Mental and Behavioral Health
In response to a petition circling at University of South Florida regarding enhancing mental health services for students, Scott Stader, the director of the USF Counseling Center wrote a Letter to the Editor of The Oracle. He asserts that the Counseling Center reached out to creators of the petition requesting an opportunity to discuss their ideas and determine how the center may evolve to enhance their ability to meet the needs of USF students. According to Stader, the Counseling Center has already made changes to services and operations that have allowed for offering continuous access to high-quality mental health services, even during the busiest times of the semester.
In response to a significant increase in students requesting mental health services, University of Delaware‘s counseling center is adjusting its model. The center had made “incremental changes” over the past two years, such as shortening the time of the initial appointment in order to fit in more students throughout the course of the day, but the dramatic increase in demand called for a bigger change. Previously, the counseling center used a system where students would schedule their initial intake appointment for a future date. Dr. Mary Anne Lacour, the Clinical Coordinator for the CCSD, led a team of five to six psychologists to find a better way, moving from scheduled initial appointments to a new walk-in system for first contacts, the first time students meet their counselors. Now, students who call in or walk in for initial appointments are told they can be seen the same day.
About 30 students, faculty, and psychiatric professionals gathered for a panel discussion hosted by University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Psychiatry and the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia to discuss suicidal behavior among college-aged individuals and how this relates to mental health at Penn. On the panel, Penn professors, psychiatric professionals, and a student talked about the biological, social, and environmental factors that put students at risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and how these risk factors come into play at Penn. Multiple panelists talked about “Penn Face,” the tendency of Penn students to act as though their lives are perfect despite the challenges and stresses they are facing. Panelist Corinne Masur, a psychologist from the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia, said the prevalence of Penn Face raises questions about Penn’s environment, and that a stronger campus community would lead students to feel less pressured to present an idealized version of themselves.
A University of Bristol-led study investigated whether mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) could be effective at improving mental health and well-being in medical students. The U.K. study found that mindfulness training can indeed improve the mental health of university students.
As demand for mental health services grows, colleges are providing students with new tools to serve a broader range of needs. Many colleges are looking for ways to take some of the pressure off counseling centers through well-being initiatives, including meditation, yoga classes or designated areas where students unplug from their electronics, take naps and engage in other activities to de-stress. George Mason University has become a model for how colleges can support well-being on campus, after committing to infuse well-being into every aspect of college life to help all members of its community thrive and find personal fulfillment. The school has increased the number of well-being programs on campus and is regularly assessing the engagement levels of faculty and staff. A program at the University of South Florida, called MWell4Success, requires all incoming students to take a mental health literacy training, which teaches them how to spot the signs of distress both within themselves and their peers. The university also launched a success and wellness coaching service, which is free for all students and includes a remote Skype option. At the same time, the college ramped up on-campus offerings that promote well-being and stress reduction like relaxation stations filled with nap pods, massage chairs and bean bag chairs, as well as classes for yoga and meditation.
EVERFI Inc., a company that provides online education & training for college students, and The Jed Foundation (JED), a leading nonprofit that aims to protect emotional health and prevent suicide among young adults, announced a partnership to develop Mental Well-being for Students, a new digital learning course to equip undergraduates with essential skills and information to navigate the stressors and emotional challenges associated with college life.
University of California Los Angeles researchers discovered that increasing the amount of green vegetation in an urban area improves psychological well-being. Although previous studies have already assessed the benefits of green spaces for general health and well-being, the researchers aimed to find out how green spaces affected mental health in particular, said Ying-Ying Meng, a senior research scientist at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and an author of the study. Drawing from the results of the study, Meng said she thinks UCLA should plant more trees to increase the number of green spaces on campus. “My general impression is that UCLA is a more urban campus,” Meng said. “There are a few areas that have more green space, such as the botanical garden, but there could be more.” Meng also said students should take advantage of green spaces on campus to improve their personal well-being. “When (students) have access to this space, they should use it,” Meng said. “For example, the ability to exercise in a green space could be better than exercising in a gym.”
In an op-ed in the Daily Bruin, UCLA student Nora McNulty argues that the school should require students to take at least one course on the importance of mental health, as well as its signs, symptoms and prevalence. According to McNulty, this would demonstrate the validity of mental health issues and arm students with coping strategies, wellness tips and resilience to face their college years. The university currently offers an optional course, called Sociology 88SB: “You, Me, and Our Mental Health,” which is taught through the Undergraduate Student Initiated Education program. This program allows a select number of upperclassmen to develop and teach a lower-division seminar-style course. “UCLA is so academically oriented, and we put so much strength on our academics, that when you teach (about mental health) as a class, it validates the information,” said Zarina Wong, a third-year religion student and the teacher of the class.
As waiting lists for counseling services and support expand, university websites increasingly direct students – and, in some cases, staff – to online support resources which include a number of apps, among them Headspace and Calm. However, academics are warning that many such apps are based on limited scientific evidence, and there is a growing concern that students might be steered to an app that offers them incorrect “diagnoses” or inappropriate “therapy”. A study published last month in NPJ Digital Medicine found that 47 of the 73 mental health apps it examined claimed effectiveness in diagnosing a mental health condition or in improving symptoms, mood or self-management. Only two, however, were able to cite evidence based on evaluation of the app itself, and only one could provide a citation to relevant scientific literature.
Diversity and Inclusion
At Brown University, a number of low-income students reported avoiding courses that required expensive books and materials, or taking those courses without purchasing the materials. In response, the university started a pilot program this year to buy required textbooks for those students who cannot afford them. Richard M. Locke, the university’s provost, said “Some students felt they were trading off books for food.” In the fall, the program will expand to cover all incoming freshmen whose financial aid includes university scholarship funds, as well as upperclassmen with a parent contribution of $0. The books program is one of several moves Brown has made in recent years to better support its low-income students that were sparked by student activism, including the diversity and inclusion demands that students made in 2015.
Chris Murphy, a professor of practice in Penn’s Computer and Information Science department, has gained attention from students and administrators for his efforts to incorporate discussions of diversity and wellness into his computer science course. This semester, he began assigning mandatory biweekly readings and discussion posts on diversity and wellness in the technology industry. Students agreed this is a significant step toward promoting diversity in the field, but said these discussions should be expanded to the rest of Penn’s computer science curriculum. Topics covered have included why diversity in matters in the field, inclusion of women in engineering, and what wellness looks like in the technology industry.
In an op-ed in Inside Higher Ed, Alecea Standlee, a first-generation college student and assistant professor of sociology at Gettysburg College, recommends policies and practices that college administrators and faculty members should consider to help such students succeed. According to Standlee, first-generation students are faced with unique academic, financial and cultural challenges, that college leaders and faculty members have a role in addressing. Standlee suggests providing appropriate supports such as basic health care, campus work opportunities, food pantries and free toiletries. She also encourages the use of low-cost textbooks, and providing a credit account at the bookstore. Standlee recommends providing first-generation students with additional support in career development, from training students on what to expect at a job interview after graduation to helping them develop writing and critical thinking skills.
The Texas Tech University Health Science Center has signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education that prohibits the School of Medicine from considering race in making admissions decisions. Texas Tech is the most recent institution to stop the practice at a time of heightened scrutiny from the courts and conservative activists.
Morehouse College, an all-male, historically black school in Atlanta, announced last week that it would open its enrollment to transgender men. The school’s gender identity policy will continue to ban from enrollment anyone who identifies as a woman. David A. Thomas, the president of the college, said the decision was driven by a greater awareness of gender identity and the college’s need to have a clear policy.
A Columbia University student of color was involved in an altercation with public safety officers at Barnard University, Columbia’s sister school, while on a search for late night food. After seeing on a Facebook page that there was free food available at the Barnard Library, the student had a disagreement about his student ID with public safety officers that led them to pin him to a countertop. The incident, filmed by two witnesses, inspired a weekend of unrest on the New York City campuses. Administrators have released statements and held listening sessions while students have called attention to what some consider a chronic problem within the public safety department. The incident revives the tense conversation communities are having nationwide about police use of force, racial profiling and the risks that come with being a person of color in the United States. Barnard has issued multiple statements and hired an independent investigator and the officers involved have been placed on paid administrative leave.
Georgetown University students voted overwhelmingly for a proposal to create a fund to help descendants of the enslaved people, sold by the school in in the 19th century at a time when it was struggling to pay off debts. Two-thirds of undergraduate students who voted in the student government referendum supported the measure, one that is not binding but sends a message to university administrators. “As students at an elite institution, we recognize the great privileges we have been given, and wish to at least partially repay our debts to those families whose involuntary sacrifices made these privileges possible,” the sponsors wrote in the measure. “As individuals with moral imagination, we choose to do more than simply recognize the past – we resolve to change our future.”
Sexual Assault and Title IX
The Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers is at odds with the school over how sexual harassment claims are handled. Beginning April 18, the graduate student union will run advertisements on cable television, social media, radio and billboards demanding the university enact new harassment and discrimination protections for teaching and research assistants. The campaign is painting Harvard as a “world-class” institution with a “world-class #MeToo problem,” where “powerful men have been protected, promoted and believed, while survivors are harassed, assaulted and ignored.” Student workers want an independent grievance process for survivors guaranteed through a union contract, but university administrators say that could undermine and further complicate the procedures in place.
Greek Life
The University at Buffalo (UB) has suspended all fraternities and sororities and is investigating a “potential” hazing incident that left a student in critical condition. “As the investigation into this very serious matter continues, let me reiterate that our university has zero tolerance for hazing,” University at Buffalo President Satish Tripathi said in a statement “Not only are hazing incidents a violation of our university policies, but they are also crimes.” The Buffalo Police Department is investigating the incident.
Student Success
The Chronicle of Higher Education created a list of colleges with the highest and lowest 6 year graduation rates – now the national standard. Of the 13 private nonprofit colleges that had graduation rates of 95 percent or above in 2017, seven were in the Ivy League. Two colleges in Virginia had the highest graduation rates among public institutions. Over all, private nonprofit colleges graduated two-thirds of first-time, full-time students who started in 2011 within six years, while public colleges graduated nearly 60 percent. For-profit colleges lagged far behind, graduating just under 21 percent of their first-time, full-time students within six years.
As more universities are applying data to their student success initiatives, a forward-looking consortium is building a database that can help. The consortium, founded in 2014 with four members, is called Unizin and has grown to include 11 institutions with 25 campuses, collectively enrolling more than 900,000 students. Unizin will provide data from millions of students at dozens of universities that educators can use to analyze large trends, examine student-level performance data and cross-reference information with other stats on student backgrounds and demographics. Unizin plans to serve as an enormous “learning laboratory” to enable colleges, departments, and individual faculty members to shape instruction in ways that best meet students’ needs.
Free Speech
A vote by the student government at Texas State University to ban Turning Point USA, a conservative student group, erupted into yet another free-speech debate this week. After a tweet by the group’s national founder, Charlie Kirk, mischaracterized the attempt as an official university action, it was quickly retweeted by his followers and picked up by conservative media sites. Greg Abbott, Texas’ Republican governor, jumped into the fray. Lost in the initial outrage was a response from Margarita Arellano, the university’s dean of students, who clarified that the student government does not have the authority to actually ban Turning Point USA. Student organizations can be banned only if they are facing disciplinary sanctions. “Following university policy, the organization will not be barred from Texas State campuses,” she wrote. “Texas State supports the constitutional rights of all of our students, faculty, staff, and visitors.” The resolution approved by the student government condemned members of the group for “using intimidation and harassment to control students, faculty, and staff for their practice of promoting hate speech, and for their practice of illegally influencing and corrupting student-government elections.” In 2018, Texas State’s student body president resigned after her campaign was accused of accepting $2,800 and 25 iPads from Turning Point USA.
