Book review: student lives in crisis: deepening inequality in times of austerity by Lorenza Antonucci

In Student Lives in Crisis: Deepening Inequality in Times of Austerity, Lorenza Antonucci examines the material inequalities that shape young people’s experiences of Higher Education by examining welfare provision in three European countries – England, Italy and Sweden. Heather Mew welcomes this book as an eye-opening account that shows how austerity policies are leading universities to reinforce rather than remedy social inequalities

The Power of Debt: Identity and Collective Action in the Age of Finance

The Debt Collective is organized around the possibility for radical action within and against finance capitalism. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis it was often hard to understand how finance intersected with the everyday lives of ordinary—and especially, poor—people. But in the years since, it has become increasingly clear that mass indebtedness—from the mortgage crisis to student debt, criminal “justice” fines and fees to municipal austerity—is a direct effect of the conflict between debt payments generating value as securitized investments (mortgage backed securities, municipal bond offerings) vs. their role in providing shelter, food, and the ability to merely get by. In the age of finance, debt has become an immersive, systemic problem; but it is one that, in its ubiquity, may hold the seeds of its own solutions. As oil tycoon JP Getty famously quipped: “If you owe the bank $100 that’s your problem. If you owe the bank$100 million, that’s the bank’s problem.” Student debt alone stands today at 1.5 trillion dollars. Together, arguably, we can be the banks’ problem. This is the provocation of the Debt Collective: how can we reframe debt from an issue of isolation and shame to a platform for collective action and political mobilization

"Anybody There?" A Comparison of Writing-Center Coaching and Crisis Counseling

A volunteer crisis counselor and writing center tutor juxtaposes the skill sets necessary for each position. It's 4:30 am. It has been a slow night, and I am sleeping fitfully on the pullout couch, tossing and turning underneath a small fleece blanket. The phone rings. I jump off the couch and run across the cheap, blue linoleum to flick on the light, grab a clipboard, and answer the phone by the second ring.University Writing Cente

“You Got To Know Us”: A Hopeful Model for Music Education in Urban Schools

Urban schools, and the students and teachers within, are often characterized by a metanarrative of deficit and crisis, causing the complex realities of urban education to remain unclear behind a wall of assumptions and stereotypes. Within music education, urban schools have received limited but increasing attention from researchers. However, voices from practitioners are often missing from this dialogue, and the extant scholarly dialogue has had a very limited effect on music teacher education. In this article, five music educators with a combined thirty years of experience in urban schools examine aspects of their experiences in the light of critical pedagogy in an attempt to disrupt the metanarrative of deficit, crisis, and decline that continues to surround urban music education. By promoting the lived-stories of successful urban music students, teachers, and programs, the authors hope to situate urban music education as a site of renewal, reform, and meaningful learning. This paper emerged from a panel discussion regarding promising practices in secondary general music with urban youth that took place at the New Directions in Music Education conference held at Michigan State University in October of 2011

Cities in Crisis: A Special Analytic Report on High School Graduation

Examines graduation-rate patterns in the fifty most populous U.S. cities and surrounding metropolitan areas. Compares data by race/ethnicity, gender, and principal district, and highlights the urban-suburban gaps within the same metropolitan areas

Exploring the Quest for Refuge in America and Around the Globe

Panel discussions, film screenings and guest lecturers will provide myriad opportunities for the community to engage in informed dialogue on the current state of refugees around the world

From Mansions to Towers: A History of Residence Halls at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

The construction of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire's residence halls has generally followed that of the national trend. The school struggled to find enough funds to build residence halls in the early years. Eventually, student housing was in needed so badly that the school had no choice but to provide housing for the students. In 1947, the Dulany mansion was purchased and remodeled by the school. This building served as the University's first resident hall. Since then, eleven resident halls have been built on campus with one more being planned. Life in these residence halls have changed dramatically over time. In the 1960's, the students protested and eventually the strict rules of in loco parentis faded away. After this, students enjoyed the freedoms of new technologies, relaxed rules, and more professional housing leaders. Today, UW-Eau Claire is a thriving university. UW-Eau Claire has been recognized by many as a top school in the Midwest. Much of the success can be attributed to the residence halls and the happiness of the students. My paper will provide UW-Eau Claire and its students with a cohesive history of the residence halls on campus and will also show how student life has evolved since the University was first established

An invitation to grieve: reconsidering critical incident responses by support teams in the school setting

This paper proposes that consideration could be given to an invitational intervention rather than an expectational intervention when support personnel respond to a critical incident in schools. Intuitively many practitioners know that it is necessary for guidance/counselling personnel to intervene in schools in and following times of trauma. Most educational authorities in Australia have mandated the formulation of a critical incident intervention plan. This paper defines the term critical incident and then outlines current intervention processes, discussing the efficacy of debriefing interventions. Recent literature suggests that even though it is accepted that a planned intervention is necessary, there is scant evidence as to the effectiveness of debriefing interventions in stemming later symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. The authors of this paper advocate for an expressive therapy intervention that is invitational rather than expectational, arguing that not all people respond to trauma in the same way and to expect that they will need to recall and retell what has happened is most likely a dangerous assumption. A model of invitation using Howard Gardner’s (1983) multiple intelligences is proposed so that students are invited to grieve and understand emotionally what is happening to them following a critical incident

Grounded Theory Investigation into Depression during the Freshman Year of College

Purpose: In a national study of college students during the fall of 2017, a total of 31,463 students reported feeling hopeless (51.7%), being overwhelmed (86.5%), feeling so depressed it was difficult to function (39.3%), and seriously considered suicide (12.1%) (American College Health Association, 2017). These statistics represent a major concern regarding health care practice because it is a severe mental health crisis that can disrupt students’ daily lives. The purpose of this research is to amplify awareness of freshman student depression to gain knowledge about the mental health of college students using grounded theory methodology. Theoretical/conceptual framework: Attending college for the first time can be a life changing event for many students. Depression, whether formally diagnosed or self-identified, is an increasingly significant problem in emerging adults. Method: Grounded theory methodology will be used to examine the experience of depression during the freshmen year of college. Purposive sampling will be used to recruit sophomore students who identify as having had depression during their freshman year. Recruitment will continue until data saturation occurs. Following informed consent, interviews will begin with one open-ended question of “What was the experience of your freshman year in college?” Interviews will be recorded, transcribed, and constantly compared for emerging themes throughout the data collection process. Data will be analyzed using NVivo software. Results/conclusions: Results will describe the initial categories associated with depression in this population. These preliminary categories will help provide a more in depth understanding of the experience of depression