Troubled College Students

College is a major time for students to develop into adults.  The events and experience that students have in college can transform the students into good students or cause them to become troubled and create problems.  What are some of these problems that cause students to become problem students?


According to an article, "Stress and College Students, Top 10 Reasons Sudent are Stressed", stress is cause by the following 10 reasons which can lead to problems in the everyday college students life:



1. Homework
Of course, this will cause anyone to stress, not just new students. However, college homework tends to be more tedious than high school homework. It is no wonder why so many new students are stressed out in the beginning of the year.

2. Away from home
Moving away from home is a large change for many new college students. In fact, psychology experts suggest that separation anxiety from home is a major contributor to a college students stress levels.
New students can combat this stress factor by bringing things that remind them of their home. Additionally, they should frequently talk with their family.

3. New lifestyle
Living in college is much different from living at home. Therefore, new students need to learn a new way to live their life, at least while attending college. They must cooperate with new people very quickly, forcing them to set aside a time to understand the new people they meet. As a result, their new fast-paced lifestyle can cause great stress.

4. Trouble adjusting
Not every college student adjusts to their new life. In fact, many studies show that a third of new college students don’t find their place in college fast enough to avoid more stress. Of course, these statistics vary among individual students.
Nevertheless, college students who have trouble adjusting will find their new life very frustrating, thus causing stress.
College students can help themselves adjust by finding two or three friends who are upperclassmen who can show the new student how to manage their new life.

5. Financial problems
After leaving the comforts of home, many college students are left to their own vices. However, it is also during these times that college students learn how to live independently from their parents, forcing them to learn how to manage their own budget. It is not uncommon for college students to run into a major financial crisis, especially if they have to pay for most of their college bill.
Students can quickly learn how to solve their financial problems by sticking to a strict budget until they get a feel for their monthly expenses.

6. Relationships
New college students usually go through a breakup with their high school sweetheart, which is one stress factor. However, the new living environment promotes other attraction difficulties. Students feel a rush of emotions from the new lifestyle, which heavily increases any feelings they have towards new partners. As a result, both people in a new relationship can subconsciously place themselves under heavy stress from the relationship.
Students should always try to keep a level head. Yes, they are in a new environment, which promotes independence and spontaneity, but keeping a clear mind will help students to manage their emotions.

7. New way of learning
College professors teach differently than high school teachers. The level of learning is more sophisticated, making the teaching more sophisticated.
Students can keep up with the new way of learning by talking with their professors to understand how they think, which can give them an insight to how they teach.

8. Bullies
Bullies don’t just exist in high school. They, too, graduate and move on to college. Moreover, bullied students feel more vulnerable due to the new environment and living style. However, students can still combat bullies by not allowing themselves to be pushed around.

9. Too many activities
Between homework, new friends, work and sports, students can feel overloaded by activities. Students should learn how to balance their activities, and even eliminate unnecessary activities.

10. Roommates
Living with new people is very stressful, especially if they do not know each other. Students who have roommates need to not only learn how to live with strangers, but also how to create their own space in a small dorm room or apartment.
By understanding stress and college students, family and friends can help their loved ones transition into this new phase of their life.

When these areas of stress become to great for a person to handle, many times students resort to violence or vicious acts to keep their mind of of the stress of life or take actions that are considered inappropriate forms of resolving issues, typically cause problems for other people within the surrounding community.  This pins the student with a tag of being a problem child.  The best thing for student personnel staff to do is to try to take measure to prevent the stresses from become to great for students and prepare students with stress relief methods.

There are other reasons for the actions of problem students other than just stress. There are some students who grow up in different lifestyles and in the attempt trying to attract attention, students may behave in manner that are inappropriate or unconventional.  The best thing to do in these circumstances is to correct the behaviors before the student become comfortable with disruptive behaviors that can harm the student or the surrounding community. If the actions are not condoned the student may never think twice about their behavior and may see it as being acceptable.

Campus Crises

     Campus crisis are typically unforeseen events that are impossible to have a campus wide preparedness.  The aftermath of a campus crisis, whether it be weather, crime, or violence; are difficult situations to work through.  Fortunately, many campuses have prevention programs and intervention programs for coping with the aftermath of a campus crisis.
     One intervention program is NOVA.  NOVA helps by putting victims of crime and crisis in touch with people who are willing to help overcome crime and crisis. NOVA focuses on the following keys to help crisis victims cope:

• Physical health and abilities
• Emotional and mental capacities and strength
• Having family and community support
• Having spiritual connections
• A positive view of ‘self’ and life

For crime victims NOVA focuses on the following to help victims cope:

• Emotional trauma is a common element for nearly EVERY victim. Some traumas you never 'get over’ but you can learn ways to cope.
• The US system of justice is not a speedy process, from before an investigation (IF you get one) to prosecution to incarceration of a perpetrator. The Justice System is deliberately slow at nearly every level. This commonly surprises victims who expect 'swift justice.' 
• It is typical for victims to experience secondary trauma. Secondary trauma is emotional pain caused by the people and processes from whom victims seek help. This can happen because of the system's slowness, incompetencies and just the fact that you are working with humans. 
• Some people around you will not understand your struggle and frustration. This can include family and close friends. It is helpful for some victims to find others like them for support and understanding. This is why there are Crime Victim Specializations.

     Most recently in the light of the Mississippi State University and Jackson State University campus shootings, the Chancellor of the University of Mississippi issued a statement released about "Emergency Preparedness" in the UM Today, reads as follows:

     Several opportunities are available to prepare you for dealing with campus violence and events like that at Mississippi State University this week. The University Police Department regularly offers seminars, and you may sign up by emailing upd@olemiss.edu. Also, given the importance of and increased interest in Active Shooter training, we are working with UPD to schedule a larger session of this seminar for faculty and staff. This larger seminar also will cover crisis management on several fronts (severe weather, etc.). A separate program will be offered for students. These training programs are appropriate for first timers and those seeking a refresher course.
     Thank you for your interest in these programs. The information offered in these sessions can make a significant difference in your ability to respond effectively. More information about the larger seminar will be released soon.
     In the meantime, we recommend that all faculty, staff, and students review the information at the following links:

To Learn What to Do in the Event of …
http://www.olemiss.edu/emergency/todo.html

Severe Weather Recommendations
http://www.olemiss.edu/emergency/weather.html

Some of the topics covered on the "What To Do" website include: Bomb Threat Demonstration Earthquake Hazardous Material Spill Hostage Situation Smoke or Fire Suspicious Package Violence or Individual With Weapon Person with Weapon Weapons of Mass Destruction (Terrorist) Evacuation of A Disabled Person Evacuation of A Building Medical Emergency Shelter in Place Demonstration Disruptive Individual Utility Failure Lockdown In order for crises not to take as much of an impact upon a campus, preemptive and coping protocol should be put in place and followed.

MSU youtube video:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/O4th0AuJgYQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Schools such as Portland Community College have Emergency Preparedness Programs:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.pcc.edu/about/public-safety/images/emergency-prep.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.pcc.edu/about/public-safety/emergency-plan.html&usg=__XA0W6p6kqjxTNExqL3LqYnv8dgE=&h=208&w=220&sz=7&hl=en&start=3&zoom=1&tbnid=H1dSsJashqpc4M:&tbnh=101&tbnw=107&ei=8aJ0T9HrL5H2gAee74Vk&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcrisis%2Bprevention%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26gbv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Divnsz&itbs=1

Ole Miss Crisis Preparedness Statement:
https://secure1.olemiss.edu/tools/userfiles/nwilkin-300-dbd85575-cdfa-4d20-aef2-e97d873728a6.html

Gender Academic Performance

The Decline of Academic Performance in Males Students

Willie Iles, national director of government relations for Boy Scouts of American, said that the state of male achievement was dire.

"I am convinced today that we have a national crisis, a national security issue, a state-of-emergency issue and a nation at risk.  If anybody cannot understand that, as we talk about investments and the return on those investments - which are our boys - then it is very clear we are going in the wrong directions"

According to many articles written throughout the last decade, male performance has consistently gotten worse in the subjects of reading and arithmetic.  There have been many article published in magazines such as Business Week's "The New Gender Gap" and Newsweek's "The Boy Crisis".  When the first lady Laura Bush started a campaign, this showed that there was a necessity to focus on boys' performance in school.  Unfortunately, since this time males performance has still been in question.

According to a student that was interviewed for Liz Dwyer's article "It's Time to Get Serious About Boosting Black Male's Academic Achievement," Shea Bunn stated that she thinks "girls do better than boys in school because they are more focused and try harder."  Shea also does not believe that "girls are any more intelligent, but they work harder which makes them more successful."  From this article, an expert believes that "the way teachers design their lessons in the United States is more beneficial for females than males.  Which a basic lecture may favor a female more, active hands-on activities may better favor a male." 

In order for male students to succeed, strategies must be implemented to retain these students.  In an article written by W. Kent Barnds from Augustana College, Barnds encourages these first steps to engage men with Career-Oriented Experiences.
Connect general education courses to career aspirations

• Offer career-oriented experiences earlier
• Offer or require work on campus
• Ensure the presence of male role models in advising and mentoring

Along with the career-oriented focus, Barnds encourages internships and externships, even as early as the first year.  This gives males exposure to career early in the process. 

The other area that Barnds encourages focus is to engage men in the classroom.  Barnds suggests that "if improving the academic performance and persistence of your male students is a high priority for your institution, this may be a critical investment," to create methods to improve "male learning styles or to achieve a gender balance of learning styles within the classroom."

• Ensure lecture content is available visually, as more men are visual rather than auditory learners (provide lecture notes online; encourage students to record lectures and then transcribe later; encourage verbatim note-taking; teach outlining methods and graphic representation of important material or timelines)
• Encourage more hands-on learning (through role play; through having students outline assigned reading and then review; through incentivizing interactive notebooks and note-keeping)
• Include competitive activities in the classroom

A video about the book "Why Boys Fail":
http://youtu.be/LUwYuZPPMDA

Cons and Pros of Greek Life

Greek Life: Pro or Con?

There are many publications that with speak to the postive and negative aspects about greek life.  The purpose of this blog publication is to bring some of the pros and cons of greek life to light and campare some opposing points of views.  Personally, I can see that fraternities and sororities are originally and overall to be positive influences and organizations of support for college students assimilate to and development in college. 
Cons

    I will start off with some negative or connotative aspects or views of fraternities and sororities.  In an article written by Lindsay Meola, she brings out points of paying for friends and "super top-secret way of going about things" to decribe her view of sororities.  She does not agree with the paying of dues to be organized into a group and create friends.  Her other issue she brings to light is the fact that sororities have super-secret ways of going about things, which many of these secret activities in her opinion come about through hazing, which she points out is "supposed to be outlawed."  Her final criticism is that "greek life comes with a lot of objectifying, harmful behaviors, and expenses" with the result "a lot of people get consumed by the Greek life, and end up not doing well in school."  Many of Meola's criticisms are not based in solid proof, but more from personal observations and biases.
   
    Alison from Univeristy Language created a similar article including the pros and cons of Greek life.  Some of the topics were couples as such: Pro: A boost to your social life versus Con: Too-crazy parting, Pro: A close community versus Con: Limited diversity in the community, and Pro: Volunteer work is encouraged versus Con: The exlusivity factor (for selection).  These titles are relatively self explanitory.  Fraternities and sororities are great organizations to be social, but sometimes crazy parties can interfere with personal development and academics (the main reason students should be attending a college or university).  When it comes to community, sororities and fraternities are great examples of a close community, however, in the general fraternity or sorority members are selected for their similar personalities, which limit the diversity of the community.  The last pair of pro and con is the fact that Greek life is a great opportunity for involvement and volunteer work, but to be able to volunteer for many of the activities that members get to participate in, a "rush" process or selection process, typically limiting these volunteer opportunities to those members that are selected. 

Pros

    The last article titled "7 Advantages to Greek Life" touches on seven advantages the authur feels that Greek life possesses.  Advantage #1 - Friendship and Brotherhood/Sisterhood "combines the concept of individualism within the framework of mutual cooperation."  Advantage #2 - Academics: Members have access to peer tutoring, upperclassman counseling, and chapter study hours.  According the the U.S. Department of Education, "members of fraternities and sororities graduate at a rate in ecess of 70% compared to the national student average of 50%.  Advantage #3 - Leadership: Each member is a "leader, whether you're and officer, on a committee, or just a participant.  You will learn by doing." 

• 85% of the Fortune 500 Executives,
• 80% of U.S. Presidents since 1900, and
• 100% of Apollo 11 Astronauts.....

All joined a fraternity!!!

Advantage 4 - Social Activities: "allow members to bring dates or are often held with another fraternity or sorority where you can meet many new faces... there is not comparison anywhere to the variety, scope, and just plain fun" of these social events.  Advantage 5 - Community Service: "One of many advantages of being a part of the Greek community is the time spent helping others in need."  Working "side by side to help local or national charitable organizations" helps create a "sense of accomplishment and satisfaction."  Advnatage 6 - Athletics:  Many fraternities and sororities put together intramural teams.  Advantage 7 - Career Networking: Greek life allows the opportunity for members to tap into alumni which may result in "that head start in life, all because you joined a fraternity/sorority.

Overview

    Student affairs professionals may have a time consuming task to ensure that Greek life systems are used to the best of their ability without misuse, but the systems pros definately outweigh the cons of the system.  Can students who do not join Greek life have the same opporutnities? Yes, there are plenty of opporutunities for students within the Greek life system and outside the system to develope and aclimate to the collegiate life at the same speed.  The only difference is that there is a support network already set up in the Greek life system to encourage constant growth and development of members, whereas students who are not in the system will have to take the initiative upon themselves to seek out the opportunities to enhance their personal development.  What can the college or university do to help with these student who do not join the Greek system?  Supply the same opportunities through student organziation, intramural sports, career services, tutoring services, counseling centers, and much more.  The University of Mississippi, I feel does a great job in allowing students to develop through the access to these services. 

    Student affairs professionals must monitor and ensure that students in the Greek life system maintain their focus on their academics as the statistics have shows, many Greek life systems nationwide have down a great job in this area.  Many of the negative events that happen on college campus that involve fraternities and sororities may be reoccuring, but finding ways to limit these negative experiences will only make the Greek life systems that much better.  One of these negative events is hazing.  Even though it was make unlawful to haze, it is obvious that such activies still exist.  Hopefully these conatative stereotypical events can be sorted out and the pros have the opportunity to continue to outweigh the cons of the experiences students can have by being involved in Greek life.

Sources:
http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2012/01/campus_newspaper_focuses_on_po.html
http://www.universitylanguage.com/blog/17/college-greek-life/
http://thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu/2011/05/cons-of-greek-life
http://webmisc.onu.edu/org/ifc/advantages.htm

Alcohol on Campus

Some statistics on Alcohol and other drugs on college campuses

'HIGHER' EDUCATION?

The percentage of college students saying they took potentially dangerous drugs during the previous year is up:

Any illicit drug
• 1993: 30.6
• 2005: 36.6

Marijuana
• 1993: 27.9
• 2005: 33.3

Hallucinogens
• 1993: 6.0
• 2005: 5.0

Inhalants
• 1993: 3.8
• 2005: 1.8

Cocaine
• 1993: 2.7
• 2005: 5.7

Heroin
• 1993: 0.1
• 2005: 0.3

Source: The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University

The University of Oklahoma, the University of Mississippi, James Madison University, Georgia Southern University, the University of Delaware, and many other colleges and many other colleges and university have taken action to combat the misuse of drugs and alcohol on college campuses.

There is skepticism on whether such policies truly do prevent the abuse and misuse of drugs and alcohol on university and college campuses.  The University of Mississippi pulled statistics showing that of the 1200 students who received one strike, 18 received a second strike resulting in the immediate suspension of the students from campus.  The university hoped that the policy would force students to be more responsible and be able to come back after their suspension to focus on their educational endeavors.  Three-fourths of the students who were suspended returned to continue their education.

Students however feel that the policies give the university administration too much control over their personal lives.  One student was quoted saying that "We’re paying to go to school here...if we decide to drink, that’s our decision” (http://thedmonline.com/article/university-reflects-4-years-2-strike-policy).  Where student receive such a mentality from could be from many different places: rebellion of family tendencies, continuum of family tendencies, peer pressure, or sheer experimentation.  It is difficult to tell of the policies are what have curbed the behaviors of students or the alcohol education that universities and colleges all over the nation are implementing.  However the statistics show that there are less students on these campuses being caught abusing and misusing drugs and alcohol. The following information shows that alcohol use and abuse is not only a college problem, but starts when students are in grade school. 

How prevalent is alcohol abuse?
Alcohol is the number one abused substance by teenagers in the United States. It's prevalence in this age group is quite staggering. According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse - Columbia University, "underage drinkers account for 11.4% of all the alcohol consumed in the United States."
Some studies done by NIAAA (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) have shown the following:

Prevalence in 8th graders:

• 51.7% have tried alcohol 
• 43.1% have had an alcoholic drink in the past year 
• 25.1% have been drunk 
• 15.2% have had 1 or more binge drinking episodes

Prevalence in 10th graders:

• 70.6% have tried alcohol
• 63.7% have had an alcoholic drink in the past year 
• 48.9% have been drunk 
• 25.6% have had 1 or more binge drinking episodes 
• 1.9% have been daily drinking for at least 1 month at some point in their lives

Prevalence in 12th graders:

• 80% have tried alcohol 
• 73.8% have had an alcoholic drink in the past year 
• 62.3% have been drunk 
• 30.8% binge drank in the past 2 weeks 
• 3.6% use alcohol daily

From these statistics, you can see how widely abused alcohol really is. Alcohol problems can start at such an early age. For this reason, it is so important to educate our teens early on. Alcohol abuse prevention needs to begin before it can become an issue in their lives. For more information see: (http://www.teenhelp.com/teen-alcohol-use/teen-alcohol-abuse-statistics.html)

Religion, Spiritual Growth, and Conflict in Higher Education

Growing up as a Southeastern Conference (SEC) sports fan, sports have been a big part of my life.  Religion is also a big part of my life, attending church typically every time our congregation met was a common event.  While I have been in college, religion has still been something of importance to me, but unfortunately taken a back row seat to academics, work, and a personal life on campus (which included SEC sports) after my undergraduate years.  While I have in the Higher Education program here at the University of Mississippi the term separation of church and state have become a more pronounced issue.  Personally, I have not seen many troubles conflicting the relationship between church and the public universities (in the state of Mississippi) I have attended. 
Religion and spiritual development can be viewed as being synonymous.  However, religion is a selection of foundational beliefs that someone applies to the centering of an object, figure, or godhead.  Spiritual development is more than focusing on a religion. Spiritual development is more than the focus on religion but the overall development of a student and the focuses the student wants to take in their life and aligning their actions, behaviors, and ideologies to fit the path in which they are focused.  In doing all of these, a student will have an internal peace that will allow them to focus on these goals, in which are primarily associated with religious focused paths.

The most controversial events are when evangelists come to campus and purposely rial the students.  I actually spoke to one of these campus speakers and asked him why he would be so controversial in his approach at sharing his religious beliefs with others.  His explanation was that if he could just get students to second guess their actions or even cause students to think about prior actions they have committed and cause the students to change their behavior, his mission would have been successful.  Some people are not as blatant about their attempt to be spiritual and share their religious affiliations, but are still questioned on their religious convictions.  An example of someone who was not purposely trying to confront or conform and student to a Christian based lifestyle, but in turn of being himself, caused much controversy without the intent of doing so, is Tim Tebow.
Tim Tebow, whose parents are missionaries and he himself plans to minister to people in his own way, was able to encourage many Christians to stand up for their beliefs and religious affiliations.  On the other hand, this display of religious affirmation was heavily criticized by many spectators.  According to wikipedia, Tebows' "unorthodox NFL quarterback skills, frequent demonstrations of his religious devotion, and his team's success, Tebow has attracted unprecedented praise, criticism, and attention from the sporting media and beyond." 




There are people who view religious groups as cults.  According to Webster's Dictionary, a cult is "a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange" or " system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object."  Many of the religious groups that are associated with the university are relatively small groups of people who have common religious beliefs and people outside of those beliefs do consider the beliefs or practices to be strange.  Even personally, ritualistic actions that are taken in services at many of the religious groups assemblies can be strange to outsiders. 

The part to focus on in one of the definitions above is the "system of religious veneration" or "fear: a feeling of profound respect for someone or something; 'the fear of God' ".  The system should be to fear God.  Some religious fraternities and sororities may lose focus of this goal and cause new members to have other fears in place of attempting to assimilate the group under the basis of "the fear of God" as the main purpose.  How do these forms of fear help the groups in the true focus the groups were formed.  These groups need to focus on their primary focus, a religious focus and the opportunity to promote a spiritual growth of student to guide students in the path of following God in the way they wish to follow.  Any other fears or focuses of the organizations detract from the purpose they were formed.