Mental and Behavioral Health
The Daily Evergreen, Washington State University’s student paper, writes about the importance of sleep, mindfulness, and mental health for student athletes. The March 2017 issue of the Mary Christie Quarterly includes an article on Athletes Connected, a program at the University of Michigan that de-stigmatizes mental health issues among student athletes.
In the Harvard Crimson, Sophie Garrett calls for people to have more conversations about mental health problems in their early stages. She writes about saying she was bulimic in middle school in order to bring attention to her unhealthy relationship with food. Although she never had a full-blown eating disorder, she felt that claiming one was the only way to talk about the problems she was dealing with. “Maybe all we need is to talk to each other a little more, with a little more openness about our desire for attention and a little more willingness to give attention back,” she writes. “Let’s fill our campus with attentiveness — to those struggling with diagnosable mental health issues, and to those who just want to talk.”
Increasingly, recent college graduates are experiencing an interruption in access to mental health care upon graduation. An article for The Atlantic article suggests that, as colleges and universities expand the resources to meet the demand for mental health services, they should also consider how to prepare their students to lose them.
Diversity and Inclusion
Last week, Edward Morton, a University System of Florida official, was quoted saying that women make less money than men because genetically they may lack the skills to negotiate for better pay. Public criticism was swift, and Morton apologized shortly after the meeting.
A group of students and community members filed a lawsuit Monday against San Francisco State University, alleging that the school has fostered a climate of anti-Semitism “marked by violent threats to the safety of Jewish students on campus.” Jacob Mandel, a recent graduate, said in an interview that in addition to being shouted down at events by students politically opposed to Israel, “the administration was actively working against me. … I felt really powerless.”
Trinity College closed on Wednesday following threats to the campus that were tied to a faculty member’s recent online comments about race and the police. Sociology professor Johnny Eric Williams wrote posts on Facebook that referenced white supremacy, but says that his posts were taken out of context by conservative news outlets. He told the Hartford Courant, “I’m calling for the death of a system, white supremacy, not the death of white people” This week, Williams was placed on leave by the college.
The Daily Iowan covers two campaigns affirming the University of Iowa as an inclusive campus. The school, along with 200 other universities, is participating in the #YouAreWelcomeHere social media campaign. Independently, student leaders launched the Silence is Complicity video campaign, calling on their peers to speak out and take action against acts of hate.
Louisiana has become the first state to prohibit all public universities from asking applicants about their criminal history in an effort to prevent discrimination and open opportunities to the estimated 70 to 100 million Americans with a criminal record.
When President Trump announced earlier this year that he would ban people from six mostly Muslim countries from entering the United States, university leaders were some of the most outspoken opponents of the measure, warning it would hinder research and recruitment of talent. On Monday, some university leaders welcomed a Supreme Court ruling that will allow a limited version of the ban to take effect, carving out exceptions that would exempt university students, faculty and lecturers.
Sexual Assault and Title IX
The Education Department’s civil-rights office has closed a Title IX sexual assault investigation of Liberty University, citing a lack of jurisdiction. The White House recently confirmed that Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. will be a part of a task force that will look into possible changes in higher-education regulations.
Buzzfeed takes a close look at a University of Alabama woman who reported being raped by a powerful man in Tuscaloosa, only to be charged of crimes she hadn’t committed by his lawyers. After dropping the case, she withdrew from school and was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. She tried to start again at a new university, but her depression grew worse and she committed suicide.
A lawsuit claims that Iowa State University Greek life officials failed a sorority member who claimed to be harassed and alienated by the Greek community after reporting being sexual assaulted at a fraternity. According to the lawsuit, the school’s Director of Greek Affairs told the student that the retaliation would be addressed, but ultimately stopped responding to her emails. Although the fraternity where the assault allegedly occurred has not been identified, the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house was shut down in August 2015, partially for reported rape that matches the month and year of the assault described in the student’s lawsuit.
An Inside Higher Ed column advises campus activists to look to the university legal counsels to continue holding the school accountable to Title IX requirements as the federal government pulls back on these cases.
Brigham Young University changed its sexual assault misconduct policy, adding an amnesty clause that will protect the identity of survivors and won’t discipline them for reporting.
A University of Oregon men’s basketball player, Kavell Bigby-Williams, continued to play this past season despite being under criminal investigation for alleged sexual assault. The university’s president, Michael H. Schill, told the student newspaper The Daily Emerald that he was not aware of the allegations.
The Chronicle asks Title IX experts and administrators at a range of institutions to weigh in on how the Trump administration has altered the fight against campus sexual assault.
Veterans
The Atlantic reports on an initiative, led by Vassar College, to seek out and enroll veterans in small, selective liberal arts schools. The effort, which resulted in five recent graduations, is in partnership with the Posse Foundation, a nonprofit with a track record of connecting students from underrepresented backgrounds with elite schools.
Health Care
A nationwide poll revealed that college students and graduates lack year-round health care coverage, and that maintaining affordable health insurance is a major concern during the summer recess. Of respondents with a college student or recent graduate in the family, 72 percent indicated that finding affordable coverage was difficult.
Free Speech
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on how the “assembly line of outrage” online amplifies professors’ Facebook posts and classroom comments until they have become national news, often prompting intense backlash from the right.
In Inside Higher Ed, professors Jessie Daniels and Arlene Stein from Hunter College and Rutgers University, respectively, argue that colleges and universities have an obligation to support scholars who are targeted by right-wing groups scaling up their attacks on higher education.
University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer and Brown University President Christina Paxson discussed free speech and the First Amendment at a Washington Post event last week. “There is a very serious problem,” Zimmer said. “If you are actually considering the nature of education that universities should be aspiring to provide, it demands an environment in which everyone is mutually challenging each other.”
June Chu was suspended and subsequently resigned from her position as dean of Pierson College at Yale after screenshots from her personal Yelp account described diners at a local restaurant as “white trash” and “low class folk.”
Wisconsin’s state legislature passed a GOP-introduced bill intended to protect free speech on the state schools’ campuses by allowing guest speakers to speak without “being interfered with.” Critics complained the phrasing is too vague to enforce and could lead to students being punished for legal forms of protest.
In the aftermath of a string of protests that shut down conservative speakers on college campuses nationwide, universities have pledged more tolerance for diverse viewpoints. Last week, Johns Hopkins University announced a $150 million effort to “facilitate the restoration of open and inclusive discourse.”
