ACUHO-I News Blog

“Conversations,” a regular department in the Talking Stick magazine, is dedicated to capturing dialogue between high-level professionals on the topics that affect campus housing. The July+August 2009 issue featured a conversation on student substance abuse that was so thorough and valuable, that it all couldn’t fit on the printed page.

The following is the complete conversation featuring Valerie Randall-Lee (Northeastern University in Boston), Dan Pedersen (St. Cloud University in Minnesota), and Paul Hubinsky (Illlinois Institute of Technology in Chicago). After reading, please share your own thoughts about student substance abuse and the efforts your campus is making to address it in the comment section.

Read the rest of this entry »

At this time each year, the Supreme Court releases its docket for the next session. They usually do not give a reason why other cases were refused. The justices prefer cases in which a precedent has not been set–and thus the Supreme Court can provide that guidance–and cases in which conflicting rulings have been issued by lower courts.  Thus advocates for Christian student groups and advocates for non-discrimination rules at high schools and in higher education found themselves united on at least one subject: They were surprised the Supreme Court did not take on the question of public institutions, student groups and the rights those groups have (or don’t have) to exclude certain people as members.

Public high schools and public colleges and universities say anti-discrimination rules (which usually include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation) should be applied evenly to all student groups receiving student activities funds. Christian students say such rules limits their right to free assembly and forces them to accept student members who don’t profess the same beliefs.

One case that has been used as precedent is Truth vs. Kent School District. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit backed a high school’s right to deny official recognition to a Bible study group whose members did not want to adhere to the district’s policy that all student groups must accept any interested students as members. The court found that since the district applied the anti-discrimination rules to all student groups, the Bible study group was not being treated any differently.

Truth vs. Kent School District was cited twice more, to uphold the right of higher education institutions not to recognize student groups that do not follow a similar anti-discrimination code of conduct.

However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ordered Southern Illinois University to recognize a chapter of the Christian Legal Aid Society.

This all leaves higher education uncertain of what their next move should be, and the Supreme Court will be silent on the subject, at least until 2010-2011.

A federal appeals court reinstated a sexual harassment lawsuit against the University of Georgia by a female student who alleges that Tony Cole, a basketball player with a full scholarship, encouraged two other athletes to rape her in Cole’s residence hall room in 2002.  Before coming to UGA, Cole had already been booted by two other schools for serious disciplinary infractions. Employees in the athletics department of a community college accused him of sexually assaulting them, and another college team cut him because of discipline issues. The suit alleged that officials at UGA had not only known about Cole’s unsavory reputation, they had not monitored his behavior at UGA or warned him to  behave himself.  Ultimately, the whole men’s basketball program was sanctioned by the NCAA for academic fraud, improper gifts and conduct issues.

The case goes beyond the University of Georgia, which has since  rebuilt the basketball program under new leadership, said speakers at the National Association of College and University Attorneys‘ annual meeting in Toronto. Judges seem to be developing a stricter, more proactive conception of prevention, they said, and if this continues, institutions could be held liable for incidents which could have been prevented by institution action, even if the institution did not have a direct role in the event itself and acted appropriately afterward.

Student athletes are not the only ones who can behave badly, of course. Legal scholars warn that schools may be responsible for the behavior of students who have previous convictions or had serious discipline problems at another college or in high school. It’s a lot to keep in mind, but it may be necessary.

Duke’s Smart Home, the first LEED certified platinum residence hall, will not be easily replicated, said Duke’s dean of residence life and executive director of housing services, Eddie Hall. And that’s okay. Hall’s presentation, with his colleagues Gary Thompson, director of facilities planning and operations, and John Duncan, manager of apartment operations, is meant to serve as more of an inspirational story than a paint-by-the-numbers book. They discussed the Smart Home on Monday at the ACUHO-I Annual Conference and Exposition. Inside HigherEd reported on the session.

Hard work, dedication to the project and a common vision helped, but there was also serendipity and opportunity involved. The trick wasn’t the specific circumstances, but recognizing a benefit when it presented itself.

A Duke student’s graduate thesis, based on the concept of a sustainable residence hall, attracted the attention of a member of Duke’s Board of Visitors, who also sat on the board of Home Depot. This happy circumstance set the planning process in motion. The Smart Home came for free, but it won’t stay free. There’s a lot of new and experimental technology in it with which the facilities department will have to familiarize themselves. The appliances were donated, which is great, but that also means they didn’t come with warranties.

The home also includes two laboratories where residents can innovate further. Their first innovation? It concerns an issue that is heavy on the hearts of all college students: beer theft. Students developed a thumb-print identification censor for kegs. Many smart projects have come out of the Smart Home, or are in process. Students have been toying with ways to improve the home’s function, appearance and utility. A list is available on the Smart Home’s website.

Hall, Thompson and Duncan advised session attendees to do what works best for their schools and what is most sustainable for them, rather than aiming for a specificLEED rating.  As The Chronicle of Higher Education reported last year, sometimes the LEED rating has its own financial and environmental costs. They acknowledged that the Duke Smart Home could not be easily replicated elsewhere. The important thing is to know the resources and technology available, and be open to opportunities.

Even with the recent cuts and furloughs, higher education is the place to be in the job market. So says a report from HigherEdJobs.com. While jobs overall in the US have plunged considerably, the higher education job situation has remained steady. Since people often use a recession as an opportunity to return to higher education in order to be better candidates when the job market improves, colleges and universities may actually see more business. Community colleges are seeing amazing enrollment numbers.

The picture isn’t entirely bright; new hires are mostly of faculty, not administrative staff; most schools are being conservative about hiring; and many are adding more part-timers and adjuncts than full-time positions. Check out the results here.

John Buck, the Associate Dean of Students at Webster University, presented “It’s Like I’m Watching TV in My Head: How CHOs Manage Crisis Situations,” on Sunday at the ACUHO-I Annual Conference and Exposition. Buck studied twelve housing officers who have been praised for handling crisis, interviewing them about their experiences. In the session, he shared the results of this project. Buck began his interviews at the 2008 Annual Conference and compiled the data last year. The resulting paper is Buck’s dissertation, as well as an excellent resource for the profession.

Inside HigherEd  and The Chronicle of Higher Education reported on the session.

Here’s another study that proves what college housing officers–and anyone who works at a college or university–likely knows already. Establishing the national drinking age at 21 twenty years ago has not prevented or limited underage binge drinking among college students. The study was conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis by a team headed by Richard A. Grucza, Ph.D. The results appear in an article in the Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

There is good news; binge drinking has dipped substantially among other groups. Males 15 – 17 years old binge drank 50 percent less in 2006 than they did in 1979. Males 18 – 20 years old in all groups (both college-going and otherwise) binge drank 20 percent less, and males 21 – 23 years old binge drank 10 percent less.

Now the not-so-good news: Men and women in college both binge drink at considerably greater rates than their non-college-attending brethren. Men ages 18 – 20 who were not in college binge drank 30 percent less during the study period. The rates of men the same age who were in college were unchanged. Similar results played out for men 21-23; men not in college binge drank 10 percent less during those 20 years; the rates for men in college were steady.

For women, the story is even less encouraging. For all females aged 15 – 20 years old, binge drinking was unchanged since 1979. Women 21 – 23 years old binge drank 40 percent more than they did in 1979. Male minority members binge less than they used to, but female minorities do so more. Overall, males make up the majority of binge drinkers but rates of female binge drinking has been increasing.

Researchers speculate that a higher drinking age has made it harder for high school students to obtain alcohol, thus driving down binge drinking among that group, while college students are more likely to mingle with those 21 and over. Non-students in their early 20s may also be more likely to have responsibilities that take precedence over partying, such as spouses, a full-time job, or children. Overall, they feel that while the result isn’t ideal, binge drinking is down among the population in general and teenagers especially, so a higher drinking age should be maintained.

ACUHO-I kicks off its 2009 Annual Conference & Exposition tonight with its opening reception at Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team, for a picnic-style gathering followed by the game.

Watch for blog posts throughout the conference, reporting out on speakers such as keynote presenter Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Plus there will be news about other events and announcements throughout.

The conference can also be followed through Twitter. Go to ACUHO-I’s Twitter page and sign up to follow the conversation. Even if you’re not in Baltimore, you can join in and see what’s on peoples’ minds. Here’s to an exciting and productive event!

…but it’s fun! The Rolling Stones, before they were an international sensation, did a jingle for Rice Krispies. It’s the most rockin’ jingle I’ve ever heard.

Happy ACUHO-I Annual Conference, y’all! If you’re going, say hello to all the ACUHO-I staffers there and have a great time. If you’re not, we’ll provide the presentations in our online library post-conference.

In a Chronicle of Higher Education essay, Jennifer Lynn Hughes, an associate professor in the psychology department at Agnes Scott College, points out accommodations that can be made for students who have Asperger’s Syndrome. Universities are required, of course, to make “reasonable” accommodations for students with diagnosed and declared disabilities. What qualifies as reasonable is not defined, but most institutions will do their best to help a qualified student succeed if this can be done without disadvantaging other students. Housing professionals are familiar with these issues, of course, as more students with disabilities and mental disorders are able to attend college than in years past. What sorts of accommodations have been requested at your institution? Were you able to fulfill them?

The College of William & Mary is looking for a new mascot and is inviting its constituents to submit proposals. So far, more than 400 nominations have been received. A tentative deadline is set for the fall of 2009.

Among the ideas submitted so far: asparagus (the nominator pointed out that when served with cheese sauce, the mascot and its topping will be wearing the school colors); a stick figure holding a towel, a jester, a green brick with yellow teeth; a bee,  nine birds, three sea creatures and an un-counted number of bears, horses, dogs and mythical animals.

A committee of students, faculty, staff and alumni are reviewing the suggestions and will make a recommendation to William & Mary president Taylor Reveley.

William & Mary will be keeping their colors (green and gold, the colors of asparagus and cheese), and the teams and fans will still be known as the Tribe. Their previous logo, which included feathers alluding to an American Indian tribe, was ruled unacceptable under NCAA regulations.

The new mascot can compliment the word tribe, but that isn’t necessary. The FAQ on the Mascot Search page points out that tribe can imply many things, including “any aggregate of people united by ties of descent from a common ancestor, a community of customs and traditions, adherence to the same leaders,” or “a class or type of animals, plants, articles, or the like.” “Tribe” could be reserved for athletes and fans, and the mascot would be a separate entity, citing the University of North Carolina’s mascot, a ram, and the nickname Tarheels.

The Mascot Search blog says out that they do not want a mascot already claimed by another Colonial Athletic Association institution. So those proposing blue hens (University of Delaware), dragons (Drexel University) or lions (Hofstra University and Old Dominion University) are out of luck. The committee has also eliminated ideas that involve Native American imagry (missing the point); concepts that could not be represented in a costume and proposals that “do not engender pride or affection for W&M.”  Also, Colonel Ebirt, a sort of shell-less turtle wearing a colonial three-cornered hat, has been ruled out. Ebrit (Tribe spelled backward) was the institution’s unofficial mascot in the early 2000s. Ebrit has a Facebook group in his favor, but William & Mary has posted several notes “from” Ebrit, claiming he is retired on the beach with a Pina Colada, and has no interest in resuming the hectic mascot life.

Want a chance to be a part of an award-winning team? The ACUHO-I Journal of College and University Student Housing is looking for new reviewers.

Journal reviewers read and provide substantial feedback about manuscripts submitted to the Journal as a part of a three person review team. Reviewers will edit between four and six manuscripts each year. Reviewers will serve for a three year term beginning in August. No previous experience with a journal is required, just an interest and demonstrated skill in writing and research. The Journal looks for people with a variety of skills and backgrounds on the editorial board, but an understanding of housing/residential life practice is necessary.

To be considered for the Journal reviewer position, submit a letter of intent that discusses your interest and the special skills or abilities you could contribute in this role (research methods, content knowledge), and a resume or curriculum vita. Applications should be submitted electronically to Deb Taub, Associate Editor, The Journal of College and University Student Housing by July 17, 2009.

Colleges and universities hoping to save a few pennies (or a few hundred thousand) can read an article in last week’s New York Times’ Education section for inspiration: For Colleges, Small Cuts Add Up to Big Savings.

Schools are finding savings through attrition of products and services that are no longer popular (phone lines and voicemail), letting the cleaning slide a bit or providing fewer cushy services to students. Some of the money-saving changes might have been made anyway– cutting orientation by one day, challenging students to an energy-saving competition, eliminating cafeteria trays or providing admissions materials online–but they’re also saving hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Some of the money-saving ideas are more quirky than others. The article mentions a “virtual swim meet” between Dickinson College and Bryn Mawr College. The teams swam in their home pools, then compared times. Not meeting face-to-face saved $900.

A selection of college housing and student affairs headlines from InsideHigherEd.com. Look for these on a weekly basis in the ACUHO-I news blog.

FAILING GRADE ON ALCOHOL: New data showing nationwide increases in drinking-related deaths among college students call into question the strategies being used to promote moderation:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/16/alcohol

NEW BUSINESS FOR ‘U.S. NEWS’: Magazine plans expansion of Web site to include index of adult and online programs — and to sell colleges “lead generation” (lists of potential students). Some see conflict of interest:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/17/usnews

HOW TO PAY FOR STUDENT HEALTH CARE: With Obama plan attracting attention in Washington, campus health officials and state politicians consider merits of billing insurance companies or billing students — or both:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/16/healthcare

Those who attended the ACUHO-I China Study Tour last January were impacted by the commitment Chinese students showed their education and the gratitude they had for the chance for a college education. A story in the New York Times last week highlights the obsessive approach students take toward the gao kao, (”high test”); the nation’s college admission test.

The test takes nine hours to complete and is offered only once a year. More than 10 million students are expected to take the test this year. About 60 percent usually score high enough to be considered for college acceptance. The article repeats a Chinese saying that compares the exam to a stampede of “a thousand soldiers and 10 horses across a single log bridge.”

All of this is for the chance to be a part of China’s higher learning system that includes more than 1,900 institutions (almost twice as many as in 2000) and nearly 19 million students (six times more than a decade ago).

Read more here.