Coronavirus
As the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus continues, Inside Higher Ed reports that last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College Health Association both released guidance on how to prepare for the virus’ emergence on college campuses. The CDC guidance includes information on reviewing and updating emergency operations plans; sharing informational resources with faculty, students and staff; making decisions on whether and when to suspend classes or cancel events in coordination with state and local public health officials; and ensuring continuity of safe housing and provision of meals. The CDC has also separately released guidance suggesting that colleges consider canceling study abroad and exchange programs and bring students back to the U.S. The guidance from the American College Health Association focuses on campus preparedness and protocols. According to Education Dive, the recommendations from these organizations stress that as new cases continue to crop up, now is the ideal planning window for postsecondary institutions.
NPR outlined the top ways colleges and universities are coping with the spread of coronavirus, including moving classes online, canceling travel, helping Chinese students by offering them independent study or online classes, and issuing warnings and guidelines and planning for larger disruptions.
A growing number of U.S. colleges have canceled in-person classes due to concerns about the coronavirus. The closures began in Washington state, and now include Harvard University, Columbia University, Princeton University, Amherst College, Rice University, Stanford University, Hofstra University, University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Washington, among others. By midday Tuesday, NPR reports, more than half a million students had been affected by the cancellations. Some schools are asking students to depart from campus residence halls, except those with extenuating circumstances, including students whose travel home is affected by travel restrictions or those without another legal residence. As outbreaks continue, colleges and universities are being urged to consider how their infrastructure could handle a potential surge of online students.
The U.S. Department of Education has slackened requirements on how schools can use distance learning technologies to accommodate students temporarily if classes cannot meet as a result of a virus outbreak. To help students continue their classes, the Education Department is allowing schools to temporarily expand their online learning programs or partner with other schools that can meet the demands, without requiring federal approval. Colleges can also offer courses to those students on a schedule that deviates from the standard term if necessary.
According to the Chronicle, moving classes online comes with its own challenges. First, it presumes that all students have access to the internet where they are, raising questions about equity. Daniel Stanford, director of faculty development and technology innovation at the DePaul University Center for Teaching and Learning, said that internet access may be a challenge for students and faculty members in small cities and towns especially, where service can be slow, and when everyone is trying to use videoconferencing at once. Another question is institutional capacity to support thousands of instructors’ moving quickly from in-person to online teaching. Flower Darby, director of Teaching for Student Success at Northern Arizona University, said, “I don’t think most institutions are equipped to handle a situation such as this, in which more demands are made of the technological infrastructure and you need a lot of qualified people to help.”
The Chronicle reports that many colleges are advising students – American and international alike – against international travel. Additionally, some colleges are keeping open dormitories for international students who can’t return home.
Mental and Behavioral Health
The University of Connecticut held its second annual Innovate Wellness Challenge, where groups of students presented their proposals for lowering student stress. According to the Daily Campus, roughly 40 students, divided into 15 groups of three or fewer, developed and presented original plans for improving the mental health of their peers for the first round of the challenge. The teams with the most promising plans of action present their ideas and prototypes before a panel of judges for the chance to be rewarded up to $2,250 and the opportunity to work with UConn faculty members to implement their ideas on campus. Johnathan Moore, the management information systems academic director for the UConn School of Business, said, “We want to give students the opportunity to learn through these collaborative co-curricular challenges, but also allow them to see the real impact they can have on the UConn community.” One plan suggested the creation of communal music-making rooms where students could borrow a variety of instruments and play.
The Chronicle profiles the College of William & Mary’s McLeod Tyler Wellness Center, which is home to counseling and student-health offices as well as meditation spaces. Early assessments have found that students may come in with a specific purpose, like attending a yoga class, but while there, become aware of available resources. The hope is that the center will encourage more students to seek help in various forms. “We can be active partners in our own health and wellness as well,” says Patrick Abboud, a student-wellness ambassador. “We don’t want,” he says, “to slide to a point of really, really deep pain, and then we reach out then when it’s just unbearable.”
A panel of Illinois state senators approved legislation requiring public colleges and universities to add mental health contact information to the back of student identification cards. The initiative would ensure phone numbers for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Crisis Text Line and the school’s mental health counseling center will now be published on each student’s identification card.
Cornell University researchers studied the effect of nature on stress reduction among 15 to 30 year olds and found that ten to 50 minutes of sitting or walking in natural spaces improved mood, focus and physiological markers such as blood pressure and heart rate. “It doesn’t take much time for the positive benefits to kick in — we’re talking 10 minutes outside in a space with nature,” said lead author Gen Meredith, associate director of the Master of Public Health Program.
In an Indiana Daily Student op-ed, Everett Kalman argues that students who are angry about insufficient services at the school’s mental health service may not be seeing the whole story. According to Kalman, high demand is part of the problem, straining campus mental health care resources. “In my three years on the Mental Health Committee for Culture of Care, I’ve heard countless stories of how students are dissatisfied with the quantity and quality of support from IU’s Counseling and Psychological Services, citing long waitlists and shortened one-on-one sessions, among other complaints,” he writes. “Some students have also lamented that CAPS offers only two free counseling sessions per semester.” According to Kalman, CAPS has hired more counselors in recent years, but are constrained by their budget.
TrojanSupport, a student-led organization at the University of Southern California, formed over a year ago to give students nonprofessional peer support and has recently expanded its reach to include graduate students. The group’s founder, Armand Amini, said, “We don’t have to be experts, but if we are better informed as a community, there will always be someone in your circle who knows what to do. It’s our responsibility as a community to be there for each other in times of need.”
Skidmore College has been named one of the healthiest college campuses in the United States. The Active Minds Healthy Campus Award recognizes colleges and universities in the United States that prioritize and promote the health and well-being of students. “Well-being is directly tied to a student’s ability to grow intellectually, emotionally and creatively,” said Cerri Banks, dean of students and vice president for student affairs at Skidmore College. “Here at Skidmore, health and wellness are part of our institutional DNA.”
The University of Buffalo’s Counseling Services, Health Promotion, Health Services and Recreation are focused on changing campus environments to enhance quality of life at UB, improve delivery of services and embed a culture of well-being across the university. The units view increased collaboration and cross-campus integration of programs, policies and practices as key to achieving greater health equity, eliminating disparities and improving the health of the entire campus community. “Increased collaboration will lead to greater opportunities to enhance faculty, staff and student wellness, as well as individual capacity for health and resilience,” said Susan Snyder, director of health services. “Everyone has a role to play in creating a supportive campus community. This is about taking positive actions and creating conditions for well-being.”
Sexual Assault and Title IX
Education Dive reports that the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has turned to mediation in an apparent effort to quickly clear a backlog of hundreds of sexual violence complaints it has fielded over the years, some of which have remained dormant. Mediation is confidential, and those who enter into it sign an agreement that they will not share details of the process. It can result in financial compensation for the person who filed the complaint or changes to an institution’s sexual violence policies. The activity coincides with the imminent release of the agency’s final rules dictating how institutions should investigate and adjudicate sexual misconduct under Title IX.
College Affordability
The Atlantic spotlights Mitch Daniels, president of Purdue University, who has frozen tuition for seven straight years at $9,992. While he is proud of the tuition freeze, according to the Atlantic, Daniels worries that the outsized attention paid to it eclipses the improvements that the school says it has simultaneously made in educational quality and financial health.
Student Success
The GW Hatchet reports that a partnership between George Washington University’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences and Virginia-area community colleges has boosted enrollment five years after its implementation. The program – which allows students with associate degrees in health sciences to complete their education at the medical school – has increased the diversity of the student body and led to more employment opportunities for students since its 2015 debut. Reamer Bushardt, the school’s senior associate dean for health sciences, said the transfer program creates a “clear” and “direct” pathway for students to earn advanced professional certifications and degrees. “Programs like these are part of a larger workforce development initiative focused on careers in health care as well as clinical and translational research,” Bushardt said. The program guarantees admission to students from nine local community colleges who have completed an associate degree with a cumulative GPA of at least 2.75 and earned a grade of C or higher in transferable coursework.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced it may stop allowing new students to use their GI Bill benefits at five universities, citing “sufficient evidence” that the institutions engaged in false or misleading advertising, sales or enrollment practices. The department is giving the institutions – University of Phoenix, Colorado Technical University, American InterContinental University, Bellevue University and Temple University – 60 days to make changes before it will take action. The decision comes as veterans advocates and others push for closer scrutiny of the extent to which for-profit colleges, in particular, are able to access military benefits.
According to a new working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Texas policy that promises in-state college applicants in the top 10% of their high school class admission to any of the state’s universities increased access and improved graduation rates. The researchers found the policy brought in more students from high schools with higher shares of underrepresented and low-income populations and pushed out prospects from more advantaged schools. The findings come as several lawsuits challenge affirmative action policies at public and private universities.
A new campaign launching this week will urge students to share stories of how they struggled to get into college and overcame obstacles once accepted and enrolled. The campaign was set for a session at SXSW EDU, the education-focused conference that was cancelled last week amid coronavirus concerns. According to the Hechinger Report, the “WeBelonginCollege” campaign stems from the film “Personal Statement,” which follows three New York City public high school seniors on a challenging journey to navigate college admissions while also working to help their peers do the same. The campaign includes powerful, short videos, and an accompanying curriculum and hashtag encourages students to share stories about times when they questioned whether they belonged in college or struggled to stay there.
