically dispersed U.S. colleges and universities, more than 70 percent do not feel that they are adequately prepared to recognize when a student veteran exhibits signs of psychological distress, including post-traumatic stress disorder. Kognito, which creates mental health simulations, and the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah produced the survey.
Policy
Congress is poised to renew a bill providing incentives for states to increase their vocational education offerings at high schools and community colleges. Vocational education programs are geared toward filling openings that require technical skills but not necessarily a college education, jobs that make up a growing sector of the economy.
Free Speech
The University of Massachusetts-Amherst is ending a campus speech policy that sparked a lawsuit from Young Americans for Liberty, a libertarian group that alleged it violated the First Amendment. The rule said protests and rallies using electronic amplification could occur only from noon to 1 p.m. on one side of the school’s student union. A school spokeswoman said Tuesday the nearly 30-year-old rule has been rescinded because it was rarely enforced and could be misinterpreted as a limitation on free speech.
Student Success
Timothy Renickm, senior vice president for student success at Georgia State University, wrote in the Chronicle about the schools’ efforts to harness student success technology, and the lessons learned, including not to wait for the newest technology to be perfected before acting, to be wary of claims of solving big, complex problems with home-grown technologies, and to make sure that the solution makes sense to the users.
Wellness
This spring, Arizona State University was one of the first universities in the nation to join and complete its commitment to the Partnership for a Healthier America’s Healthier Campus Initiative. ASU completed 23 guidelines focused on nutrition, physical activity and wellness programming, expanding ASU’s already extensive array of services and resources available to make healthy choices easier for students.
