Mental Health
A recent study showed that sleep disturbances are significantly correlated with alcohol, marijuana and cocaine use among college athletes.
Providence College received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to establish a wellness promotion and suicide prevention program. The initiative will help vulnerable groups on campus with crisis-response planning, mental-health screenings and better access to mental-health service.
In an op-ed for the Daily Bruin, Chris Busco argues that UCLA needs to focus on preventative mental health care for students instead of just responding to crises. He suggests mandating an online training program similar to ones used for sexual assault to “give students the toolbox and the support to forge preventative habits that could lead to a lifetime of good mental health.”
Rachel Ginsberg, a clinical psychologist at the New York-Presbyterian Youth Anxiety Center, helped to establish the “Launching Emerging Adults Program” which helps teenagers and young adults develop their emotional readiness, and “adulting” skills. The program also helps young people address issues like social anxiety, which often manifests in college.
Diversity
Shirley M. Collado, the incoming president of Ithaca College, plans to make diversity a core principle of how the college operates at all levels, incorporating it into every aspect of the institution.
Like many schools across the country, the University of Maryland has taken steps to support transgender students. The school has ensured that the student insurance plan can pay for hormone therapy and removed references to gender in certain health campaigns and public messages.
In an op-ed for The Hoya, Georgetown sophomores Hashwinder Singh and Khendrick Beausoleil argue that the school must continue to assist low income students as it diversifies its student body. “From assimilating on campus to struggling with mental health concerns, low-income students face numerous obstacles in their journey toward graduation that average Georgetown students do not,” they write. “In this way, slowly but surely, Georgetown is moving into two cultures, delineated by class — separate, but unequal.” Read more about Georgetown’s efforts to create a space for all its students to flourish in the Mary Christie Quarterly.
New college prep programs targeted towards low-income and first-generation students are cropping up across the country in an effort to meet the high demand for this information. These groups often have little, if any information about higher education options, and these programs help alleviate some of the anxiety and misconceptions about attending college.
University of Virginia is planning to build a large memorial to commemorate the contributions of the estimated 5,000 enslaved people who helped build and maintain the school. The memorial is part of a larger effort by the university to confront the painful truths of its history.
College Completion
In 2014, a consortium of 11 large, public research universities joined forces to increase retention and graduation rates for undergraduate students. The group uses data to predict areas of vulnerability and provides extra help within the gaps. The participating universities have experimented with a variety of programs, including peer group support, guidance with class choice and access to remedial help.
Guns on Campus
A state appellate court ruled last week that the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor can maintain a campus-wide ban on firearms, affirming that the University of Michigan’s campuses are not affected by a state law that prevents local units of government from limiting gun ownership or carrying.
On July 1, a four-year exemption expires on a 2013 gun law, allowing anyone over the age of 21 to carry a gun on the University of Kansas campus. As a precaution, the school’s Public Safety Office has hired additional staff and athletic facilities have installed metal detectors. According to a Kansas Board of Regents survey, 70 percent of students and 80 percent of faculty are opposed to concealed carry on campus.
Despite the fact that Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal’s office received 14,873 calls and letters opposing Georgia House Bill 280, which allows campus carry, (and only 145 in favor), Deal signed the bill into law. It will take effect July 1.
Greek Life
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on a particularly vexing challenge for college administrators regarding greek life. When fraternities are banned from college campuses or shut down by their national organization, some go underground, continuing to operate and recruit members without an official charter. These “alternative” fraternities often become more reckless once they’ve lost their charters, causing even more problems for colleges once they go off the rails.
In one of the largest-ever prosecutions related to a fraternity death, 18 Penn State students are being charged in the death of Timothy Piazza, a 19 year old student who was hoping to join the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Gruesome security footage captured the night of Piazza’s death is being used by the prosecution to help construct a timeline of the night’s events and to create a picture of the frat brothers as indifferent to the plight of their dying friend.
College Affordability
Tennessee is the first state in the country to offer free community college for almost any in-state adult. Community college is already free for graduating high school students in the state.
