Mental and Behavioral Health
When Rhytha Zahid Hejaze faced a mental health crisis during her freshman year at Northwestern University in Qatar, she was publically removed from her class and eventually spent a night in a Qatari jail. The incident highlights how cultural environments on foreign campuses can differ dramatically in their response to student mental health. In the Mary Christie Quarterly, Ana Pereu wrote about the importance of ensuring student wellness overseas based on her experience at N.Y.U. Abu-Dhabi.
At Tufts University, students can take part in a new mindfulness program that was developed after the 2015 American College Health Association survey found that 90 percent of students on the school’s campus reported feeling overwhelmed.
The Baylor Lariat editorial board warns students that mental health issues cannot be fixed by ignoring them. They urge their fellow students not to “allow yourselves to put your mental health to the wayside in order to fulfill school duties.”
While marijuana is legal in the state of Washington, the University of Washington does not allow the drug on the school campus, which receives federal funding and must comply with the Safe & Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act and the Drug-Free Workplace Act. However, some students on campus use medical marijuana to help curb their anxiety and focus in class.
As a part of their “It Can Wait” campaign, AT&T brought a virtual reality experience of a smartphone-related car crash to a University of Maryland classroom. The jarring video is part of an effort to reduce impaired and distracted driving, and is part of a relatively new course at the university’s School of Public Health called “Drugged, Drowsy and Distracted Driving: Traffic Safety Issues for the New Millennium.”
In the Tufts Daily, MJ Griego explores the two prevalent models for self-care: validation, which encourages people to take a break and do what feels comfortable for them in the moment; and functional, which encourages maintaining functional habits, such as brushing teeth and getting adequate sleep. Griego argues that there is a need for a third holistic model that marries the two: “Knowing when to be gentle to yourself and when to push yourself.”
Diversity and Inclusion
Seventeen leading universities, including all eight Ivy League schools, have added their support to a legal challenge to President Trump’s executive order on immigration.
The New York Times profiles Allen Coon, a University of Mississippi student who has become famous on campus for being an ultra liberal agitator on a conservative-leaning campus in a state still plagued by racism and prejudice. Coon helped lead the student movement that brought the Confederate-themed state flag down from the University’s main flagpole.
In a column for the Yale Daily, Nat Wyatt describes being transgender in a sorority, saying,“My Theta sisters have grown emphatic to my proud gender-nonconformity over time, changes I have never seen in fraternities. I’m not sure I ever will.”
The Washington Post reports that a Southern California college student has been suspended and put on probation for recording his professor’s anti-Trump rant and posting it online. The video went viral and led to violent threats against the professor. The student is fighting the suspension.
The Atlantic reports on DACA recipients’ anxious reaction to seeing their peers being taken into custody in the wake of the Trump presidency. Forty-six percent of DACA recipients are students. Kamal Essaheb, the director of policy and advocacy at the National Immigration Law Center, discusses what it means to be a “dreamer” student in today’s political climate.
Sexual Assault and Title IX
An Ohio University English professor may be fired following an investigation by the Office of Equity and Civil Rights Compliance, which found he sexually harassed female students and engaged in sexual conduct without their consent. The complaints stemmed from incidents as early as 2003.
In the Daily Orange, Kelsey Thompson writes about her concern over recently appointed Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ noncommittal response to questions about upholding Title IX.
Following the anonymous reports of alleged druggings and sexual assault incidents at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at Northwestern University, a group of students published a petition calling for increased supervision over Greek life and additional resources promoting sexual and mental health.
Guns on Campus
Northwestern Students for Gun Violence Prevention are presenting “Columbinus,” a play about the Columbine High School shooting that focuses on mental health and the isolation that some teenagers face. Admission to the play is free for students, with donations going to Everytown for Gun Violence Protection.
An Oklahoma State Representative proposed a bill that would allow concealed carry on university campuses. Oklahoma University President David Boren disagrees with the bill’s premise. “Placing guns on campus, except in the hands of highly trained law enforcement officers and professionals, would be a serious mistake and would lead only to tragic results,” he said in a statement.
Affordable Care Act
The University of Minnesota requires all of its students to have health insurance, making some medical professionals on campus concerned about the potential impact of repealing the ACA. Currently, about a quarter of students are covered by the school’s Student Health Benefit Plan and 20 percent are covered by the Graduate Assistant Health Plan. The remaining student population is covered by third-party commercial insurance or public-funded health care like Medicare and Medicaid.
