Universities are going to great lengths these days to help students stay fit and healthy. From top-notch sports facilities to wholesome eating options students have got many ways to avoid traditional stereotypes these days. Some recent exciting developments in this arena have recently caught the eye:
Read yourself fitter
Ride and learn
First, there is the new technology which has been installed in Alabama’s Troy University’s library. To maximise the fitness opportunity of all that time studying the university has installed special exercise bikes in the library which can hold books and laptops. Multi-tasking genius:
“Humans were not meant to sit still all day,” Christopher Shaffer, Troy’s dean of Library Services told the Huffington Post. “But because our lives all revolve around computers now, we don’t move enough.” Two months ago, Shaffer discovered FitDesk, the company that makes the bikes, and found himself intrigued by the study-friendly exercise equipment on the market. The bikes’ relative affordability made them a great option for the library to try out at a low risk. “The idea fit nicely into Troy University’s motto ‘Educate the mind to think, the heart to feel and the body to act,’” Shaffer told HuffPost. “It is important to study, but while you are developing your mind, you also have to keep your body in shape.”
Just say no
Meanwhile, the University of Buckingham has decided that it needs to do more to deter drug use by students. In addition to welcoming police on to campus whenever they wish (although it’s not entirely clear under what circumstances they could be prevented from doing so) the university has brought sniffer dogs in to search for drugs. This is all part of a healthy campus culture the university is keen to promote:
Sir Anthony Seldon, the university’s vice-chancellor, says illegal drugs are a “key factor” in mental health problems among young people.
He has warned against universities “turning a blind eye” to drug use.
The search by sniffer dogs did not find anything illegal, but the university says that it wants to send a message that it is tightening checks and that it will not offer any tacit acceptance of student drug use.
There will be regular police patrols on campus, says the university.
It’s a bust
The move is part of the university’s project to improve students’ well-being.
Sir Anthony has been a high-profile campaigner for universities to take more responsibility for the pastoral care of students.
He has argued that too many universities have neglected the well-being of young people who are leaving home for the first time.
As part of this, he argues that universities need to address drug use among students, which can contribute to mental health problems.
Buckingham has a project to become a “positive health university” and to challenge what Sir Anthony calls a “crisis of mental health in our universities”.
The deployment of sniffer dogs does seem to be a distinctive approach. Extraordinary too that this article seems to find novelty in the other ideas here – that pastoral care for students is an important part of supporting them to achieve success and that transition from home to university can be difficult and again good support is required.
Mind the gap
TheGuardianreports on the enthusiasm in parts of the sector for mindfulness as a response to the growing numbers of students requiring mental health support:
Slowly take a raisin and examine every wrinkle and fold of its surface. Feel its texture with your fingers. Inhale its scent. Squeeze it and hear how it sounds. Raise it to your lips, place it in your mouth, explore it with your tongue. Prepare to chew. As you bite into it, notice the bursts of taste and how these change, and be aware of when you feel ready to swallow. Finally, feel the raisin travel into your body.
This is a common introductory exercise in mindfulness – a practice derived from Buddhist meditation that involves paying attention to the present moment, free of distracting thoughts about the past or future – and this term about 200 students from the University of Cambridge will be slowly eating raisins as part of a course laid on by researchers at the university to measure how far mindfulness can help combat stress.
The university’s counselling service is offering the eight-week courses, which involve meditation, group exercises and discussion, theory and homework (including mindful toothbrushing) to healthy students as part of the Mindful Student Study, a three-year pilot sparked by concern at the increasing numbers of students across the country accessing mental health services.
The values of mindfulness though are, as the Guardian article suggests, not uncontested. Universities have to take the ever-growing demand and need for mental health services extremely seriously. This entails proper investment in comprehensive support infrastructure for students and close coordination with local health care services too. Mindfulness programmes do have the benefit of being an extremely cheap approach to providing support aimed at addressing mental health issues but they are far from the whole picture as this next section demonstrates…
Colour me good
Cheaper still is the launch of a range of colouring books for adults (“adult colouring books” could be misinterpreted I fear) featuring pictures of five US university campuses:
This is possibly what a university colouring book looks like (in the UK)
Indiana University Press will release the first five titles in a series of adult coloring books, titled Color Your Campus this summer. The five campuses featured are Indiana University, Harvard University, Louisiana State University, Stanford University, and the University of Notre Dame.
In a surprising move for a university press, Indiana University Press joins the adult coloring trend to the early delight of college students, parents, fans, and alumni alike. Hobbyists will take pleasure in transforming artists’ black and white masterpieces into colorful flagship campuses while indulging in the comfort of a childhood stress reliever.
“We’re always looking for new, creative ways to engage readers and tell stories,” said Gary Dunham, Director of Indiana University Press. “With our Color Your Campus adult coloring books, readers become artists, remembering and celebrating their alma maters in the bright, colorful ways they choose.”
This surely has to be the most cost-effective way of promoting student well-being. And you could also do your colouring on an exercise bike in the library. But there really is no substitute for properly established professional student welfare services.
