In an effort to meet the increased demand for mental health services on campus, Baylor University will offer online counseling starting this fall. The counseling will consist of educational or psychotherapy modules followed by 20-minute online video sessions with a campus therapist.
University of Maryland President Wallace D. Loh announced the results of an internal review of an incident this spring, in which campus police used pepper spray to break up a graduation party. The review found that the incident, which sparked criticism from some who believed the use of force was excessive and racist, could have been avoided. A video of the party was released, prompting the campus police chief to apologize to the students involved, saying “We don’t often get it wrong. We did here.” One officer has been suspended without pay for 80 hours. All department staff will now receive bias and diversity training.
In May, Republican state lawmakers stripped $436,000 from the University of Tennessee‘s Office for Diversity and Inclusion for one year as a repudiation of controversial posts on the university Pride Center’s website encouraging the use of gender-neutral pronouns and avoiding faith-based language. The legislation forced the diversity office to close for the upcoming academic year, with its future uncertain. Just before shutting down, The Pride Center, which has until recently been housed under the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, applied to become an independent student organization. A handful of students, called The Pride Ambassadors, are working to continue the center’s work without university funds or staff.This summer, the students are raising funds, meeting with administrators, hosting events, running the center’s social-media accounts, recruiting new student volunteers, and sketching out a plan for the center to operate with a staff of undergraduates and a budget built on donations. They’ve raised $10,000 through a crowdfunding campaign since mid-May.
On August 1, the new campus carry law, SB 11, will take effect in Texas, allowing students with a concealed carry permit to bring their guns onto college campuses. Students and administrators across the state are grappling with the legislation’s potential safety impacts. “I feel like I should wear a bulletproof vest on the way to my chemistry class,” said one University of Texas at Austin student.
Texas is not the only state to be adopting campus carry laws. Eight states now have laws allowing licensed gun owners to bring concealed weapons onto college campuses. Faculty and staff members and school administrators have reacted to the new laws with apprehension. Many feel that adding guns onto an already stressful campus culture is “dangerous and destructive.”
Kyle Vo, a former student at West Chester University, was sentenced to six to 20 years in prison and five years of probation, after being convicted of sexually assaulting an intoxicated and unconscious woman in her dorm room last year. Vo is also required to register as a sex offender.
A series of recent terrorist attacks and uprisings around the world have colleges and universities grappling with the decision to send students to study abroad. Schools are trying to find a balance between keeping their students safe and promoting the global exchanges that some say could help reduce acts of intolerance.
In his new podcast series, Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell compares the amenities at two colleges, and argues that colleges with fewer “bells and whistles” are able to admit and support more low-income students.