Community colleges seek ways to deal with unstable students

[cowcommander]

Traditionally open to all comers, community colleges face particular challenges dealing with unstable or mentally ill students, officials said. The colleges serve many students on the economic margins; a large number of military veterans, including those suffering from physical and emotional trauma; and former felons seeking a fresh start. Because they are mainly commuter campuses, there may also be relatively few opportunities for students and faculty to build relationships that could help detect troubling changes in behavior.

The sour economy has increased demand for community colleges even as many have cut back on services, including counseling. At the same time, educators at colleges across the country report seeing increasing numbers of students exhibiting signs of mental illness and other problems.

"We consider access fundamental to our mission, but it gets to a point where one has to reconsider if that is realistic," said Norma Kent, vice president for communications of the American Assn. of Community Colleges.

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-me-college-behavior-20110116,0,4355241.story

[maritimer]

1. I owe a great deal of gratitude to my local CC

I used my GI bill to get a start on my college degree there, before moving on to my local four year university. They are largely commuter schools; there is no real on-campus life like you see at the traditional four-year schools.

I'd like to see a better mental health component of student outreach. With all the hurting Iraq-Afghanistan veterans coming home and going back to school, this would be an invaluable service. Maybe funded in part by the VA? But available to anyone who asks. This veteran would be happy to pay for it. I am so grateful to the nation for helping pay for my degree and I would love to pay it back.

Maybe this could have helped Loughner before he became a dangerous loose cannon.

[gratuitous]

2. Since we're determined to violate the Constitution and NOT provide for the general welfare

We're going to leave it to community college students and their teachers to identify, diagnose and make a determination about whether to call in the mental health professionals, which in most cases means the cops. No worries, though; that almost always works out quite well.

[QC]

3. I teach at a cc, and I have had some students who genuinely scared me.

One of them was one of those perpetually angry people who bitterly resent even having to be in the class (they are geniuses, after all) and when I would return his papers he would write furious responses to my comments, four or five pages of sputtering rage in a minuscule scrawl on notebook paper, front and back.

The class met at night, and I would always make sure to be talking to someone on my cell as I walked to the car, so that they could call the cops if something happened.

House arrest ankle bracelets are such a common sight that I don't pay them much attention anymore.

The thing is, one of the best things about community college work is that you often get to work with people who are at difficult times in their lives. There is great satisfaction in being there for them when they need some support. But, there are still some anxious moments, and when I read the news reports about Loughner and his behavior at Pima, I immediately thought of some of my own students.