Mental and Behavioral Health
The New York Times reports on a class-action lawsuit accusing Stanford University of “discriminating” against students who have mental-health issues by “coercing them into taking leaves of absence, rather than trying to meet their needs on campus.” The suit, filed by a legal center called Disability Rights Advocates, claims that students struggling with mental-health problems were “effectively banished” from the university once they were abruptly placed on leave, and also “stripped of their privacy and autonomy.” In order to return to Stanford, students allegedly had to write statements “accepting blame” for their behavior during their mental-health struggles. Harrison Fowler, a Stanford student who took a yearlong leave of absence at the university’s urging, told the Times that he felt “blamed” for his own behavior by Stanford and that he doesn’t want others to be scared to reach out for help.
This fall, Boise State University is integrating a mental health component into its athletic training department. The athletic department has added a full-time mental health expert, director of athletic performance-psychology Stephanie Donaldson .Marc Paul, Boise State’s director of sports performance, health and wellness.said of the move, “As it becomes more commonplace, more understood, we need a lot more resources for (athletes) to work with – there’s a mental component in everything they do… Stephanie is an absolute rock star, just been an unbelievably important addition.”
Washington State University is grappling with how to best support the campus community the year following the death of Tyler Hilinski, Washington State’s star quarterback who died by suicide in January. Of most concern are the teammates who are acutely affected by Hilinski’s death. Dr. Sunday Henry, WSU’s director of athletic medicine said of the players, “We continue to be very aware of their mental-health needs. We feel like we are a high-risk place until a year or maybe even longer, so we are focusing our efforts on making sure we give the support and have the resources available – counseling, medical visits – that they need.”
Last year, University of Nevada Las Vegas students lobbied for a new $25 per semester mental health fee to reduce wait times at the school’s counseling center. Last year, wait times after the initial intake appointment could stretch as long as eight weeks. The fee has allowed UNLV to hire 10 new staff members at the wellness center.
Diversity and Inclusion
In a statement of interest filed Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice says Harvard University puts Asian-American applicants at a disadvantage through the school’s use of a subjective “personal rating” in the admissions process. The statement supported the claims made by the plaintiffs, Students for Fair Admissions, a nonprofit whose members include Asian-American students who were denied admission to Harvard, who have sued the university for allegedly limiting the number of Asian-American students it admits and holding them to a higher standard than students of other races. The department’s statement of interest calls Harvard’s efforts to balance the racial composition of its student body “unlawful.” The department’s unsurprising ideological alliance with the plaintiffs is the first formal comment from the federal government on the case.
The toppling of Silent Sam, the University of North Carolina’s Confederate monument during a protest last week has ignited further controversy about what to now do with the statue, which is being held at an undisclosed location. A member of the Board of Governors last week made the argument that state law requires the monument to be restored within 90 days. Chancellor Carol L. Folt will not say whether she agrees with that interpretation of the law. The thought of a university erecting a Confederate monument in 2018 has upset many students on the Chapel Hill campus. Folt, in a written statement last week, said that the controversial statue should be moved to a different spot on the campus. But Harry Smith, chairman of the Board of Governors, said Folt’s statement was premature. “I was very disappointed in Chancellor Folt’s hasty release with such strong statements on her opinion on the relocation,” Smith told The News & Observer. “The Board of Governors worked very hard to ensure we follow proper governance and oversight, and allowed UNC-Chapel Hill to have plenty of time to develop a meaningful, thoughtful plan. Chancellor Folt has subjugated that with such a quick release with her strong views and opinions.”
Sexual Assault and Title IX
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is preparing an overhaul of federal policies dealing with sexual misconduct in colleges. The proposed changes will give more rights to students accused of rape, assault or harassment and lessen the liability of campus administrators, while encouraging officials to offer more support to victims. The proposed rules narrow the definition of sexual harassment, holding schools accountable only for formal complaints filed through proper authorities and for conduct said to have occurred on their campuses. They would also establish a higher legal standard to determine whether schools improperly addressed complaints.
Nearly 150 former Ohio State University students have reported they were sexually abused by a campus sports doctor, Richard Strauss, who is now deceased, and the fact-finding stage of an investigation into his conduct could conclude by this fall.
Sexual Health
A bill requiring student health centers at public universities to offer abortion pills as a “basic health service” to students passed the California legislature. The bill, which must now be approved by Gov. Jerry Brown, would take effect in 2022 and be funded through a College Student Health Center Sexual and Reproductive Health Preparation Fund made up of private, rather than state, funds.
Physical Health and Wellness
University of Southern California is piloting a one-unit course that will advise students on wellness practices and encourage healthy living. The course, “THRIVE: Foundations of Well-Being,” teaches students a variety of wellness skills, from stress management techniques to tips for making friends in college. The course will be geared toward first-year students in the future, but is currently being introduced to all students.
Penn State’s Health Promotion and Wellness is offering three Wellness Retreats to students free of charge. The 7-hour long retreat will focus on “building strategies for students to use daily and use well into their future careers.” The retreat will include activities led by experts in the fields of meditation, yoga and intuitive eating.
An estimated 20 percent of young people have a chronic medical condition, and that population is growing, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. This fall, as many begin their undergraduate college education, they will have to learn to deal with their condition on their own for the first time. In recent years, universities have made adjustments to better serve these students, offering more tailored services and accommodations. Still, students and doctors say that getting through college with a chronic illness – such as asthma, Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, or diabetes – can come at severe social and academic cost.
Substance Use
The North-American Interfraternity Conference, a major national association for fraternities, approved a new policy that will no longer allow hard liquor in chapter houses or at parties in most circumstances. The policy is a sign that national fraternity leaders are phasing out their traditional hands-off approach amid a wave of recent hazing deaths that provoked widespread outrage. The resolution, approved last week at the group’s annual meeting, states that its 66 member fraternities must “adopt and implement a policy by September 1, 2019, that prohibits the presence of alcohol products above 15% ABV in any chapter facility or at any chapter event, except when served by a licensed third-party vendor.”
Free Speech
Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of University of California Berkeley Law spoke with The Chronicle about free speech and its balance with safety on the modern campus. According to Chemerinsky, there is no campus free speech crisis. He says that “Free-speech activities occur all the time. But they don’t gather media attention”
This semester, Southern Illinois University athletes and cheerleaders were barred from showing any sign of activism while in uniform. After an outcry from students and some free-speech groups, the university rescinded the new ban on Thursday. In 2017 three football cheerleaders on the Carbondale campus took a knee while the national anthem was played. The gesture, which gained prominence when it was begun by the NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2016, is a protest of racism and of police brutality against African-Americans. Last year, after Southern Illinois’ homecoming football game, Chancellor Carlo D. Montemagno said in a written statement that the university must protect the students’ moral and legal rights to express themselves peacefully. Since then, however, new language was added to the code of conduct, restricting athletes’ ability to demonstrate while in uniform and during a competition or performance.
