Mental and Behavioral Health
Northwestern’s International Student Association sponsored an event on mental health, encouraging students to talk about the subject even if it is not discussed back home. Speakers emphasized one way to fight stigma is to build communities that hold and support conversations about mental health.
Sara Brouda, a George Washington University sophomore, writes that sweeping critiques of the school’s Mental Health Services can prevent students from seeking help. “Making broad, general and nonspecific claims with no path to improvement can hurt the student body by making them hesitant to use their services,” she writes. “Instead, make specific criticisms that could lead to improvement, which would help the University and the students who desperately need the services.”
A study from the University of California-Davis found an increase in service dog use for people with mental health issues, including a 16 percent increase for people with autism in North America.
Diversity and Inclusion
Bowie State senior Richard Collins III was stabbed to death just days before his graduation by a University of Maryland student who was part of a racist Facebook group called “Alt-Reich Nation.” The FBI is investigating Collins’ murder as a hate crime. In interviews, students of color on campus have said they feel unsafe, and that the administration hasn’t done enough in response to previous racially-motivated incidents on campus.
The Netflix show “Dear White People” is a satirical portrayal of race relations and black identity at a fictional Ivy League school. Staffers at The Atlantic discuss the show.
Colleges across the country are grappling with President Trump’s executive order barring travelers from a half-dozen predominantly Muslim countries. Out of concern that international students will not be allowed back in the country after travelling home for the summer, colleges and universities are providing housing, helping students find on-campus jobs and internships, and stepping up their summer programming.
College Bound Dorchester is a Boston-area nonprofit that works with at-risk youth to encourage them to pursue college. The organization announced a new program called Boston Uncornered, which will pay active gang members who want to go to community college and get off the streets. Of the program, Mark Culliton, CEO of College Bound Dorchester said, “It’s really college that is the key to transforming these guys’ individual lives, and when you transform individual lives you have the potential to unlock communities that have been trapped in poverty and violence for far too long.”
The New York Times profiles College Advising Corps, a nonprofit organization trying to break down the social, economic and psychological barriers that prevent low-income rural students from applying to the top colleges in the nation. The program places recent college graduates in public high schools as full-time college advisers, where they bring their own experience to helping students through the college application process.
Sexual Assault and Title IX
A former Baylor University volleyball player filed a lawsuit against the University last week alleging that she was gang raped by four or more players in 2012, and later harassed by the players until she left the school the following year. The lawsuit does not name any specific players, but alleges that some on the team routinely recorded gang rapes in a program that fostered sexual violence. More than a dozen women have now sued the school, saying officials mishandled or ignored sexual assault allegations for years. Baylor’s new President, Linda Livingstone, discussed how she will address the ongoing Title IX investigations and cultural change needed at the school with the Chronicle of Higher Education.
The Diamondback, the University of Maryland’s student newspaper takes a deep look at sexual assault at the school in a seven-part series.
College Affordability
Tennessee Promise, a program that covers tuition at the state’s community colleges, graduated its first cohort of scholarship recipients this spring. Since the program’s conception, community college enrollment has increased by a third, and students are borrowing less from the federal government. It is unclear what effect the scholarship has on on-time graduation.
College Completion
Colleges are adjusting to the reality of increased parental oversight in their students’ lives by establishing more formal ways to work with parents and guardians. Some schools have created a parent track during student orientation and created webinars for parents on topics like homesickness and career services. Other schools have established parent “leadership councils” that act as a voice for parents and provide the administration with input. Fairfield University even has welcome events for incoming parents hosted by current parents in their homes or conference centers across the country from campus.
The Washington Post reports on “Child Care Access Means Parents in School” — a $15 million higher education program that provides colleges and universities with funding to support or establish campus-based child care for student parents whose earnings are low enough to qualify them for federal Pell grants. In his first full budget, President Trump is proposing to eliminate the program.
Student Activism
A new Tennessee law signed last week by Gov. Bill Haslam, bars public colleges from seeking to bar controversial speakers, limiting where students can protest, or using broad definitions of harassment to stifle debate. While legislators and college officials widely support the law, some faculty leaders, say it threatens their academic freedom. The law makes Tennessee the first state to legally define what college professors can speak about in the classroom.
About a hundred students walked out of the Notre Dame commencement ceremony in protest of the speaker, Vice President Mike Pence, who criticized political correctness on college campuses.
Physical Health
Troy Closson, a Northwestern freshman, writes that while the campus frequently discusses mental health issues, student physical health is often neglected. “Despite the fact that both physical and mental wellness can be relevant concerns on campus and impacted by various identities students hold, the conversation often only leans in one direction,” he writes. “ I believe changing conversations — or even just starting conversations — surrounding physical wellness is essential to bettering students’ experiences as a whole, and giving it an equal platform to mental health on campus could greatly improve overall well-being.”
