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WASHINGTON — Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is preparing new policies on campus sexual misconduct that would bolster the rights of students accused of assault, harassment or rape, reduce liability for institutions of higher education and encourage schools to provide more support for victims. The proposed rules, obtained by The New York Times, narrow the definition of sexual harassment, holding schools accountable only for formal complaints filed through proper authorities and for conduct...

Attention all you happy high school graduates about to go off to college, as well as the many others returning for another year of higher education. Grandsons Stefan and Tomas, that includes you. Whatever you may think can get in the way of a successful college experience, chances are you won’t think of one of the most important factors: how long and how well you sleep. And not just on weekends, but every day, Monday through Sunday. Studies have shown that sleep quantity and sleep quality...

It’s expensive to be poor. And few places in higher education feel that more acutely than historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), where endowments are typically smaller and enrollments have fluctuated wildly over the past decade. Now, to be clear, the financial misfortune of black colleges does not rest squarely on their shoulders. Born out of necessity primarily after the Civil War to educate black people who were shut out of most other colleges, the institutions have been...

San Diego was one of the least-affordable U.S. metro areas for buying a home in the second quarter, said a recently-released study from mortgage website HSH. Potential buyers needed to make $130,986 a year to afford the median-priced single-family house. Only two other metro areas were less affordable — San Jose and San Francisco — said the study, which crunched numbers for 50 regions across the United States. HSH determined rankings by looking at quarterly home price data, local property...

San Diego judge overseeing the effort to reunify families urged opposing attorneys to get moving Friday on a solution that would allow all reunited children to pursue their own asylum claims rather than be immediately deported with their parents. In a court hearing Friday, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw’s repeated insistence on speed and efficiency underscored a desire to close out a chapter in this country’s immigration history, despite new legal wrinkles that continue to be raised in...

As Florida State University rolls out a massive new campaign designed to help students weather stress and cope with childhood traumas, Jim Clark, the dean of the College of Social Work, fears that the public might buy in to a damaging but common stereotype of college students: that they are fragile “snowflakes” in need of coddling. Clark believes that they are resilient -- a term that has been co-opted into a psychological buzzword. But it strongly applies to Florida State’s new program, a...

San Diego’s decision-makers are mostly white, male and economically advantaged, according to a new report released Tuesday. The 51-page report comes from the Center on Policy Initiatives, a San Diego think tank that has ties to local labor unions. Researchers assessed five governing boards and commissions from September to January, saying they were seeking a broad picture of public leadership throughout the county. Over the five-month period, researchers reviewed and conducted interviews...

After the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida earlier this year, schools are at the epicenter of national debates on gun violence and mental health. How can teachers and administrators deal with troubled students? And how can they make schools safer for all? It’s not the first time that schools have been asked to address social problems that originate far outside their hallways. In a nation where more than 40 percent of kids are from low-income families, school teachers and...

“What happened to you?” isn’t just a question for therapists to ask their troubled clients. It’s a question that should inform the work of physicians, nurses, lawyers, educators, social workers and public health advocates from the time they are learning their professions to each real-world encounter. That’s the hope of the Philadelphia ACE Task Force (PATF) , whose workforce development group released a toolkit to help faculty across a range of disciplines weave content on adverse childhood...

The Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it has separated nearly 2,000 children from adults at the southern border over the past 6 weeks. While President Trump just signed an executive order to bring an end to this policy of separating families, the psychological damage has been done. These actions have likely inflicted psychological trauma on these families that may span generations. Sean Davis, PhD, is a Professor of Marriage and...

Six middle- and high-school students sat around a table on a Monday afternoon, watching a psychologist write three letters on a whiteboard: O-C-D. “What does O.C.D. stand for?” the psychologist, Avital Falk, asked the group. [For more on this story by Andrea Petersen, go to https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/13/health/ocd-concentrated-therapy-cbt.html

This past school year Every Neighborhood Partnership (ENP) had a great opportunity to collaborate with two Fresno Unified Elementary schools, Fresno State, Fresno City College and Alliant International University to pilot two unique programs that help to build resiliency and social-emotional life skills. Through this collaborative partnership, ENP was able to facilitate two evidence-based programs that help students to build and develop social and emotional life skills through yoga and...