Mental and Behavioral Health
Northwestern student Alana Farkas calls for reframing the discussion of mental health on campus, arguing that staying silent or dodging conversations about a friend’s mental illness can be harmful. “ It is our responsibility to offer reassurance, not judgment, to our friends and ourselves,” she writes. “Taking care of our own mental health on this campus and seeking help when needed are not acts of weakness, but of immense bravery.”
The University of California system is considering a tuition increase for the first time in six years, in part to pay for better mental health services across the state.
A new Instagram feature allows users to send an anonymous notification if they see a post that shows signs of self-harm. Instagram then sends a message to that user with information to get help. The new feature is a partnership between the social media network, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, and the National Eating Disorders Association.
Inclusion on Campus
An op-ed in the LA Times by Frank Furedi, an emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent, argues that “safe spaces” have shifted from temporary meeting spaces that serve as a respite from the broader campus to more isolating living set ups. “The popularity of identity politics among insecure millennials threatens to fracture campus life to the point that undergraduates are inhabiting separate spaces and leading parallel lives,” he writes.
Sexual Health
While two-thirds of University of Texas students are sexually active, less than 50 percent report using contraception the last time they had sex. Sex education is not required in Texas, and when it is offered, it must emphasize abstinence, meaning that many students arrive on UT campuses unaware of how to have safe sex. According to the CDC, Texas ranks in the top 10 of all 50 states in STD rates.
Sexual Assault and Title IX
University of Michigan football player Grant Perry allegedly grabbed a woman outside a bar and was charged with two counts of criminal sexual assault. He was immediately suspended from team activities.
