The Urge to End It All

There's a really, really interesting article in today's New York Times Magazine about the impulsive nature of most suicide attempts. If the topic of suicide prevention interests you, I recommend you read the article. I found myself very surprised by some of what I read there.

This article would be a great "staff reading" for those in residence life, counseling, peer education, and more.

The beauty of ad hoc committees

The "ad hoc committee" is one of the very best student leadership tools you're probably not using. Most organizations have a provision which allows the formation of special short-term committees to address specific organization challenges. If your constitution doesn't mention ad hoc committees, and there's nothing specifically prohibiting them, then you should experiment with them this next academic year.

OK, so here's the idea. Let's say that you're having a terrible time finding a chapter advisor. Create an "ad hoc committee" of selected members, and charge the ad hoc committee with working on the problem. You can create a committee to work on almost any problem: member retention, housing, public relations, constitutional revision, safety issues, whatever.

When you create a committee, you should specifically designate the amount of time that the committee will exist – usually a semester or less. Make the ad hoc committee's job a very specific one.

Why would you use ad hoc committees? Perhaps there's a chronic problem in your organization and you want some energy focused on solving it. Or, perhaps you have an issue that is very controversial and requires a lot of input from the membership. In this case, you can turn it over to an ad hoc committee instead of burdening yourself as an officer to get it resolved.

Ad hoc committees are also a great way to give someone something to do. Let's say that the person who ran against you for president (and lost) now has nothing to do. Maybe this person is now causing problems, or is simply drifting away from the organization. Putting this person in charge of an ad hoc committee to address a real problem might pull them back in and give them something meaningful to do. A lot of groups use this strategy for past officers.

An important note... if you're going to create an ad hoc committee, you need to give it some actual authority. Give the committee a real problem to solve. It's a very bad idea to have an ad hoc committee do a bunch of work, then you and your executive board come along at the end and change everything or veto the committee's work. That will just annoy everyone.

If you're going to create an ad hoc to tackle a problem, let the committee and its leaders do their job and respect the work they do. For those of you who are control freaks, this might be pretty challenging!

24-hour help available for gay and questioning young people

Our society and our campuses are a lot more gay-friendly than they were a decade ago. People are used to seeing gay characters on TV shows with regular frequency. Most college students say that having gay friends or roommates is not a big deal.

But, we forget that coming out is still a relatively brutal emotional process for a lot of college students. We can't confuse the improving environment with the still difficult individual journey.

According to a 2005 study done by the Massachusetts Department of Education, youth who think they might be gay, lesbian, bisexual or have gender identity issues are four times more likely to seriously contemplate suicide than the average teenager. Every year, I hear about students who have committed suicide on college campuses after struggling unsuccessfully with their sexual orientation. Others turn to alcohol, drugs, or other unhealthy choices to cope with their struggle.

I was excited to learn today that the organization called The Trevor Project now has a 24/7 hotline to help young people struggling with their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. The number is (866) 4-U-TREVOR. They are getting 15,000 calls a year, which is amazing.

Every volunteer working the hotline receives more than 40 hours of training so that they can help identify resources for callers nationwide. Their website also has a confidential Q&A forum that has lots of good reading for folks who feel most comfortable with that sort of research.

It's important that you let young men and women in your campus community know that there are anonymous resources they can turn to, like the Trevor Project. Do your community a favor and make sure that the hotline's number is plastered all over your residence hall, student center, fraternity life office, athletic department and more. Put it on your student organization's websites, even.

If you are part of an LGBT student group, this is a great resource to publicize throughout your campus. There are many young men and women who might never come to your meetings, but who would make a call to anonymously speak to a caring person.

Kappa Alpha Psi presents Seduction Sundays

Looks like parties involving alcohol and the objectification of women are no longer the exclusive purview of historically-white Greeks. Check out this advertisement appearing all over Facebook for a party being sponsored by the men of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., at the University of Minnesota.

The fun starts this weekend. Valet parking available.

Frequently, I hear from NPHC members that they don't need to hear messages about parties involving alcohol. Even if this event is not typical of an event sponsored by an NPHC organization, I think it shows that historically-Black Greeks are not above being involved in discussions of risk management issues. The sponsorship of an event like this has definite risk management implications.

Nice graphic in the poster, too, don't you think? I'll leave you to discuss the taste of that one on your own.