Mental and Behavioral Health
In an op-ed for the University of California-Santa Cruz’s student paper, senior Grace Shefcik writes about the shortcomings of the school’s Counseling and Psychological Services. Last year, she surveyed students about CAPS’ cultural competency, and responses included reports the staff misgendering students and saying that students’ self-harm scars “weren’t that bad.” “CAPS is not diverse nor culturally competent enough to reflect or meet the needs of our student body,” she writes. “It is time to expose and address these issues and no longer sweep their ignorance and harm under the rug.”
The Stanford Daily begins a miniseries about how the school’s CAPS has responded to increased community scrutiny. The first piece addresses the basics of how the office works, students’ frustration with wait times, and how it has adapted to better serve underrepresented communities.
Southwest Tennessee Community College hired Julia Rhea as its first mental health counselor. “In the community college setting, students are attending school usually in addition to working a full-time job or raising a family, often with limited outside support,” Rhea said. “That kind of stress can make any underlying issues rear their head, or exacerbate current problems, such as depression, anxiety, anger management, substance use and eating disorders.” Derri Shtasel addressed these issues faced by community college students in her Mary Christie Quarterly cover article.
A new Rand Corporation survey of college students at University of California and Cal State campuses shows that LGBTQ students are experiencing higher levels of stress and report facing higher barriers to care.
A new study examines social media as a new barometer for quantifying the mental health of college students. Using posts on Redditt, the researchers scanned for posts about issues such as depression, financial and academic anxiety, and thoughts of suicide. Schools were scored based on the frequency of those threads and robustness of the conversations. Researchers found that students at private, high-ranked schools and schools higher tuition had better mental health than their peers in public or lower-ranked schools.
The University of Maine is starting a program to support student athlete mental health. It will be funded by the same NCAA grant that funds the University of Michigan’s Athletes Connected program, which was profiled in the March 2017 MCQ.
Last week, Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) introduced the Stop Mental Health Stigma in Our Communities Act, which aims to reduce mental health stigma in the Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. The bill would would require the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to work with advocacy and health organizations serving AAPI communities to implement outreach and education strategies about behavioral and mental health
Diversity and Inclusion
Madeline Barber writes about her experience being trans at the University of Pittsburgh and about the difficulties she faced coming to terms with her identity in the smaller town where she grew up.
Evergreen State College in Washington state closed last week after receiving a 911 call from an individual threatening execution-style violence and referencing “communist scumbags.” The public university has been in the national spotlight after protests of race erupted on campus in response to a professor’s objection to a request by the school that white people consider avoiding campus on a day of discussions about race. Video clips of the demonstrations were widely shared online. The threat was not carried out and the school opened again last week, it closed, however, for a second time on Monday after new external threat information was received over the weekend.
In an op-ed in the New York Times, Frank Bruni argues that students on college campuses are shutting down the free exchange of ideas by reflexively labelling anyone who expresses different perspective as racist, saying, “That’s a mechanism for shaming, not a strategy for change.”
Auburn University’s Office of Inclusion and Diversity hired Ada Wilson as the school’s new assistant vice president for access and inclusive excellence.
A 2016 study found that politically progressive university towns have some of the widest achievement gaps between black and white public school students nationwide. In a comprehensive analysis of standardized-test scores across many cities, Berkeley and Chapel Hill have the widest and third-widest achievement gaps between black and white students, measured by test-score inequality. Ann Arbor, Evanston, Illinois, Oxford, Mississippi, and Charlottesville, Virginia are all in the top 10 percent of districts with the widest racial achievement gaps, and are all homes to prominent universities.
Harvard University has rescinded admission offers for at least 10 incoming freshmen after discovering that the students had created a private Facebook chat where they were posting sexually explicit and racist messages and images.
Colleges are starting to accommodate transgender students, but some are doing it better than others, depending on support from administrators and the size and will of staff to move on some of these issues. But colleges and universities do not all keep to the same pace. At the annual meeting of campus health professionals last week, officials discussed how to bring simple changes to campuses — regardless of area political leanings — that would ensure more inclusivity for transgender students.
Sexual Assault and Title IX
After graphic threats of sexual violence were found written in the basement of Dartmouth’s Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority house, sophomore, Ioana Solomon writes about the importance of being proactive, not reactive, to sexual assault on campus. “These events have given me a disturbing wake-up call,” she writes. “They have also given me an opportunity to reflect on my own faults, on the way I am inadvertently a participant in the culture that normalizes sexual violence, and on how I can shift my thoughts and actions to be a better classmate, ally and friend.”
The White House budget proposal includes staff cuts at the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. Sexual assault survivor advocates say this would cause further delays in resolutions of sexual assault investigations by the OCR.
Free Speech
The Daily Emerald compiles a review of free speech on the University of Oregon’s campus for the 16-17 school year, spanning from election night protests to white nationalist incidents.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) gave Syracuse University a “red” free speech code rating because its definition of harassment is not clear and consistent. Because the definition is currently too vague and broad, FIRE deemed that it “clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech.”
Eating Disorders
In a column for the Pitt News, Elise Lavallee calls on colleges, to increase awareness about eating disorders as a mental health condition, citing the responsibility they have in serving the most susceptible age group. Only one in 10 of nearly 30 million individuals affected by an eating disorder in the United States will receive treatment.
Greek Life
As Penn State continues to respond to the hazing death of Timothy Piazza, Interfraternity Council President Dean Vetere called on the administration to work with student leaders to improve Greek life on campus. The IFC proposed its own set of recommendations before the Board of Trustees meeting, including banning fraternities from having alcohol in their houses until they meet all other standards. “We believe lasting change is best created when stakeholders of all levels work together — from the highest ranks of the administration to students,” Vetere said. “The hardest work lies ahead, and we look forward to working with the university to implement elements of our plan to make a difference in our community.”
In an op-ed for the Chicago Maroon, Sarah Zimmerman writes that banning fraternities from the University of Chicago campus would be a step toward combating racism and sexism on campus. The fraternities currently are not recognized as school organizations and are expected to be self-policing. “There are undoubtedly upstanding members of campus fraternities who would find racist and sexist behavior of any kind abhorrent,” Zimmerman writes. “Unfortunately, these good apples still belong to a rotten tree; ultimately, such a tree needs to be cut down before it can do any more damage.”
Guns on Campus
Kansas legislators passed a bill that would ban concealed carry in health facilities, including the University of Kansas Medical Center. A bill passed in 2013 would have required the medical center to allow concealed guns starting in July.
