Colleges Grapple with the "Behavioral Broken Arm"

Autor/in	Hoover, Eric
Titel	Colleges Grapple with the "Behavioral Broken Arm"
Quelle	In: Chronicle of Higher Education, 54 (2008) 32, (1 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0009-5982
Schlagwörter	Emotional Problems; School Security; Police; Depression (Psychology); Drills (Practice); Violence; Higher Education; Prevention; Wellness; Mental Health; Safety; Teacher Role; Student Personnel Workers; College Students + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Gewalt; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Prävention; Vorbeugung; Well being; Well-being; Wohlbefinden; Psychohygiene; Sicherheit; Lehrerrolle; Collegestudent
Abstract	After the fatal shootings at Virginia Tech last April, colleges went shopping for hardware. They bought sirens, mass-messaging systems, surveillance cameras, and door locks. Some colleges armed their police departments for the first time. Others added assault rifles to their arsenals. "Active shooter" drills happened everywhere. As administrators responded to a new threat, however, they could not overlook one fact: Gadgets and guns might help colleges react to violence, but preventing it would require something else. Ultimately, prevention is all about communication. The importance of sharing information about troubled students was the crucial lesson of Virginia Tech. State and federal reports on the incident have urged colleges to create behavioral-threat-assessment teams to identify and help distressed students. But how should such teams function? Who should participate? What, exactly, is a "threat"? Those questions prevail as colleges confront the increasing complexity of student "wellness," the popular term for students' physical and mental health. In the 1990s, alcohol was the campus scourge. The next decade brought a new crisis: suicide, depression, and behavioral and emotional problems. The massacre at Virginia Tech entwined mental-health issues with campus safety and security as never before. It also broadened the expected roles that various people--in student affairs, residence life, campus security, and the faculty--should play in promoting students' welfare. (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Chronicle of Higher Education. 1255 23rd Street NW Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037. Tel: 800-728-2803; e-mail: circulation@chronicle.com; Web site: http://chronicle.com/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10