Posts tagged with campus.

What can parents do to keep our kids safe from H1N1?

Kathy Dobson, July 30, 2009 at 9:03 AM

 

Every school year there's a new flu season for parents to contend with.

 

I'm already thinking about all the lovely germs my four-year-old, about to start school for the first time this fall, is bound to bring home with him in about six weeks.

 

But this September we won't be dealing with just your average, run-of-the-mill, back-to-school cold or some sniffles. Most public-health experts believe there will be a second attack from the H1N1 virus this fall.

 

HN1N, also known as Swine Flu, is predicted to hit full-force by this September, and apparently the virus targets young adults - the Globe and Mail reported that the median age of those infected in Canada is only 18.

 

If the H1N1 virus is going to sweep across the country, university campuses are an obvious pit stop for the Swine Flu. Aside from the fact that it seems to target university-aged young adults, come September, there are going to be thousands of students packed into lecture halls, studying together in the library, and eating in the cafeteria. The perfect targets.

 

Its already been declared a pandemic. H1N1 is being compared to the 1918 Spanish Flu. Even if that's an exaggeration, the virus is still a scary reality. What if this next wave, about to strike just as our children are headed back to school, turns out to be more severe? Even deadly?

 

So how are university students going to be affected? Namely, what's going to happen to students who contract the Swine Flu? And what about those students in residence?

 

And how are universities preparing for this threat? What are universities doing to protect our children? What can parents do?

 

My two oldest have already taken some steps to minimize their exposure.

 

They'll be doing two of their electives by distance education and, with the exception of two labs - where their physical presence is required - their other courses could easily be done by podcast if necessary.

 

They'll be playing it by ear, waiting to see how big the threat is once they get back on campus this September.

 

Some universities, such as McGill, are readying their health clinics to isolate their very sick students. McGill is considering help lines so that less serious cases can avoid entering the clinics altogether.

 

Sports and extracurriculars could get the axe if the flu spreads quickly enough.

 

The University of Western Ontario has armed itself with masks, gloves and hand sanitizers. Dalhousie University has backup staff ready for the school year.

 

It's not hard to work yourself into a full-blown panic.

 

So what the heck is an effective strategy? Keeping all our kids home from school? Wearing a bio-hazard suit 24/7? In a crowded school system, is good cough-and hand-hygiene etiquette going to be enough?

 

Every teacher I spoke to said basically the same thing: Kids need to wash their hands.

 

"Not too long ago it was MRSA staph, now it's Swine Flu. And frankly, a lot of students aren't taught simple hygiene procedures at home," says Pam, a middle-school teacher.

 

My two oldest are well-versed in simple hygiene procedures. When they head back to school this September, they plan to have a bottle of hand sanitizer handy at all times. But it doesn't matter how germ-aware my two oldest are. The deciding factor: my four-year-old. The weakest link of the family. With Typohoid Mary sitting across the kitchen table, hand washing and hygiene habits could be completely undermined.

 

Most of the parents I spoke with seem calm. Some expressed concerns about the upcoming outbreak, but no one was overly panicked.

 

"Even though I have my sometimes laughable 'doomsday pantry' and I'm fairly disaster prepared in general, my trend toward worrying about the fall seems to be 'wait and see' for now," says Sam Jones, a parent of a high school student.

 

Like most of the parents I spoke with, she has tried to strike a balance between making her son aware of the necessity of proper hygiene technique, without causing him undo stress. But her son is involved in a lot of contact sports, and sharing of equipment, so she wants to ensure he does take some steps to minimize his risk.

 

"I stressed hand washing and trying to stay away from anyone noticeably sick. I feel like I've prepared him enough without causing him stress.

 

He doesn't seem worried, but he is aware."

 

But if she ever suspects her son isn't taking the threat seriously enough, she won't hesitate to make sure her son gets the message.

 

"I will say though with great conviction that if I come to the point where I think making him nervous will contribute to his safety - in the event that things are getting ominous - I have no qualms about turning up the fear-mongering."

 

Another parent, with a daughter starting Grade 2, says it's harder to keep younger kids protected from the virus.

 

"Sometimes I really worry about it. If your kid's in an older grade when this kind of thing hits, it's easier to keep them healthy and safe. A seven-year-old doesn't have the strongest immune system, and can't understand the importance of basic hygiene. Little kids do stupid stuff and don't even know how dangerous it is. What if someone sneezes on her in class?"

 

Words like "pandemic" and "high-risk category" might sound off alarm bells, but how serious is the threat?

 

Donald Low, chief microbiologist at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital, says that the Swine Flu continues to be a relatively mild virus.

 

And, unlike back in 1918, today we have antiviral drugs and antibiotics to treat influenza infections and secondary cases of pneumonia.

 

But still, as a parent of five school-aged children, I know I'll be watching, and still feeling a little anxious, as it all begins to unfold over the next six weeks.

 

(Editor: Information about what universities are doing to prepare for a possible H1N1 onslaught in the fall)

Tagged with school, campus, children, students, university, closure, influenza, h1n1, safe, flu, pandemic, strategy, kids, swine, anxiety, worry, exposure | Comments (5) |

Orientation days ... as much for the parents as the students

By Kathy Dobson, July 21, 2009 at 9:37 AM

It was around this time last year when my two oldest took one of their biggest steps towards university.They had already researched schools and programs across Canada, decided on their top three choices, sent out applications, and after considering their offers of admission, had finally chosen the University of Waterloo.

But until Student Life 101 day at the University of Waterloo, it hadn’t seemed real. Until stepping onto the campus for the first time, it hadn’t fully registered.

My two oldest were heading into university. And a new stage of their lives.

Many universities offer a virtual tour of their campus, complete with photo galleries, panoramic views of libraries and cafeterias, and video clips of study halls. I watched close to a dozen of these virtual tours online with my kids. Thanks to some of the search tools on GlobeCampus it was easy to compare every school they were seriously considering.

Student Life 101 at the University of Waterloo is an event planned by students for students. Hundreds of upper-year student volunteers roam around the campus, impossible to miss in their bright yellow shirts with “We’ll show you the ropes” across the back. They make the perfect guides, having gone through the exact same transition themselves.

For my two children, the most valuable part of the day was the guided tour by the yellow shirted Gary. It completely alleviated one of their pre-university fears: getting hopelessly lost on the first day of classes. They might be late for a biology lecture. Or miss their chemistry lab. Thanks to that guided tour, they were able to test-run their schedule, locating where each of their classes would be held.

After walking through the library and the student life center, my two children got to sit in a lecture hall, surrounded by hundreds of seats.

It was an intimidating contrast between high school and university. A high-school class might have 30 students. A university class can easily have 400 students or more.

The guided tour was reassuring for me as a parent. I was able to see firsthand that there weren’t any muggers lurking behind the cafeteria, or scary-looking thugs hanging around the library. No cliffs of any kind to accidentally fall off.

Student Life 101 is also a great chance for parents to embarrass their kids. You know, trailing a few feet behind them and loudly saying things like, “This is going to be your home for the next four years,” and “Some of the best memories of your life are going to happen right here!” And, “We’re so proud of you.”

Our kids both quickly moved ahead, keeping a safe distance of about 20 feet in front of us.

The sessions and events we attended that day were filled with tons of practical advice and information about first-year basics. From how to read your class schedule, to how to balance a full course load with extracurricular activities and academics. The presentations also included tips on how to make the university transition a smooth and successful one, for both students and their family.

There were sessions for students living on their own or at home. And a quick ‘how to’ presentation on “Everything you need to know to use your government student loan, scholarship and/or bursary funding to pay your fees by the deadline.”

Some of the events we attended that day at Waterloo were specifically designed with the parents in mind. The session on how the relationship was going to change between parent and child was an important reminder that the relationship does change.

Student Life 101 gave my two children the chance to “learn the ropes” and get a real feel for Waterloo’s campus. Having the event hosted by students from previous years made the difference. They were invaluable guides. Having gone through the same life changing processes and experiences that the hundreds of other soon-to-be freshmen were about to go through, they were able to answer any question a nervous first-year could have.

This year, Jenny and Scott are going to don their own yellow shirts.

They want to return the favour.

(Editor's note: other universities are also holding orientation sessions over the summer, so check the dates and whether you need to sign up.)


Tagged with campus, orientation | Comments (11) |

Is hazing a serious problem in Canadian universities?

Kathy Dobson, March 6, 2009 at 10:00 AM

You see it portrayed in movies. You read about it happening in the States. But how often does hazing actually happen here in Canada?

As a parent of two first-year university students, the possibility of hazing definitely crossed my mind. Although it doesn't appear to happen as often in Canada as it seems to in the U.S., that doesn't mean it never happens.

It's difficult to pinpoint an exact number of injuries related to hazing rituals in Canada or the U.S. The practice is usually secretive. But we do know that many students each year are injured, and some even killed, as a result of hazing.

According to the website StopHazing.org, in addition to an enormous amount of injuries each year, hazing related deaths have occurred every year on campuses in the U.S. since 1970. Most States have now passed legislation that define hazing as a crime.

Although it's hard to find reliable statistics on how much hazing goes on in universities across Canada, according to a couple of studies, and research on hazing at Cornell University, females were more likely to be involved in alcohol-related hazing than any other form of hazing.

Football players were at the highest risk for dangerous and potentially illegal hazing.

I still remember the shocking story I read in the Globe and Mail four years ago, about a freshman on the football team at McGill who was hazed. According to the article, the 18-year-old, along with a small group of other first years, was ordered to remove his underwear and then drop to his hands and knees.

Six senior students, veteran members of the football team, jeered as the rookie was told to bite down on a dog chew toy. Then they held out a broom handle, nicknamed, "Dr. Broom."

"They were poking me on either side of my buttocks cheeks," he said.

"Then, they made contact with my rectum with it. They were kind of pushing back and forth and applying pressure."

Although he wasn't "penetrated with the broomstick," the student said it hurt, and he got up and left.

Feeling humiliated and betrayed, the student dropped out of McGill and returned home. After the incident was reported to the school, McGill cancelled the football program for the rest of the playing season.

St. Francis Xavier University had an incident of hazing which involved freshmen last fall. According to an article in The Chronicle Herald in Nova Scotia, some first-year students were blindfolded, taken to a wooded area, then told to lie down on their stomachs.

The students were hit with branches, and had their faces smeared with what they were told was human feces, though it was apparently just mud.

Some reports allege that the students were told to smear Rub A535 on their testicles.

None of the allegations were ever proven in court. The legal battle between the school and the accused students ended after eight of the disciplined students filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. They claimed the sanctions were punitive. According to news reports, the father of one of the students facing sanctions is a lawyer, and represented the students in court.

The case ended with an out-of-court settlement, which included removing the sanctions against the students accused of leading the hazing. Those sanctions had included a ban from the campus bar and participation in students clubs, along with being ordered to take bullying and harassment counseling, as well as complete 50 hours of community service. And a $50 fine.

As far as I can tell from published reports, none of the students were held at gun point and ordered to perform or forced to participate in those degrading rituals. Apparently none of the alleged victims even filed a complaint. And there was no police investigation into the matter.

But just because a victim doesn't come forward, doesn't mean they weren't victimized. There are lots of crimes, including victims of rape and domestic violence, where the victim feels shamed into silence after being bullied and coerced into accepting their abuse.

Whenever I hear about something like what happened at McGill or St. Francis Xavier University, I wonder about those silent victims, and worry whether they're just a tiny tip of the iceberg.

I have no doubt there are lots of young people, even in high school, who have lived through similar horror stories. But for a variety of reasons stay silent.

I can't help but wonder about those students who order a teenager to pull down their underwear, wanting them to fear they're about to have a broom stick rammed up their butt.

I also wonder about those students who get something out of having their victims believe they've just had feces rubbed all over their faces.

Maybe we don't have a death every year in Canada like they do in the U.S., thanks to some degrading hazing ritual gone wrong. Maybe. Or perhaps the Americans are better at tracking and documenting their more serious cases?

But as long as students continue to be put in physical danger, robbed of their dignity, and intimidated into silence, we have a serious problem.

Tagged with canadian, hazing, campus, canada, united, st., states, mcgill, xavier, francis, university | Comments (16) |