Mental and Emotional Health
Across the country, the first generation of children diagnosed with autism are starting college. Indiana University, which has seen a tenfold increase in its students on the spectrum, is providing classes on life skills for these students through a partnership with the College Internship Program.
The editorial board of the Ithican, Ithaca College’s student paper, argues that mental health services are crucial to student retention and graduation. “Not paying enough attention to mental health services undermines the college’s mission of cultivating academic success,” the board writes. “Students cannot feasibly succeed when their mental health is deteriorating.”
The Harvard Crimson follows up on the mental health initiatives proposed by the school’s Undergraduate Council leadership during their election campaigns. As promised, they have increased peer counseling options and are establishing better communication between peer networks and the counseling center.
The Daily Iowan reports on the increased stress that international students face and how the University of Iowa is trying to alleviate it. Because many students come from cultures that are less individualistic than America, the school offers informal group counseling sessions and community programs outside of the counseling center.
Many of the University of Minnesota’s campuses have counselor to student ratios well above the recommended one full-time counselor to every 1,000 to 1,5000 students. Although the Twin Cities campus received funding for six additional counselors in response to student advocacy, campuses across the state have ratios as high as one counselor to more than 3,500 students.
Angel B. Pérez, vice president for enrollment and student success at Trinity College, wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post arguing that higher education’s purpose must go beyond job preparation. Perez writes that in helping students plan for their future, colleges should provide a chance for students to explore their purpose and embark on a meaningful life.
A panel discussion on eating disorder prevention was held at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health last week. Topics included stigma as a barrier to treatment, insurance hurdles making it difficult to receive affordable care, and how mental health policy may be affected by the Trump administration. Massachusetts Representative Joseph Kennedy spoke at the event about his support for mental health parity legislation including the ACA and the CURES act, signed by President Obama before he left office.
Diversity and Inclusion
Yale is considering changing “freshman” to “first-year” to be more gender inclusive. Dean of Student Affairs Camille Lizarríbar, who is leading the conversation about the potential change hopes to implement the new terminology by this fall.
Students at the University of Miami are petitioning for a Women’s and Gender Resource Center on campus. The building would be a physical presence that does not currently exist and provide an umbrella organization for other existing gender-related groups on campus.
Republican lawmakers in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, and Texas have advanced bills calling for state funds to be withheld from colleges that have enacted policies to protect undocumented students from apprehension by immigration authorities. Similar measures have been proposed in Iowa, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.
At Central Michigan University, students launched The Civil Discourse Society, a group of students from across the political spectrum who meet every week to have open, respectful conversations about politics.
Anti-Semitic vandalism and white-nationalist propaganda are on the rise at colleges nationally, according to a recent report by the Anti-Defamation League. According to the report, as of March 6th, there have been 107 incidents of white supremacist propaganda on American college campuses since the beginning of the academic year – 65 of which have occurred since January. The Anti-Defamation League described “an unprecedented outreach effort to attract and recruit students on American college campuses.”
The Chronicle for Higher Education published a roundup of the latest hate-motivated incidents, including swastikas found in a University of San Diego bathroom, and white-nationalist posters found on Texas State University campus last week.
In an Atlantic op-ed, Jonathan R. Cole, University at Columbia professor and author of Toward a More Perfect University, argued against Trump’s travel ban saying , “Opening America’s arms to immigrant populations and political refugees affirms it national ideals and compassion. That tolerance has also been instrumental in the ascent of the country’s university system to international preeminence.”
Sexual Assault and Title IX
Two former University of Southern California linebackers will not be criminally prosecuted for sexual assault in Los Angeles. Both ex-players were suspended from the team in September after a woman claimed that they raped her.
The Duke Student Government has proposed stationing two “Safe Keepers” outside of a popular bar during high traffic nights to help prevent sexual assault. The student volunteers, one male-identifying and one female-identifying, would help people find friends and reduce pressure to go home with someone because of intoxication or convenience.
A federal judge paved the way for a lawsuit against Baylor University, filed by 10 former students who allege they were sexually assaulted while at school. The New York Times does a deep dive on the rise and fall of Baylor University, and the similar trajectory of its football team.
Sexual Health
In the Michigan Daily, a student writes of the value of talking about sexual health, which she learned from her gynecologist father. “Through the simple act of going to work every day, my dad has shown me that sexuality is a key component of human health, one that deserves a far brighter spotlight than the one America has given it,” she writes.
The University of Maryland’s student government voted unanimously to support a state bill that would make emergency contraception available on campus 24/7. The bill, which has little impact on the state budget, is especially important for survivors of sexual assault.
