In This Issue Current Issue Archives

December 15, 2005

National On-Campus Report - December 15, 2005 - Full Issue
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Students Bring Multiracial Identities to Campus
More than seven million people identified themselves as multiracial in the 2000 U.S. Census, the first to offer this identity as a possible racial or ethnic category. Of people who identified themselves as multiracial, 41 percent were younger than 18. Since then, these young people have made their presence known on college campuses, founding organizations and participating in activities that recognize America’s increasingly complex racial and ethnic identities.

Continued Improvements in the GLBT Greek Experience
According to a 1996 survey of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender fraternity and sorority members, the climate for this group has improved a great deal in a decade and a half. While 40 percent of the respondents overall said that they had revealed their sexual orientation to at least one other chapter member while in college, only 12 percent of respondents who graduated before 1980 had done so. An upcoming update of the 1996 study should find continued improvements. But despite some of the gains, GLBT students within the Greek system face continued challenges too.

GLBT Greek Resources
The Lambda 10 Project is a national clearinghouse for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender fraternity and sorority issues. Its aim is to support GLBT members of the college Greek system and to educate other students about sexual orientation issues and gender identity and expression.

Students and Prescription Drug Abuse
Early this year, a report revealed that nearly 7 percent of college students have taken a stimulant without a prescription. At colleges with more selective admissions, that rate can jump to as high as 25 percent. Here's how two colleges are responding to the problem.

Recent Studies on Drinking and Driving
Two recent studies examine what does—and what doesn’t—lead to a reduction in drinking and driving among college students.

Resources
Changes in college prices and financial aid; Town-gown health partnership award

Campus Capsules
The growing problem of "destination partiers"; Best Greek-letter recruitment year ever; A first for DVD yearbooks; Campus culture divide between Midwesterners vs. "Coasties"; more

Legal Updates
Bible study ban; Hazing settlement; Hosty deadline; Disabled students' right to sue; Student-athlete reinstatement

Campuses Curb Fossil Fuel Consumption
Institutions are drawing up long- and short-range plans for decreasing their energy use. The University of Denver, for example, will have its custodial staff clean early in the evening rather than waiting until midnight in the hope that the move will cut the university’s lighting bill.