Mental and Behavioral Health
Campus Safety Magazine reports that, to reduce the stigma around getting help, increase awareness about solutions and creating healthy communities, campuses should use a community-based approach. Part of this approach means ensuring that the campus staff members who engage with students, like professors and academic advisors, understand their roles in helping students. The article cited a research study by RAND Corp. that found that when a campus is seen as being supportive of mental health, students are 20% more likely to pursue treatment. The study’s authors found that the campus climate is one of the “most important factors” in determining whether a student tries to obtain treatment.
The Ohio State University’s Suicide and Mental Health Taskforce updated the University Board of Trustees’ Academic Affairs, Student Life & Research Committee on their progress last week. The taskforce gave recommendations for improving Ohio State’s mental health services in September 2018. In response to the recommendations, the university has embedded counselors in specific colleges to increase access for students, particularly minorities. To improve the mental health environment, the university made changes to campus infrastructure, adding fences to the top levels of garages, and signage displaying crisis phone numbers. Additionally, the Ohio State: Wellness App was designed to help students proactively deal with all aspects of wellness. Executive Vice President and Provost Bruce McPheron said that the app was downloaded 51,000 times in its first 10 days it was available.
The Daily Campus reports that last week, a group of University of Connecticut students protested at the university’s board of trustees meeting to push the board to increase funding for mental health care. Dean of Students Eleanor JB Daugherty said, “The most important thing is that students are expressing that they are caring for one another, and they are not feeling that care from the university. That is a gap that should not be their experience, they should feel welcomed and cherished by everyone. If we are failing to do that, we need to address that.” The students, led by UConn Coalition for Collaborative Organizing (UCCO) President Katharine Morris, spoke at the beginning of the meeting, providing a variety of personal stories for the board to consider in their handling of mental health reform going forward. In addition to the increased funding, the students asked the board to consider further diversifying the mental health staff, so that more identities can be represented in the counseling services provided. At this time, there is one professional in Student Health and Wellness who speaks Mandarin, and four that speak Spanish.
The next day, UConn Today laid out the various ways the university is reviewing and enhancing its mental health services. Earlier this month, UConn President Thomas C. Katsouleas launched a Task Force on Mental Health and Wellness to collect information and present recommendations. The University also joined the Healthy Minds Study, which assesses students’ attitudes, behaviors and awareness of mental health issues, and engaged Keeling & Associates, a higher education consulting firm, to conduct an independent review of UConn’s mental health services. In recent years, UConn has added six mental health providers, increased individual therapy appointments and created a care model to respond to students’ varying needs through services like daily drop-in consultations, rapid access in crises, 24-hour on-call assistance, mindfulness workshops, and group therapy. UConn is also launching pilot expansion programs to extend the hours of mental health services; increase access to 24/7 mental health interventions; and offer online appointment scheduling.
Duke University Student Government and administration held an inaugural Mental Health Forum last week, much of which centered around demystifying the “black box,” or untrue rumors about mental health resources. In particular, the panel debunked the claim that Counseling and Psychological Services allows students to arrange only six meetings in total. “I want to shout over and on the rooftops that a six-session cap on CAPS services is a myth,” Associate Director of CAPS Anita-Yvonne Bryant said. Another point of confusion involves the issue of equity, as students voiced concern that Duke provides financial grants for off-campus resources only in severe cases, which the panel disputed. The panelists also stated their desire for students to scrap the image of an “ideal Duke student”-someone who comfortably juggles rigorous academics and numerous extracurriculars with a robust social life. Instead, they want to foster a culture in which students can embrace each other as holistic human beings.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
For a discussion on how to close achievement gaps and make college possible for more people, The Chronicle brought together a campus leader, a public official, a researcher, and a college counselor: José Luis Cruz, executive vice chancellor and university provost at the City University of New York; Daniel J. Hurley, CEO of the Michigan Association of State Universities; Anthony Abraham Jack, an assistant professor of education at Harvard University and author of The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students; and Sara Urquidez, executive director of the Dallas-based Academic Success Program. The Chronicle published their conversations which covered structural inequalities, expectations of students and their motivation to enroll in college, and the kind of support they actually need.
Sexual Assault and Title IX
The University of Texas at Austin announced this week that firing will be the “presumptive punishment” for faculty and staff members who commit sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking, or interpersonal violence. In addition, information will be made publicly available about those who are found to have committed such acts but whose jobs are spared because of mitigating circumstances. According to the Chronicle, pressure has been building on colleges to toughen their responses to sexual harassment, but it’s unusual for a campus to spell out firing as the expected response.
Following the federal government’s investigation into how the institution handled sexual-abuse allegations against George Tyndall, a former gynecologist at USC’s student-health center, the University of Southern California has agreed to overhaul its Title IX reporting procedures. The U.S, Department of Education found that the university had, since at least 2000, “systemically failed” in its response to sexual-harassment complaints against Tyndall, according to a February 27 letter from the department’s Office for Civil Rights to the university. “This case has risen to the level of the most shocking cases that we have seen,” said Kenneth L. Marcus, the department’s assistant secretary for civil rights.
Student Success
New data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC) reveals that most states increased their six-year completion rates between 2009 and 2013. States that experienced the biggest gains during that time include Ohio, Georgia, Michigan, New York and California. Notably, 33 states increased completion rates among students who started at two-year institutions in 2013 compared to those who started the year before.
The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) shows that the percentage of first-year students engaging with professors about topics other than coursework has increased as much as 10% from 2004 to 2019. According to Diverse Education, the latest survey shows that first-year students are now talking more with their professors about career plans and course topics outside class, and working more with faculty on activities outside coursework, compared with in 2004. “This suggests that, by and large, faculty who teach first-year students have devoted more effort to having meaningful conversations with students outside of the classroom – a form of engagement that helps to socialize new students, promotes their persistence and facilitates their ongoing development,” said the survey. “It also suggests that institutions have intentionally structured orientations, career services, and support units to connect students to the resources they most need.”
Coronavirus
The Chronicle is providing continuous updates about the coronavirus on campus, including suspensions of international travel, new guidelines from the American College Health Association, and reverberations in college athletics. As of March 4, at least 149 cases of the virus had been reported in the United States, with scattered reports on college campuses. Many American colleges and universities are advising students studying abroad in countries where coronavirus cases have been reported to return home, and some are imposing self-quarantines on people returning from affected countries.
The Wall Street Journal reports that colleges and universities across the U.S. are updating pandemic protocols in anticipation of a widespread outbreak of the fast-moving virus. Colleges have a unique challenge, with thousands of students living in close quarters, with communal bathrooms and dining facilities. According to the WSJ, colleges say they are following guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including recommending 14-day self-isolation for individuals who may have been exposed. The American College Health Association created a task force on the virus 10 days ago. “And it is as if we have been shot out of a cannon since then,” said Dr. Jean Chin, an associate clinical professor of medicine at the University of Georgia who is chairing the new group. In an op-ed in Inside Higher Ed, Chuck Staben, a professor of biological sciences and former president of the University of Idaho, wrote that it is time for university leadership to prepare for pandemic by raising awareness among the executive team, reviewing each schools’ auxiliary services like dining and housing, considering plans to move instruction online, and deciding the circumstances under which a travel ban should be enacted.
The Chronicle reports that colleges are bracing for outbreaks by readying communications plans, cautioning students to use preventive health measures, and even preparing for possible college closures. Education Dive reports that some colleges are exploring how to shift courses online and education technology companies and consultants report seeing an uptick in inquiries from colleges and leadership.
Physical Health and Wellness
An editorial in the Tufts Daily argues that Tufts University should prioritize student health and wellbeing by allocating more resources towards its non-varsity athletics facilities. According to the editorial, although undergraduate enrollment has increased over the past eight years, the university has not expanded its facilities to accommodate the fitness needs of the growing student body.
