Talking Stick - March/April 2009 - 55

20 coNTINuED RES LIfE Background Information on residential students and resident assistant staff. At the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, background checks are done on all residentially housed students and student staff. Mitchell Minnick, property manager of Sebastian Commons Apartments, comments, “We conduct checks on all 480 students living on campus and the 13 residential life assistant staff.” Minnick states that the catalyst for the background checks was the tragedy at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg in 2007, and conducting the checks is an additional measure used to increase security for students. To date, no failed checks have been noted on residential life assistant staff, and only about five or six failed checks have come back on residential students. Minnick mentions that failed checks for students are typically for failure to pay court fines, nothing serious enough to stop a student from living on campus. At Virginia Tech, background checks are required on all resident advisor candidates. Chris MacDonald, associate director for residence life, explains that the national criminal background checks are conducted on all staff who have direct contact with students. The Virginia Tech Human Resources Department handles administration of these checks, and residence life sends through roughly 230 checks a year, including those for the resident advisor, graduate assistants, and the Virginia Tech Core of Cadets company commander staff. MacDonald says, “Over the past four years about 750 checks have been done, and in that time about five people haven’t successfully passed.” Similar to Virginia Tech, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville asks all resident assistant applicants if they have ever been convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony or if they have ever pleaded no contest or been placed on court supervision. Whether or not an institution or a department decides to conduct criminal background checks as part of its campus security plan, student safety will always be a priority. Though performing background checks is no guarantee that residence halls or campus will be safer, they can be seen as just one more level of security, one more part of the security net institutions build around their student population. ts Stephanie Carter-Smith is the assistant director of residence life for South Campus at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Email: cartersm@ mailbox.sc.edu. 37 coNTINuED wIDENINg THE SAfETy NET The Jed Foundation offers resources specially tailored for students, such as the Half of Us campaign, a combined effort with mtvU to share stories of mental health battles fought by both average students and celebrities. “This allows us to show students that they can go on to live a normal and productive life when they deal with these issues,” says Knowles. They are also promoting student interest in mental health by offering scholarships and opportunities for involvement. “We want to get students engaged, and they are very responsive to our efforts,” Knowles explains. “Our challenge is how we make this issue a priority for students before it has to be.” In his book College of the Overwhelmed: The Campus Mental Health Crisis and What to do About It, co-authored with Theresa Foy Geronimo, Richard Kadison noted in 2004 that one of the major challenges in the mental health crisis is getting students to use the services available to them. Luckily, according to the 2008 survey, student involvement in mental health advocacy seems to be a growing trend. The survey showed that 45 percent of counseling center directors perceive a greater interest by student leaders in the work of the counseling center. This clearly shows that this corner of the communication triangle cannot be ignored. The Jed Foundation aims to encourage campuses to address mental health communication headon and from all levels. “Students and parents think they know a tremendous amount about this issue and have it under control, but the reality is that they may not understand the complexities of it,” says Knowles. “Schools need to have their bases covered. It just makes it more likely their students will be successful.” ts Meredith Whipple is a Talking Stick editorial intern. March + april 2009 55

Talking Stick - March/April 2009

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