ACUHO-I News Blog

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.

According to an article in Career Journal, the Wall Street Journal’s career site, a subtle transformation is taking place among millennials, AKA Generation Y. As jobs disappear and companies are ravaged by the slumpy economy, some recent graduates are endeavoring to show their employers or potential employers that Gen Y doesn’t always denote a sense of entitlement and the expectation of Fridays off. Of course, this transformation might have taken place with or without an economic crisis; it’s a part of young adults’ adjustment to becoming self-sufficient post-college. Perhaps, however, the economy will bring out the acknowledged talents of Gen Y, making us all better in the end.

That sounds pretty snazzy, doesn’t it? Well it seems to be true, at least in terms of the racial diversity of students’ friends during college. Most students make friends within their own ethnic and racial groups, rarely venturing outside of that. However, residence halls, and assignments can be a fertile place for these preferences to be tweaked, according to “Interracial Friendships in the Transition to College: Do Birds of a Feather Flock Together Once They Leave The Nest,” an article in the current issue of Sociology of Education.

According to authors Elizabeth Stearns (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), Claudia Buchmann (Ohio State University) and Kara Bonneau (Duke University):

“Residential college campuses offer multiple settings for contact… First, college students tend to reside together on campus. Residence halls may be particularly conducive environments for fostering interracial friendships, given the close and sustained nature of the contact that is found in them. The more intimate and informal nature of residence hall life may serve to put roommates and hallmates on an equal footing in terms of status and provide a richer seedbed for forming friendships relative to the structured, formal settings of college classrooms.”

Moreover, the authors note, administrators can further encourage such contact through assignments and other residential programs.

Will the Millennials do what previous generations — the Boomers and the X-ers, namely — didn’t? Will they end the culture wars and usher in a more peaceful, equitable era worldwide? Two reports from the Center for American Progress, one focusing on the political views of young adults, and the other on their social and racial views, answer Yes.

The election of Barack Obama, the candidate of choice for a large majority of 18-29 year olds,  proves both points. A majority of millennials identify more with liberal values than conservative ones–and the conservative values they favor are those encouraging free trade, the privatization of social security and other domestic issues. They are liberal on social issues, particularly concerning gay marriage. And, as the report on racial views demonstrates, they are less likely to be concerned with race in part because they are the most diverse generations of Americans yet: 60 percent white and 40 percent minority: with 18 percent Hispanic; 14 percent black and 5 percent Asian.

Similar views have been reflected in other surveys of Millennials, and Neil Howe’s work.

However, big things were projected for the Boomers and X-ers, and while the world has certainly changed, the predictions didn’t pan out completely. The oldest of the Millennials are still getting started in the job market (if they are able to find jobs) and have yet to prove their worth as social movers n’ shakers. Do you think the Y Generation will keep their “progressive” values as they get older and change how the world works, or will their fate be the same as that of the Boomers and X-ers?

This seems to be the philosophy of many college students regarding seeking counseling for mental health issues. At least, that’s one conclusion that could be drawn from a study recently released by the Center for the Study of Collegiate Mental Health (CSCMH) based at Penn State University. Counseling centers at institutions nationwide, 137 in all, participate in the CSCMH. The recently released study is a pilot, so there will be comparison numbers in the future.

One alarming statistic from the study: One in four college students who have visited a campus counseling center for mental health reasons has seriously considered suicide. This may indicate students delay seeking help, waiting until things seem very dire. Mental health issues still carry a stigma, and many college students likely feel they are young and invincible, even to the mental demands of college and young adult life.

Some students are likely pressed to accomplish and experience too much, in too many arenas, all at once. A recent New Yorker article discusses the use of “neuroenhancing” drugs, such as those prescribed for ADHD, and how students use these to pack as much as possible into every 24-hour cycle. College–and life–pulls students in many directions, and with little or no sleep or food, students using neuroenhancer drugs party, study, attend meetings, write papers and generally run themselves ragged. The article goes on to discuss how this mindset is expressed in the post-college world as well.

Stories of assessment used successfully are nothing new, but like stories of couples happily married for 40 years, it’s nice to take a look at how the major players made things work. Even though both are common, successful assessments and enduring, loving relationships take a lot of work.

Witness this article about Hoffstra University’s effors  to transform its campus from a commuter school, where students came and went like office workers, to a more residential environment, with its own sense of place and community. It wasn’t easy, and it took a lot of time, but university officials and students seem pleased with what has been accomplished.

Boy, things really are getting tough out there, as evidenced by this news from the Boston Globe newspaper that Harvard University and its Office of Career Services recently saw fit to offer a seminar on how to handle rejection. According to the story, “Participants, who wore snappy buttons with the word rejected stamped in red, also received a road map of sorts on handling failure, a pink booklet of rejection letters and personal stories from Harvard faculty, students, and staff members.”

One student who attended the seminar, senior Olga Tymejczyk, commented that, “Rejection is inevitable sometimes, even if you go to Harvard.” The Latin American studies major wants to work in higher-education administration or healthcare research.

In related news, if the program is looking for any adjunct experts in rejection, they are welcome to give this author a call.

Discussions about the moral development of students are common in every office and program in academia, from students themselves to senior administrators. As the Chronicle of Higher Education reports, another such discussion took place at the American Educational Research Association’s annual conference, and the evidence presented at that meeting wasn’t particularly encouraging for those who hope to take a 18 year-old Lord of the Flies character and turn him or her into a bright-eyed, productive member of society in four years.

The first problem is that college students may be a bit too old for their moral and ethical values to change considerably. This theory was posited by Matthew J. Mayhew, an assistant professor of higher education at New York University; Ernest T. Pascarella, a professor of higher education at the University of Iowa; and Tricia A. Seifert, a postdoctoral research scholar at Iowa. The researchers analysed data on 1,470 students at 19. The data was gathered for the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, a longitudinal study of student learning. The researchers classified students’ moral development in two stages: a transitional stage, during which the student is still determining his or her overall values. In this period, the student will use context and circumstances to consider a situation. When a student is in the consolidated stage, he or she has set criteria and patterns used for decision-making on moral issues. Transitional students are more likely to report improvements in their moral reasoning as the result of courses or programs designed to improve these qualities. Consolidated students are not affected by these programs either way. The researchers claim that while many administrators and instructors assume students arrive at college in the transitional stage and stay there for much of their college careers, this may not be correct. Thus morally- and ethically-centered programs may be too late to the party.

Another study suggests that it’s not that students’ decision-making processes are already solidified, but the conflicting messages offered by society and institutions dilute the effectiveness of moral and ethical development programs. Tricia Bertram Gallant, coordinator of the Academic Integrity Office at the University of California at San Diego, examined two universities that adopted honor codes, and how the codes affected (or didn’t affect) students’ moral development. While the honor codes fit their institutions well in some ways, the institutions contradicted themselves. Professors seemed to feel that research and publishing on morals and values would be better rewarded than teaching on these issues. Students felt that when it came right down to it, grades mattered above all else. Neither institution saw a significant change in its atmosphere or levels of academic dishonestly. Perhaps telling is the title of Bertram Gallant’s upcoming book, of which she is co-author: Cheating in High School Is for Grades, Cheating in College Is for a Career.

Of course, the solution isn’t to fling up our hands and give in, but to keep looking for the ways programming and experiences can touch students. Check out ACUHO-I Annual Conference sessions, such as “Not Your Mother’s Diversity Program” by Tom Fritz, Florida State University Housing for inspiration.

Flash mobs are pre-arranged gatherings of  large groups of people in public places. Often, the folks involved do something in unison, or act unusually. Such as freezing in place in a busy train station. Or parading, as zombies, into a campus building. Or moving reeaaly slooowly in Home Depot (then not moving at all). It’s a fun way to play a harmless joke on an unsuspecting public. Or, in the case of some University of North Carolina students during exam week, a flash mob-rave is a good stress release. In a fine example of the flash mob genre, we present the UNC Library flash mob-rave.

The St. Cloud Times recently ran a flattering story about St. Cloud State University’s substance education efforts, which are centered on high-risk drinking. The UChoose program is the product of numerous departments, offices and individuals; among them student affairs; counseling and psychological services; student health services and the office of the provost. The program provides speakers, posters and other educational materials for student meetings and events. They’ll even whip up mocktails for special occasions. Online, students can take assessments that evaluate their behaviors for danger and potential for dependency and their knowledge about how alcohol affects the body. (i.e.: The site dispels the common myth that caffeine reduces alcohol’s impact–it just makes the drinker feel more alert.)

But UChoose goes further than that. As the St. Cloud Times reports, an area landlord has joined the effort, requiring potential residents to complete an alcohol education program. A graduate student speaker, Rachael Berg, has spoken locally about the university’s education efforts, and she has also traveled to Nelson Mandella Metropolitan University in South Africa, where she persuaded them to add education elements to their alcohol sanctions.

ACUHO-I members will get to meet partners in St. Cloud State University’s efforts when Rob Reff, a counselor and professor in the counseling and psychological services office, with three members of the residence life staff, journey to our annual conference and exposition to present their ideas for combating high-risk drinking.

This story, provided to National Public Radio by Youth Radio, illustrates the challenges some students have when facing colleges. For some young people, college is assumed, expected and anticipated. For them, it’s a place to get away from watchful parents and a time to explore careers and interests. But for others, such as Mayra Jimenez , higher education is an opportunity and a risk not to be taken lightly. On one hand, there’s the chance to make a better life for herself and her family. On the other hand, higher education is expensive, and she fears being forced to leave school for financial reasons, without a degree.

In an uncomfortable contrast, this New York Times story points out that in order to financially assist some students, colleges and universities have to get that money from wealthier applicants whose families can pay the full cost of higher education. As a result, applicants who can pay tuition outright are given closer consideration for admission.

For today’s students it might seem as anachronistic as seeing how many people fit in a stagecoach, but last week at Saint Mary’s College of California, students re-enacted the famous Life magazine photograph by seeing how many student bodies they could fit into a phone booth.

The event happened 50 years after the original cram session and was attended by some of the students in that original photo as well as Joe Monroe, the photographer who snapped the image. After much pushing and shoving, when it was all said and done, 22 students made it in, equaling the mark of the photo, but coming up short of the record of 24 which was set a few years later.

The event generated scores of interest from the media and will live on with its own Web site.

What are the great traditions on your campus?

Above photo by Allyson Wiley.

Hard times make for greater interest in RA positions. So says a story in the The New York Times. According to the article, applications for 30 RA positions at Seton Hall University, in South Orange, NJ, jumped to 168 this year, from 104 two years ago. Other schools the Times mentioned saw similar increases.  Of course, the compensation–often free room and board, or a combination of discounts on both–is alluring, especially to students who need to cover their own expenses.

But the housing professionals quoted in the article, including ACUHO-I’s president, Norb Dunkel, stress that the job has more long-term benefits, and these outweigh the monetary gains. Given the multiple skills and long hours, RAs earn more in problem-solving, conflict resolution and crisis management than they do in money.

The question of how to recruit and compensate RAs is often on the minds of ACUHO-I members. Discuss the topic with your colleagues in our forums.

The Survey of Entering Student Engagement, (SENSE) the first-year student, community college counterpart to the National Survey of Student Engagement is still in its formative stages. However, SENSE results have already suggested issues for further study.

SENSE’s findings, released last week, suggest that first-year community college students don’t take advantage of the campus resources because they don’t know about them. Most students were able to register for classes and get other necessary paperwork completed, but didn’t know about remedial courses, tutoring, or their adviser’s ability to assist with schedule planning and prioritizing.

Young adults tend to think they are healthy by virtue of being young, but that’s not the case, says a report from the Centers for Disease Control.

According to a recent report from the CDC, a third of those 18-29 are cigarette smokers; a quarter are obese; two-thirds don’t get regular physical activity. As a result, chronic health issues are found in younger and younger populations, said a CNN health expert. On top of this,young adults tend to take more risks; their chances of accidental death are two to three times more likely than those of other age groups. The transitional, uncertain nature of young adult life is also to blame; many are without medical coverage, and they are more likely to have mental health issues than other age groups.