Mental and Behavioral Health
A new UCLA-led study published in Social Science and Medicine found that on college campuses where there is higher stigma toward mental health issues, there is less treatment-seeking behavior among students. The study, which examined data from the Healthy Minds Study at the University of Michigan, also found that students in high-stigma environments were less likely to even acknowledge their mental health struggles.
The Boston University Mental Health Task Force hosted a listening session about mental health on campus last week. At the session, students and community members shared concerns including a lack of mental health training, difficulties finding time to focus on self-care, and the relationships between professors and students regarding taking days off to catch up on work. Many students expressed that they felt their professors were somewhat inaccessible when they reached out about maintaining their mental health. The task force was established in 2017 when Student Health Services partnered with the Jed Foundation and its JED Campus Program.
The Chronicle of Higher Education interviewed Daniel Jackson, a professor of computer science and a photographer, who produced a series of portraits and interviews with MIT students, faculty and staff who are struggling or have struggled with mental health issues. The series “Portraits of Resilience” portrays concerns over strenuous course loads, the impact of family members’ deaths, and even thoughts of suicide. Since March of 2014, six Massachusetts Institute of Technology students have died by suicide.
University of Colorado and Colorado State University are attempting to take a proactive approach to tackling athlete mental health and suicide prevention. Since 2000, three former CU football players have died by suicide. The two Colorado schools are embedding mental health professionals within the athletic program and providing first-year players with counselors who are regulars at team practices, in the weight room, at study hall, and at games. The counselors at CU estimate that they visit with 20-to-25 student athletes per week for varying degrees of crisis; and about 75 percent of the student-athlete population annually. Chris Bader, one of the counselors at CU, said, “What I have seen in my time in the field is the stigma is lessening…They’re sort of familiar with what we’re doing and it’s not this weird ‘voodoo magic’ that it might have been a few years ago.”
James Dalton is a junior political science major at Washington State University who completed a four-year stint in the Army prior to enrolling at the school. He is the vice president of WSU’s Student Veterans Committee and a campus Senator, and in that position has pushed for an expansion of mental health resources for student veterans, and supported legislative efforts to make services and activities fees more flexible.
A Yale University class, “Psychology and the Good Life,” has become the most popular in the school’s history. Psychology professor Laurie Santos teaches students how to lead more satisfying lives through activities like “rewirement” assignments, or exercises like savoring a beautiful day that are aimed at making students happier, healthier, and more resilient. In place of a final exam, the course requires a “Hack Yo’Self” self-improvement project. Santos suggests in the New York Times that her course’s popularity stems from the fact that Yale students “had to de-prioritize their happiness to gain admission to the school.”
Diversity and Inclusion
Wake Forest University has expelled a student who posted a video in which she referred to her residential adviser with a racial slur. Days before, the University of Alabama expelled a student after she posted a video on Martin Luther King Jr. Day repeating and defending her earlier use of a racial slur. In the age of social media and viral videos, colleges are able to respond to racial incidents like these more swiftly and firmly. However, public universities must walk a fine line on these issues as they are explicitly bound by the First Amendment. After the Alabama announcement, three former American Civil Liberties Union officials wrote a letter to school’s president stating that the university, in expelling the student in question, had violated her right to free speech.
An anonymous Twitter account exposed racist memes posted in a private chat by members of the College Republicans at the University of Pittsburgh but UP’s College Republicans chapter denounced the messages, saying the images are “reprehensible and contrary to our values.” University officials are investigating the matter.
Sexual Assault and Title IX
In the wake of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal, Lou Anna Simon, Michigan State University’s long-serving president resigned last week saying, “As tragedies are politicized, blame is inevitable.”
The University has been accused by victims of ignoring complaints of sexual abuse by Nassar for two decades. State and federal agencies have mounted investigations into Michigan State University to discover what college officials knew of Nassar’s behavior and when. Additionally, university officials are facing the prospect of legal judgments and fees from lawsuits filed by dozens of victims. Last Friday, some MSU trustees apologies to Nassar’s victims. Board member Brian Mosallam said, “I am so truly sorry. “We failed you.”
Advocates for sexual assault victims filed a lawsuit last week seeking to overturn the Trump administration’s rollback of Obama-era guidelines for responding to campus sexual violence. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that when the Education Department gave colleges new instructions on how to deal with sexual violence, it amounted to discrimination against students who report sexual assault. The suit accuses the Education Department leaders of being motivated “by their discriminatory – and baseless – gender stereotype that many women and girls lack credibility with regard to sexual harassment.”
A student at the Roman Catholic Bellarmine University is suing the institution for alleged retaliation against him for complaining that a faculty member had approached him to begin an inappropriate relationship. According to the lawsuit, the assistant professor of chemistry involved in the dispute, Francis J. Barrios, left the university in December.
Stanford University is at odds with the victim of a high profile sexual assault case over the university’s attempt to mark the site of the crime. Emily Doe, as the victim is known, originally agreed to place a plaque at the location of the assault for which Brock Turner, a former Stanford student, was found guilty. The university agreed to use a quotation from Emily’s victim-impact statement on the marker, yet, according to Michele Dauber, a professor of law at Stanford who was helping to represent Emily in the discussions, her suggestions for which quote to use were ignored. Instead, the university proposed using the quote “I’m OK, everything’s OK,”. As a result, Emily decided to no longer participate in the recognition effort.
Free Speech
Jesse Panuccio, principal deputy associate attorney general at the Justice Department, said in a speech last week that colleges should be doing more to deal with, and potentially punish, people who heckle campus speakers and shut down events. In the keynote address at the Symposium on Free Speech and Campus Violence and Disruption, held at Northwestern University, Panuccio admonished colleges for their speech codes and “free-speech zones.”
Sexual Health and Contraception
Under legislation approved in the state Senate Monday, California would be the first state to require public universities to offer medication abortion (or the abortion pill). Even though health centers at public colleges and universities receive state funding, the medical abortion services would not be funded by the state. Rather, the estimated $14 million would be covered by the Tara Health Foundation, the Women’s Foundation of California, a private donor. The bill was introduced to the Senate by State Senator Connie Leyva, D-Chino, who released a press statement affirming her support of the bill and thanking the Senate Education Committee for passing it through. In the release, Levya said, “Students should not have to travel long distances, pay out of pocket or even miss class or work responsibilities in order to receive health care that can be provided at an on-campus facility that is specifically designed for student health care.”
Physical Health
Red & Black, the University of Georgia’s student newspaper, reports on the rising cost of insulin, a daily necessity for people with diabetes. One company’s insulin has tripled in price since 2007, forcing some diabetics to take reduced dosages or go off it completely, which can have permanent health damages. The rising cost is due to a deficit of providers, despite the medicine’s high demand. The Mary Christie Quarterly previously reported on the College Diabetes Network, which provides connections and resources for students with diabetes. CDN’s UGA chapter is one of the most active.
Guns on Campus
Monday, Virginia Tech University police arrested 19-year old student Yunsong Zhao on a charge of possession or transportation of certain firearms by certain persons.
