Universities Weblog

As a college professor, I can honestly say that no other issue inspires such heated debates among my students than the question of whether or not to join a sorority or fraternity.

We've had class debates, and countless thought-provoking papers have been written on the subject.

No matter what side they're on, all students have one thing in common: they have definite opinions about Greek life.

Some students think pledging is a silly, expensive waste of time. Other students swear that the people in their organization become wonderful friends and role models.

Greek life is a study in contrasts: college newspapers are constantly featuring headlines about drunken stunts gone wrong and illegal hazing, yet those same papers publish studies showing that sorority and fraternity members achieve a higher GPA than non-members.

You always hear views from people within the organization or from people who never wanted to be in one. What about the students who want in, but are rejected? Is this something inane, or does it really, truly matter?

This nicely written Essay from College News may help you decide:

At 8-years-old I remember hanging out in my brother´s fraternity house. It was a rickety old house with decaying walls, chipped paint and a pungent aroma of soured milk and aged garbage. I loved it so much that right then I declared one day I was going to join a sorority and live in a house exactly like that one.

We can spend our entire lives thinking things are supposed to happen a certain way, and when they don´t, if we´re too focused on the couldas and shouldas, we miss out on what actually is there.What do you think? Are sororities and fraternities an important part of college life, or do they divert attention from 'more important' things? Have you ever been rejected from a Greek organization, or are you part of one now? Please share!

(Source: Moravian College)Each fall, kids arrive in droves to college campuses across America. Some are happy to be wherever they land. Some think they will be, hope they will be, but ultimately aren't. What do they do? They transfer and try again.

Here are some bits from a piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Call it the freshman churn, the students who bail before sophomore year. Most first-year students stay put, but in every class an antsy minority switches schools, spurred by homesickness, a creepy roommate, social anxiety, geographic shock, or financial or academic concerns. The place is too small, too big, too cold, too remote. [....]

"They get these 'view books' of happy students, and they look on the Web site and see pictures of happy students. And if they visit they're told everyone's happy," he said. They think "I'll just show up, and I'll instantly have a new set of friends, instantly know which way I'm going."You can read the full article here.

The missing roommate, the crazy dorm mate who massacred a dozen people, the suicidal roommate who ensured you a 4.0 GPA…these are just a few of the urban legends with a college theme, that college students love to spread.

The tradition is still going strong, with these legends passing from one generation to the next.

It's no surprise that college is a prime time for these stories of woe, as studies have shown that urban legends are most popular during confusing times when people need to make sense of the world. Yep, sounds like college, all right!

Have you ever told–or believed–an urban legend? Which is your favorite? Why do you think urban legends are so popular, and why are people so willing to believe them?

From MSN.com:This is just one example of the kinds of urban legends that make their way through most college campuses. Here are some others:

Creeptastic! However, this story has never been proven true, so there's no reason to be scared to live on campus. Perhaps a group of resident advisors started the rumor in order to keep their advisees from inviting strangers back to their rooms.(Photo Courtesy of Girl's Health.)

Don't have time to sit through lectures? Not to worry. Just strap on the old iPod and get educated.

That's the concept, sort of, behind Apple's latest venture. Working with six universities, including Missouri and Stanford, Apple will make college lectures and related content available via podcasts, which you can download from iTunes.

Witness:

Internet access to college lectures is nothing new, but listening to them on portable gadgets is a more recent phenomenon of the digital age, spurred in part by the popularity of podcasts, or downloadable audio files. [....]

Schools and universities have historically been major contributors to Apple's computer sales. With iTunes U, Apple "is leveraging the ubiquity that we've established on campuses with iPods and iTunes," said Chris Bell, Apple's director of product marketing for iTunes.What ever happened to Mark Hopkins on the end of a log and a student on the other?

They have a beautiful campus, excellent professors, and some of the best learning opportunities in the entire world, but there is one thing Yale students didn't have: soap in the dormitory bathrooms.

After a decade of intense lobbying and fund-raising appeals, victory has been realized: Yale's 'Soap Committee' has succeeded in obtaining that long-elusive soap.

From MSNBC.com:

At a school where students have demanded and won financial aid reform and divestment from oppressive countries, calls for liquid soap dispensers went unanswered for years. Even after Yale agreed to stock two-ply toilet paper in the mid-1990s, administrators wouldn't budge on the soap issue.

This month, however, the 305-year-old university put hand soap on an experimental basis in three of the school's 12 residential colleges, as Yale's dormitories are known. If the experiment proves affordable, soap could become available campuswide next year, said Yale Facilities Director Eric Uscinski.Wow, who knew liquid soap cost so much? No wonder it takes so long for businesses to restock it once it runs out!

This is a nice reminder that no matter how 'minor' the goal seems, much can be accomplished when students band together to improve their campus.

Have you ever been part of a movement like this? Please share your experiences in the Comments section!

(Source: University of Maryland)A sobering study by USA Today suggests college freshmen die at greater rates than do upperclassmen. Consider:

A USA TODAY analysis of 620 deaths of four-year college and university students since Jan. 1, 2000, finds that freshmen are uniquely vulnerable. They account for more than one-third of undergraduate deaths in the study, although they are only 24% of the undergraduates at those institutions, according to National Center for Education Statistics data analyzed by the American Council on Education for USA TODAY.

• Freshmen die at higher rates from illness, accounting for 40% of undergraduate deaths from natural causes.
• They're more likely to take their own lives; they account for 40% of all undergraduate suicides.
• They represent half of all undergraduate deaths from falls from windows, balconies and rooftops.
• More of them die on school property; 47% of the undergraduates who die on campus are freshmen. This statistic has proven the most surprising, and disturbing, to analysts, experts and parents who imagine the campus to be idyllic. And safe.

You can read the full article here.

Most college students would support the idea of gender equality, though the latest trend towards 'equalizing' is a dubious distinction.

A recent study revealed that nearly as many male as female college students experience sexual harassment. Even more surprising: nearly two thirds of college students can expect to experience sexual harassment during their college years.

The study, entitled "Drawing the Line," details the responses provided by college students nationwide, in a 2005 survey.

From the American Association of University Women: Nearly two-thirds of college students experience sexual harassment at some point during college, including nearly one-third of first year students, according to the AAUW Educational Foundation's newest research report on campus sexual harassment.

Drawing the Line: Sexual Harassment on Campus describes the findings from a nationally representative survey of undergraduate college students conducted in the Spring of 2005. This survey was conducted by Harris Interactive, Inc. This report contributes to our understanding of how college students perceive, experience and respond to sexual harassment and provides useful information for creating a campus climate that is free from bias and harassment.

The site also provides all sorts of helpful materials to help you discuss the issue on your campus.

Are you as shocked by these statistics as I am? Do you think they are at all overblown, or do you think they give an accurate representation? Have you, or has someone you know, ever experienced sexual harassment while in school? Please share your opinions with us in the Comments section!

We're all familiar with the college student stereotype: an Animal House-esque slacker with a drinking problem and absolutely no ambition besides finding the next party.

The results of a new study are challenging that view.

From the Education Guardian:

The layabout student who struggles to get out of bed in time for the afternoon soap opera, before wandering down to the pub to squander what remains of his overdraft, is a thing of the past, according to a survey published today.

"Because of rising debt and the pressure to find a well paid job at the end of their course, students are being forced to take their studies very seriously indeed."

This study does not surprise me, as I am continually impressed by how diligent and intelligent my students are. What do you think? Is the image presented by this study accurate? Do you believe people will finally change their views of college students?

(Photo courtesy of University of Virginia Intervarsity)

Well, some of them say that, anyhow.

A recent study revealed that college graduates were much more likely than college freshmen, or those who did not seek a higher education, to say they believed in paranormal phenomenon.

This suggests that as a student's education advances, s/he experiences an opening of the mind. Since this should be the main goal of any education, I'll have to go on record as stating that this is a good thing.

What do you think? Do you find yourself open to more possibilities, or have the 'facts' you've learned served to strengthen your existing opinions?

From Live Science:

Believe it or not, higher education is linked to a greater tendency to believe in ghosts and other paranormal phenomena, according to a new study.

While 23 percent of college freshmen expressed a general belief in paranormal concepts—from astrology to communicating with the dead—31 percent of seniors did so and the figure jumped to 34 percent among graduate students.
"As people attain higher college-education levels, the likelihood of believing in paranormal dimensions increases," Farha and Steward write.

(Source: Olin College)Nine colleges joined the billionaire club last year, as endowments climbed by an average of just over nine percent. Harvard still tops the list, at $25.5 billion—nearly twice that of second-place Yale. Not surprisingly, schools with the largest endowments realized the greatest returns. Having money, it appears, leads to more money.

Consider:

The number of North American colleges with endowments topping $1 billion has jumped to 56, a new study says, with nine schools joining the elite club in what was an average year for university investments overall.

The other eight universities passing the $1 billion endowment mark were: University of Wisconsin Foundation, University of Nebraska and Foundation, University of Delaware, University of Cincinnati, Amherst College, Smith College, Southern Methodist University, and Baylor College of Medicine.Read the full article here.