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Every presidential election has distinct images and words that come to people's minds when they reminisce. In 1960, it was the New Frontier. In 1980, it was Morning Again in America. In 2008, it was Joe the Plumber.
Currently, students who are diagnosed with mental disorders like depression are given the opportunity to withdraw from their classes and have records from the semester expunged. What is not taken into account under the current system, however, is the case of a student who performs poorly because of a mental condition that he or she does not recognize or have diagnosed until after the semester is over. At the moment, Tufts has no recourse for a student whose poor performance in a particular semester was due to an undiagnosed condition.
Despite what Looney Tunes reruns might indicate, in reality, seeing stars is far from funny.
Sex is a part of college life for many Jumbos. Often times, these sexual relationships leave unintended negative emotional consequences, which can affect the ability to maintain a healthy mental, emotional and spiritual balance necessary for having happy marital relationships in the future. While contraception can protect against STDs, sex is far from "safe." Contraceptives cannot protect against the psychological sense of loss and betrayal that accompanies hookups and breakups. Abstinence is a realistic and basic principle preceding sexual happiness that anyone could follow even with the expectations that come with college.
After a weekend of play at the Wallach Invitational, a tournament marking the men's tennis team's last official competition before entering the winter offseason, the Jumbos put up a flurry of mixed results, which included a title in the C singles bracket, courtesy of freshman Garrett Schuman.
Sexologist Logan Levkoff last night encouraged students to make a difference in a United States that she said desperately needs open sexual dialogue. Levkoff led off with a promise: "I'm not going to sugarcoat anything. I'm going to be very candid about what is going on in this country." Vitality, a Hillel health initiative group, sponsored the second annual "Ask a Sexpert" lecture in Pearson Hall. Last year, Drew Pinsky, known as Dr. Drew, spoke to students in Cohen Auditorium. During the talk, Levkoff worked in political issues regarding sexual health and education. She hoped to impress upon students "the importance of the upcoming election and what is at stake about sexual health." "We are seeing religious ideology taking over health and science," she said, arguing that the government is spending $1.5 billion on ineffective sex education programs throughout the country, many of which only teach abstinence. "This is crazy," Levkoff said. She went on to discuss federal legislation expanding refusal rights to pharmacists and doctors, which would allow them to deny a patient the morning-after pill or other types of birth control without giving a reason. Levkoff said the fact that 31 percent of girls will become pregnant before their 20th birthday and that only 25 percent of couples between ages 18 and 54 use condoms during intercourse show the severe need for open policies regarding contraception and sexual education. She went on to describe the effects of the media and technology on sex and relationships. "Pregnancy is becoming glorified by having people like a pregnant Jamie Lynn Spears on the cover of magazines," Levkoff said. She added that the news media and the film industry are not taking a serious look at the consequences of normal pregnancies or all the options surrounding pregnancy. She said that it is unrealistic in "Knocked Up" when a successful TV personality does not even consider getting an abortion. Additionally, a reliance on technology puts a disconnect in relationships, she said. "I am critical and cynical about how technology has changed the landscape of relationships," she said. Fox News recently cited that "one in four adults are okay without emotional connection if they have Web access," she said, declaring that this kind of thinking has to stop. "We do not talk face to face anymore. Instead, we update our relationship status on Facebook to convey our feelings about our situation," Levkoff said to a knowing chuckle from the crowd. She contended that part of this new mentality comes from the hookup culture on campuses. Levkoff warned that relationships must be grounded in verbal communication, and that a person's worth is not determined by whether he or she has a significant other. Touching on the use of alcohol, Levkoff said, "We use it to legitimize wanting to have sex." She said people should not be ashamed of desires or needs. Levkoff believes that sex is so negatively portrayed in society that girls have second thoughts about going after what they want. "I think Logan did a great job of summarizing the college hookup culture," junior Laura Hoguet, co-chair of Vitality, told the Daily after the lecture. Hillel President Nathan Render, a senior, praised Levkoff's candidness. "I went when I was a freshman to see her, and I think this is a fantastic opportunity to talk openly and honestly about issues that obviously affect the entirety of the Tufts population," he said. In her closing words, Levkoff said, "I am not a pessimist. We have a tremendous opportunity to change things. Start with your own life and then move up to a national level. Get involved and take a stand."
Late last month, the Daily reported on recent initiatives taken by Health Service to detect depression among students at Tufts. With the percentage of college students suffering from depression steadily climbing, the Health Service office has been screening students to catch mental health problems, even if their symptoms are strictly physical. In this article, the Daily looks at a campus group whose goal is to use a physical gesture — a hug — to brighten the days of a demographic whose mental health is a critical concern. A small but growing group of Tufts students have gathered on street corners and outside Tisch Library with bold signs and outstretched arms in recent weeks to offer free hugs to any passersby. For one hugger, Sam, the gesture is a means of expressing social connection on a campus that she describes as being "standardized and digitalized to the point of dehumanization." The members of "Free Hugs" were adamant that their identities remain anonymous, as they see their actions as more of an open movement, rather than a social group made up of individuals. As such, the names in this article have been changed. "Hugs are perhaps the simplest and most appreciated gift you can give," Sam said. "Even the offer of a hug is a way of bringing someone back to the present, a way of making him or her stop and think for a moment, a way of changing someone's mental modality." Students who have encountered the huggers have had mixed reactions: Some begin walking at a faster pace so as to avoid the interaction entirely; others avoid eye contact and politely decline. And some chose to welcome the embrace. Sophomore Caitlin Kauffman declined a hug but stopped to inquire as to the huggers' motivations. "We're just spreading the love," Kauffman was told. "I didn't accept a hug because free love isn't necessarily wanted love," Kauffman said. "I would prefer love spreading through less tactile means … at least when it's with a complete stranger." While it remains to be seen whether the hugging initiative helps with social connectedness on campus, students, professors and other health professionals are studying the issue of social isolation with hopes to discover more long-term solutions. Shawn Achor serves as the head teaching fellow for "Positive Psychology," one of Harvard University's most popular courses, and said that strong personal relationships are integral to maintaining mental and social well-being. "Positive Psychology" aims to explore the psychological aspects of leading a happy and satisfying life. According to Achor, the quality of social interactions is of utmost importance. "Social support predicts our happiness perhaps more than anything else in life," Achor said. "In a study of the top 10 percent of the happiest people, researchers found that the only characteristic that differentiated them from everyone else was the strength of their social relationships." For some, however, social integration is a difficult hurdle to overcome. Sophomore Sean Smith described Tufts as having a wealth of academic and social opportunities, but feels that for many students, joining a club or engaging in a sport is a challenge in and of itself. Sophomore Emily Ringer echoed Smith's sentiments. "When I was a freshman, at first I was intimidated to go to meetings and try new things," she said. "Initially I had trouble reaching out to make new friends. Plus, with all the academic stress, it's easy to let go of things like clubs or socializing, things that are actually really crucial to meeting more people." In Achor's psychology class, he conducts an exercise to help students translate their desires into habits that stimulate social connection. For 21 days, he asks his students to think of a positive action they would like to incorporate into their daily routines and then to start doing it once a day. "Changing up your routines helps expand your social network," Achor said. "When you go to a party, try to talk to three people you normally wouldn't have spoken with. Start more conversations with random people. Four out of five might end quickly, but the fifth might be a great new connection." Dr. Julie Jampel, the supervising clinician at the Tufts Counseling and Mental Health Center, agreed that loneliness and depression are inextricably linked. "Basically, relationships are a huge part of being well adjusted and happy," she said. "On the other hand, people who are isolated are often depressed." In the spring of 2006, the University of Texas at Austin's National Research Consortium of Counseling Centers in Higher Education found that over half of 26,000 college students from over 70 national colleges and universities had displayed suicidal thoughts at some point during their lifetime, according to a comprehensive online survey. And, according to a study by the American College Health Association, the level of depression on the college campus is rising: The rate of students reporting official diagnosis of depression increased 56 percent between 2000 and 2005, jumping from 10 percent to 16 percent. Dr. Jampel supports the practice of psychological screenings as a tool to catch cases of depression that may otherwise have gone untreated. "For people who are depressed and lonely, there are several reasons why it's hard for them to speak up," she said. "Oftentimes they don't want to be a burden to their friends by expressing their feelings, [and sometimes], the depression can cause them to withdraw further from social interaction."
It's about time. For some, it's uncomfortable, sure. But if filling out a survey is what it takes to help students help themselves, I would hope that students see that a little inconvenience upfront can provide the means for breaking down the barrier between college students and mental illness.
As bundled Tufts students make the trek to Health Service this winter in pursuit of a respite from a troublesome cough or cold, they may get more help during their medical consultation than anticipated.
This year, Tufts' Health Service office has added an extra service to its repertoire. Students who go in for a regular checkup may get a little extra bang for their buck — an unwarranted, spontaneous mental health screening. In an attempt to curb depression, suicide and other psychological issues, the office recently began requesting students to fill out a survey used to evaluate their mental health. Although we recognize the seriousness of depression among college students and understand the need for more services to help students recognize and treat mental sicknesses, we question the validity and effectiveness of Health Service's actions.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reported last year that "interdisciplinarity," which is an approach to learning, teaching and research that transcends and unites a variety of traditionally separate academic disciplines, was becoming increasingly agreed upon by the university community — a community, they added, which often tends to argue over its philosophy of learning.
It used to be the most usual thing on Earth. Everybody did it, every night, and sometimes even during the day. Today, however, simple sleep has become a forbidden pleasure. The eight-hour daily sleeping routine has long passed. The enormous pressure on our generation to do everything and do it best keeps us all awake at night. Every day, we work as hard as we can, trying to persist, fight and not give in to our utmost desire: sleep.
This article is the second in a two-part series examining animal testing at Tufts. The first shared details of the research and oversight of the work being done with animals on Tufts' Medford/Somerville campus. This installation will be an overview of the controversy and the ethical implications associated with animal-directed research.
This article is the first in a two-part series that will share details of the research, oversight and ethical implications of the work being done with animals on Tufts' Medford/Somerville campus. The second installation will be an overview of the research being done on campus and the steps the university takes to ensure the safe treatment of animals.
After that Luis Gonzalez broken-bat blooper fell in over Derek Jeter's head in the 2001 World Series, things changed.
Following the February shootings at Northern Illinois University along with killings at both University of North Carolina and Auburn University last week, campus tragedies have again become a matter of concern for many students.
Genetic screening has progressed rapidly in recent years, allowing consumers to discover if they are predisposed to certain genetic disorders.
Health Service and Counseling and Mental Health Service (CMHS) applied during winter break for a grant from the federal government.
The tragic shootings at Virginia Tech last year were a wake-up call to college students across the country. But in Medford, we could at least take some level of comfort from the fact that Tufts is really not that similar a university to Virginia Tech.
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