Mental and Behavioral Health
University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School announced that its building, Huntsman Hall, will now close at 2 a.m. rather than staying open 24 hours, in an effort to promote wellness. “The idea was to really emphasize student wellness. We want students to go home at a reasonable hour and sleep,” Director of Wharton Student Life Lee Kramer said. “We’re hoping this is a positive step for campus and that students will be receptive to it.” Many have expressed concern over whether the change in operating hours will meaningfully improve mental health, arguing Penn is trying to eradicate the symptoms of an unhealthy working environment on campus without addressing its source. On top of changing Huntsman’s operating hours, the business school is hiring a new associate director to help undergraduate students “experiencing acute academic and personal challenges,” according to a job listing on the recruiting website, HERC.
The Jed Foundation, in partnership with the University of Massachusetts Medical School Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research, released a white paper analyzing the challenges to emotional wellbeing faced by young adults during the college-to-career transition. The paper, “College to Career: Supporting Mental Health” offers strategic recommendations for colleges and employers looking to support young adults and improve outcomes during this critical transition.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Health Center and the Office of Student Affairs are working together to implement new initiatives that help students easily access mental health services, including free counseling services. Through an outreach program called Big Red Resilience, CAPS and student affairs will jointly hold campus-wide promotional events to engage the UNL community.
Boston 25 News highlighted the struggle that universities face when trying to meet the demand for student health services on their campuses. 25 Investigates conducted a review of 50 schools in Massachusetts, gathering information on how many counselors each school keeps on staff, which place specific caps on the number of counseling sessions available to students, and if schools are tracking student suicides. The program also featured the experience of Kavita Singh, who reached out for help in her second year at Northeastern University and repeatedly had to wait to be seen by a counselor. Eventually, Singh received the help she needed from an outside counselor and is now part of a student group advocating for more services at Northeastern.
Diversity and Inclusion
As the University of Nebraska pushes for increased diversity with the hiring of a Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion, a Nebraska State senator sparked debate when he suggested the move would put white men at a disadvantage by favoring minorities. In a letter to constituents posted on the Nebraska legislature website last month, state senator Steve Erdman said the culture at NU would suffer if the university hires a diversity director – a common position at colleges around the country, but a first in the school’s history. Erdman, a Republican, said that introducing this position would lead to under-qualified minority candidates being hired in fields “most dominated by White professors” and create a hostile environment for those who don’t share the “extremist progressive worldview.” “While nobody I know advocates for racial, gender or sexual orientation discrimination, we should still ask why NU needs a Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion, if not to impose favoritism upon these groups,” Erdman wrote.
Three people were charged last week for rioting and defacing a public monument in connection with the toppling of a Confederate statue at the University of North Carolina. The statue, known as Silent Sam, had become a hated symbol for some on campus. Randy Young, a spokesman for the UNC-Chapel Hill Police, said in a statement Friday the three people named in the warrants are not affiliated with the university and that each faces charges of ‘misdemeanor riot’ and ‘misdemeanor defacing of a public monument. On Saturday, in what was supposed to be a rally in support of the statue, protesters clashed, resulting in seven arrests, mostly for assault. About a dozen supporters of the statue, many waving Confederate flags, were met by about 150 chanting students and activists. The rally ended when the Confederate sympathizers were chased off by activists chanting in pursuit, in what the Chronicle called “the virtual collapse on campus of public support for re-erecting the statue.” In a conference call, Chancellor Carol L. Folt said none of the people arrested were affiliated with the university.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the incident at UNC is the latest in an intense debate over the future of confederate monuments and imagery on southern college campuses. Institutions are trying to come to terms with the links to their confederate past without alienating alumni and donors. For many southern schools, the issue at its core, is an economic one. They need to appeal to a more diverse student population, and confederate symbols can scare off black and Hispanic families or prospects.
Despite dominating in college enrollment and having higher six-year graduation rates, women are not reaping the same financial rewards that men do from finishing college, or earning more-advanced degrees. The American Association of University Women reported that women hold almost two-thirds of the nation’s student-loan debt, with black women holding the highest average debt of any racial, ethnic, and gender group among graduates who completed bachelor’s degrees. Women are not only earning less due to the wage gap, affecting how long it takes them back their loans, but also borrow more and are more likely to attend colleges with higher costs than men.
Sexual Assault, Harassment and Title IX
Dani Blum, a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, argues in an op-ed in The Inquirer, that “We need to treat campus rape like the public health crisis it is. Assault should be talked about openly and often – by those who are in charge of universities, and by those who are tasked with keeping students safe. Deeming assault a public health epidemic would allow schools to tackle it clinically and openly, with the urgency universities apply to other health crises. But it would also accept assault for what it is: common, a reality.”
A student at Columbia University is suing the university’s trustees and a former dean of students in federal court, alleging that the former administrator coerced her into “an inappropriate sexual and romantic relationship” this summer and that the school failed to protect her. The student alleged that she was referred to School of General Studies Dean of Students Tom Harford by a campus crisis center after she reported being raped by an acquaintance, with the expectation that he could help find emergency housing and other assistance. Harford allegedly subjected her to “unwanted, abusive, and inappropriate sexual activity,” intimidated her and used her need for financial aid as “bait” to maintain the relationship, according to the court filing. The complaint alleges that another administrator had seen their flirtatious text messages, and that she had told others at the school that Harford gave her $500. A Columbia spokeswoman said that he was “promptly” removed earlier this month, and that the school takes such matters seriously.
Substance Use
Student affairs administrators at Rutgers University at New Brunswick have been working to assess student conduct more effectively, combining a variety of previously siloed databases that contained detailed information on their students. Using this approach, they learned that business majors represented nearly 25 percent of all alcohol transports in the fall of 2016, despite constituting less than 12 percent of the student body; that football games with narrow final scores correlated with fewer alcohol transports, as compared with nights with more-lopsided results; and that men and women used alcohol transports at similar rates. The administrators’ new focus on data has helped craft new policies and programs for students, some of which have already proven effective.
Free Speech
Sean M. Decatur, president of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, argues in an op-ed in the Washington Post that the public conversation about free speech has been distorted with outsized attention being paid to incidents of voices shouted down and speakers disinvited from colleges and universities. Decatur writes that “Most of us are listening, and we are not avoiding conflict or challenge. We see the opportunity to make progress on what seemingly divides this country, and we owe it to our students and our communities to begin the discussion in our own backyards.”
College Affordability
Seth Frotman, student-loan ombudsman at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is resigning from his post in protest next month. Frotman wrote in a resignation letter, made public on Monday, that the federal agency, in charge of protecting student borrowers from predatory lending practices, had pivoted to serve financial companies instead of the consumers it is charged with protecting. In his letter to Mick Mulvaney, the CFPB’s acting director, Frotman wrote that consumers are no longer the organization’s priority, adding that the U.S. Education Department’s move to stop collaborating with the CFPB in the supervision of student-loan companies undermines the bureau’s work to oversee the student-loan market.
New York University medical school’s announcement this month that it is eliminating tuition for all its students, was met with mixed reactions from many experts who don’t believe that waiving tuition for all med students, including those who can afford to pay, is the best way to approach the complicated issue of student debt.
Student Success
In 2013, Harvard University researchers examined data on college-bound high school graduates in Boston and nationally and found that about 10 to 20 percent failed to enroll. The phenomenon known as “summer melt” affects students from lower-income and first generation families most. There are various reasons students shelve their plans, including missing registration deadlines, overlooking the fine print in financial aid packages or concerns about jobs and money. The D.C. College Access Program counsels about 3,300 seniors in the city’s public high schools, texting graduating seniors with weekly reminders about college-going tasks, an effort similar to proven to be effective at Georgia State University. A team from American University’s school of education monitors the replies and engages in texting conversations with those who ask for help. Preliminary evidence from a trial run last year have showed promising results.
