Ground-Breaking Community of Practice Approach to Campus Hazing and Hazardous Drinking Launching Summer 2022
The Piazza Center at Penn State, the Gordie Center at the University of Virginia and the With Us Center at Cal Poly are partnering to launch a study identifying programs, policies and practices for creating safer organizations and campuses. The communities of practice initial cohort of campuses (eight have expressed interest in the pilot study – they will be formally announced soon) will focus on prevention of hazardous drinking, hazing and other resulting behaviors with a goal of chapter/campus cultural change. The program will launch in the spring/summer of 2022 and produce initial data for a broader study within three years. Read more.
Mental and Behavioral Health
Main Stories
The Chronicle reports on the recent survey by the Mary Christie Institute and Born This Way Foundation on peer mental health support. Peer support can range from mental health hotlines, text-lines, apps, coaching, and peer counseling, provided by students who find the work rewarding and helpful in preparation for graduate programs in psychology and social work. As colleges look for more solutions towards the college student mental health crisis, peer support may reach college students who may not seek counseling support. Findings show that peer support usage was more likely among Black, LGBTQ+, and first-generation students, who said it was “very important” to find a counselor with similar identities or life experiences. “Training is key” to recognize when students are in need of greater support, according to Dr. Zoe Ragouzeos, President of the Mary Christie Institute and Executive Director of Counseling and Wellness Services at New York University.
The Chronicle provides faculty voices on their attempts to reach disconnected students in response to last week’s article. Professors describe record rates of student disengagement, higher rates of absenteeism and incomplete coursework. “I’m an undergraduate adviser. I have never had so many students that have gone into academic suspension or dropped courses a couple of weeks into the semester. Some students just disappear and end up failing their classes,” one faculty member said. Another described reasons students gave for the phenomenon: “They say everything feels hopeless. They say they are overwhelmed, stressed, and anxious. They say it feels as if the world is falling apart and everything is out of control. They are having to work too many hours and are taking too many units. They say they have no time to sleep and take care of themselves. Many also admit to compulsive use of the internet.”
In a newsletter for The Atlantic, staff writer Derek Thompson outlines four reasons “Why American Teens Are So Sad.” Thompson argues that social media use, the activities that have been replaced by social media, more news about the world’s stressors, and modern parenting strategies may be propelling rates of depression. “The pandemic and the closure of schools likely exacerbated teen loneliness and sadness. A 2020 survey from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education found that loneliness spiked in the first year of the pandemic for everyone, but it rose most significantly for young people,” argues Thompson.
Other News
The Daily Tarheel reports on a new peer listening program to support student mental health. Undergraduate, graduate and professional student volunteers are able to communicate with students and help guide them toward other resources.
Brown University reports on its Mindfulness Center at its School of Public Health and Director Eric Loucks’s approach to create mindfulness habits for life.
Penn State University reports that its Center for Collegiate Mental Health is offering continuing education programming. To expand outreach efforts, the CCMH created a two-part pilot educational program on collegiate mental health topics to help higher education professionals globally.
The Williams Record reports on its Williams Student Union hosting a Wellbeing Forum. The goal of the forum was “to inspire discussion and activism among students and to show the College’s administration how important well-being is to students.”
The American Psychological Association reports on new research that rising parental expectations and criticism are linked to an increase in perfectionism among college students, which can lead to damaging mental health consequences.
A new CDC analysis report examines mental health among U.S. high school students during the pandemic. Over a third (37%) of high school students reported poor mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and 44% reported feeling persistently sad or hopeless last year.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Inside Higher Ed reports on the toll bomb threats are taking on mental health at HBCUs. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, there have been 59 incidents since January, causing school closures, police sweeps of campus buildings, and increased security on campuses. HBCU leaders say the bomb threats are causing a significant toll on students’ mental health, creating stress and anxiety for students, employees, and their families. “HBCUs are ‘a place where we’re supposed to be able to come feel safe and have a sense of belonging and develop into these leaders. It’s very hard to also hear that there are people who don’t want you in those spaces and they’re coming to infiltrate and impact a space that does want you,” said Kennedy Reid, a junior at North Carolina A&T State University.
Inside Higher Ed reports on colleges creating new initiatives to end unpaid internships. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers 2021 Student Survey, 74% of white students had unpaid internships and 73% had paid internships, in comparison to only 8% and 6.6% of Black students, and 10.2% and 7% for Hispanic or Latinx students; for first-generation students, 25.6% said they were unpaid interns and 20.5% were paid. Innovative college funding and programs are dedicating efforts to pay their own students for work when employers won’t in order to equalize internship opportunities, which have historically excluded low-income students. “Especially if there’s relocation costs, like to D.C., Chicago or New York, an unpaid internship basically is out of reach for most college students. What that means is you’re imposing a gatekeeping mechanism on entering into these experiences and making them unpaid and out of reach to possibly the majority of college students. I think they’re definitely unfair, exclusionary and undemocratic,” said Matthew Hora, co-director of the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Student Success
The Hechinger Report features an article on students arriving to college unprepared, after the pandemic disrupted their high school educations. Uri Treisman, a renowned professor known for his methods and techniques when teaching calculus, says teaching the past fall 2021 semester was the most challenging in 50 years of his career. According to Treisman, students made basic errors in algebra and trigonometry. Despite helping them as much as he could to succeed, 25% of his students failed in the fall, compared to 5% in any other year. Educators are worried about the pandemic’s effects and what students have experienced over the course of the pandemic, says Steve Dandaneau, President of the Association of Undergraduate Education at Research Universities.
Inside Higher Ed reports on how grade forgiveness can lead to more STEM graduates. According to a recent study in the National Bureau of Economic Research, grade forgiveness policies resulted in positive trajectories towards more STEM degrees. Students were more likely to enroll in science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses and graduate with a STEM degree. Grade-forgiveness policies incentivized students to continue studying STEM, take more challenging courses, and stay in college, contrary to critics’ claims. “In order to get more students to graduate in STEM, you have to get them to start on the STEM trajectory. So this policy incentivizes students who take more STEM courses at the very beginning, so they could have a chance,” said Xuan Jiang, co-author of the study.
College Affordability
The Wall Street Journal reports on President Biden’s extension on pausing federal student loan repayments from May 1 to August. Suspensions on loan payments and interest accrual began on March 13, 2020. White House correspondents say President Biden prefers Congress take the lead on the issue when it comes to further extending the pause on student loan payments or taking action to cancel some amount of student debt. Legislation to forgive $10,000 in student debt has been endorsed by the Biden administration, however, the bill is unlikely to gain enough support throughout Congress. The Education Department plans to provide a restart for borrowers by “eliminating the impact of delinquency and default and allowing them to re-enter repayment in good standing.”
Higher Ed Dive reports on inflation and labor shortages set to strain college budgets. According to analysts from Moody’s Investors Service, rising costs, wage inflation, and labor shortages will squeeze budgets for the fiscal 2023 year for many institutions. Analysts say that while much of higher education will remain financially stable, some institutions will struggle with multi-year budget deficits that will result in lower credit quality. Due to returning volatility in the investment market and waning public funding, colleges and universities are facing increasing uncertainty. Diverse Education reports on community colleges helping students cope with rising inflation costs, many of whom have been hit hardest by the pandemic.
COVID-19: Safety and Reopening
The Chronicle and Inside Higher Ed report on institutions reinstating mask mandates, after only a few weeks from removing them. Some colleges are seeing direct links from the return from spring break and the uptick in COVID-19 cases on campuses. “Many of these colleges had spring break about two weeks ago. And there are some that are just having it now. I think we’re going to see rolling surges that will hit certain colleges based on their spring break schedule, or based on any unmasked, unvaccinated indoor events,” said Gerri Taylor, co-chair of the American College Health Association’s COVID-19 task force. The Washington Post reports on American University and George Washington University among some of the latest institutions to reinstate mask mandates.
