Mental and Behavioral Health
Earlier this year, University of Rochester student Juliette Richard died of a heroin overdose in her college dorm room, prompting the school to provide more resources in the areas of mental health counseling, drug and alcohol abuse prevention and addiction treatment.
CU Boulder’s Collegiate Recovery Center supports students recovering from addiction, including those who are grappling with screen addiction or technology overuse.
According to the Texas Tribune, counseling centers at Texas state colleges and universities are understaffed due to lack of funding, leading to long wait times for basic mental health services (from two to three weeks), and an inability to reach many students in need. Hopes for a solution appear dim as Texas does not earmark money for mental health services, and lawmakers there want to limit tuition hikes at public colleges.
This year, Penn State will embark on an Embedded Counselor Program, which places Center for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) staff within a residence hall. The move is part of an innovative program to increase mental health resources at University Park while simultaneously reducing stigma among the student body. It is a collaboration between CAPS and Residence Life.
According to a new study from the University of Southampton and Solent National Health Service (NHS) Trust in the U.K, college students in financial debt are much more likely to experience mental health problems, including depression, anxiety and alcohol dependency. The more concern they had over debt, the higher their levels. The study also found that mental health issues and alcohol dependency were predictive of higher levels of financial stress.
Diversity and Inclusion
A recent Atlantic article calls out elite universities with large endowments for being frugal with aide for low-income students. The article sites a new report released by the Education Trust, which examined the spending rates on low-income students of universities with at least $500 million in endowment funds. They found that due to the low rate of financial aid they provide, four out of five institutions end up charging their low income students so much that they’d need to surrender 60 percent or more of their household incomes in order to attend. The study also found that these schools are in the bottom 5 percent in terms of low-income student enrollment.
A proposed measure by the California legislature would broaden the rights of gay and lesbian students at religious colleges. The proposed bill would require the colleges to notify current or prospective students, as well as faculty members, of certain laws that impact their rights such as the faith-based exemption from Title IX and California’s Equity in Higher Education Act, which bars institutions that receive state funds from discriminating against students who are sexual minorities. Additionally, the bill would put religious colleges at risk of losing state funds if sexual-minority students successfully sued the institutions for violating state anti-discrimination laws.
Sexual Assault and Title IX
In a New York Times oped, two women who recently graduated from Yale Law School argued against mandatory minimum terms for perpetrators of sexual assault, saying “History shows that this reform would not deter violence and most likely would perpetuate punitive racial and class disparities.”
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on another case of technology supporting health and wellness. Callisto is a new college sexual-assault reporting website that aims to encourage survivors to come forward and tell their story in a nonthreatening environment. The site builds trust with survivors by allowing students to remain anonymous until they are ready to report the assault.
Guns on Campus
In the wake of the implementation of the campus carry law in Texas, some faculty members at the public institutions hope to declare their offices off-limits to firearms. This may not be easy. While some Texas institutions, such as University of Texas Austin, allow faculty to decide themselves whether or not they will allow firearms in their office, other universities, such as Texas A&M, require permission from the university. Faculty at Texas A&M University are required to submit an application for their office to be excluded from campus carry rules, which must be approved by the President and three other administrators. Successful applications are rare.
