Student Government Research Articles

Am I Really the Forrest Gump of Geriatrics? The Upside of Having an Average Intelligence Quotient.

A few years ago at a Beeson Scholars meeting, my close colleague Mary Tinetti, who led development of the distinguished academic geriatric program at Yale University, introduced me as the “Forrest Gump” of Aging. This prompted chuckles from the crowd of promising, aspiring clinician-scientists, who recalled the hero of the 2004 Oscar-winning film starring Tom Hanks as the somewhat dim-witted chump who nevertheless seemed to be in the right place at the right time but haplessly flubbed the chance to become famous in the process. Ever since, I've chewed on this introduction, asking myself, “What did she mean by that? Was she right? Am I really the Forrest Gump of Geriatrics?” Well, first, although no dummy, I am certainly not the brightest star in the sky, and although I almost always managed to finish in the top tier of my classes in the Ann Arbor public schools in the 1940s and 1950s and was well above my grade level in achievement tests at each stage, the only time I took an intelligence test, in the 9th grade, I received a score of 107, barely above the average of 100. That clearly surprised a lot of my teachers—but not me. Because even then I knew myself pretty well. For I was blessed and challenged as the last of five kids (and only boy) reared without a spare penny in the family budget, and from early on, I realized that to meet the family standard of at least graduating from college—both of my parents had PhDs from Cornell—it would be up to me to support myself through merit-based scholarships. How to accomplish that seemed clear—by generating a spotless academic record as a chronic overachiever driven to try harder and succeed that way. (Remember the old Avis car commercials, “We're #2, we try harder”?) But growing up as a boy in a sports-crazy, academically renowned town, I also realized that to have any friends, I needed to avoid the dreaded label of a “brain,” “teacher's pet,” or worst of all, “brown-noser.” So I compensated by spreading myself thin across multiple extracurricular domains as a “well-rounded kid,” notably in sports, choral music, student government, and student clubs and publications. This clearly paid off in my college applications, which allowed me to escape my hometown and to go Cornell on scholarship, where I continued the same pattern of academic overachievement, including senior honors in laboratory-based research, with a broad range of extracurricular campus activities. This combination led to a full scholarship to the Cornell Medical College in New York City, given by a grateful patient who wanted to support a medical student who “wasn't just a grind.” What a precious and liberating gift that was—to be able to graduate from medical school with no debt! I chose internal medicine as the most intellectually challenging specialty, where I survived a punishing internship at New York Hospital and 2 years of real-world experience in primary care medicine as a conscripted naval general medical officer (in the women's clinic at Camp Lejeune), 10 years in medical residency, fellowships in endocrinology and metabolism, and junior faculty development at the University of Washington, before finally abruptly moving into gerontology and geriatric medicine! All this in spite of having just a marginal intelligence quotient (IQ). Can there possibly be an upside to having only an average IQ and becoming the Forrest Gump of Aging? Clearly, like Forrest, I had lucked into being in the right place at the right time through all of the above experiences that prepared me to become an academic physician in an era when the National Institutes of Health was still the fount of research money, and the National Institute on Aging was brand new. Through all of my training, I came to realize that my favorite patients were generally the oldest ones because I loved their stories and the many challenges they presented. Beyond that I posit that a by-product of having an average IQ (especially when combined with an Avis complex) may be an enhanced emotional intelligence quotient, a concept that Peter Salovey co-developed at Yale and psychologist Daniel Goleman popularized. It seems as though general, primary care internal medicine, and especially geriatrics, may be central to success in practice and research in the care of elderly adults—bringing a greater breadth of vision, insight into, and appreciation of the roles of time, rate of change, comorbidities, and complexity in the design, analysis, and interpretation of data to advance the field in our “supraspecialty.” So yes, Mary, you were right, and I am proud to be considered the Forrest Gump of Aging. Thank you, my friend. Conflict of Interest: The author has no competing interests to disclose. Author Contributions: The sole author of this essay is responsible for all elements of the work. Sponsor's Role: None.

SOCIAL ACTIVITY OF STUDENT YOUTH

The article is devoted to disclosure of features of social activity of modern student's youth. At the beginning of the article different classifications of social activity forms are described, that proves their great diversity. To identify specifics of social activity of modern student's youth we used the results of the survey conducted among university students in Kirov. We analyzed the readiness of students to participate in social activities; the popularity of various social organizations in the student environment; the expectations related to social activity and subjective self-determination of the level of social activity of student's youth. It should be noted that to date, indeed public youth organizations are well represented in our country. As for the student youth, then, of course, the most common of the non-governmental organizations in this environment are the bodies of the student government. They are represented by student councils, trade unions, student scientific society, student centers and personnel agencies, councils of dormitories and other organizations. The majority of respondents to impose requirements youth organizations develop their leadership and managerial qualities as well as promote selforganization of young people. This proves the need for the development of youth public organizations of competent state youth policy.

Create bystander intervention training to prevent campus crime

At Marquette University, a number of units around campus had programs aimed at preventing crime. Student government, the recreation board and Greek life all had initiatives in place. But no one was talking to anyone else, said Jill Weisensel, M.S., a lieutenant with Marquette's Department of Public Safety. She explained how a bystander intervention program coordinated campus efforts, speaking at a session at the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators annual conference.

The Role and Responsibilities of Pharmacy Student Government Associations in Pharmacy Programs

Objective. To identify student government designs used by pharmacy programs and to examine their functions, duties, and relationships with other student organizations. Methods. A 21-question survey was developed and distributed to pharmacy deans, who were asked to forward the survey to the leader of their student government organization. Results were analyzed in aggregate. Results. Seventy-one programs responded (56%). Of respondents, 96% had a pharmacy student government association (PSGA). Programs officers generally consisted of a president (87%), secretary (81%), vice-president (79%), and treasurer (70%). Functions of the PSGAs included oversight of fundraisers (76%), on-campus events (69%), social events (61%), organizational meetings (59%), and off-campus events (57%). Approximately half (45%) of PSGAs were part of a larger, university-wide student government. Conclusion. While student government organizations are nearly universal in pharmacy programs, their oversight of other student organizations, as well as their involvement within a larger university-wide student government, varies greatly.

For Your Bookshelf…

Catherine M. Raso, a highly experienced Policy Governance consultant who has worked with more than a dozen student association boards, and Ercole D. Perrone, executive director of the Humber Students' Federation with eight years' experience in student government, review A Blueprint for Student Driven Professionally Supported Student Association by Michael Hughes.

Leadership Development University Students in the Activities of Student Government

This paper considers the problem of leadership development of students in the activities of the student government at the stage of high school training. Updated questions of preparation of competitive professional with high leadership potential, as a priority upgrade the educational and training process of the university. Student government as an active form of organization of life of students by the authors is presented as an opportunity to develop leadership skills, as well as the factor of personal and professional formation of the future specialist. The effectiveness of leadership development of students depends on the integrity, complex psychological and pedagogical conditions as integral aggregate consisting of specially organized activities of the student government, providing students stay in a leadership role, the development priorities of leadership qualities. The paper presents a model of leadership development of students in the activities of the student government.

Quiz Discuss Compare: Using Audience Response Devices to Actively Engage Students

We describe a modification of the think-pair-share (TPS) active learning session called Quiz Discuss Compare (QDC) that uses audience response devices (clickers). Feedback from individual students and from student government association representatives regarding the session was positive. Correlative data from two different voluntary QDC sessions demonstrate that students who attend score significantly higher on high-stakes summative exams (p < 0.001) using a one-way ANOVA analysis. This difference is not detected when exam scores are analyzed using the same cohorts in a different course. Importantly, by using clickers, a single faculty member is able to run the session, avoiding the requirement of multiple facilitators and faculty resources. This QDC was made available on a voluntary basis to the fall 2013 cohort of first-year medical students at St. George’s University. We observed a statistically significant increase in exam performance when compared to those students who elected not to attend. Based on these findings, we have incorporated these sessions as a formal component of our Medical Genetics and Genomics course module.

The Inequality of Politics: Social Class Rank and Political Participation

Perceived lower rank in the social class hierarchy reflects an individual’s relative lack of perceived social and economic worth in society. In the current study we tested the predictions that lower perceptions of social class rank elicit both reduced political participation and lower political self-efficacy. Study 1 found that students with lower perceived social class were less likely to seek information about student government. Study 2 found that perceptions of political self-efficacy accounted for the relationship between perceived social class rank and political participation. Study 3 established causal associations between perceived social class and political participation — a momentary manipulation of elevated perceived social class increased political efficacy and intentions to participate in politics. In Study 4, affirming the self reduced social class disparities in both perceived political participation and efficacy. Throughout the studies, perceptions of social class were consistently related to political participation, and these associations occurred after accounting for political ideology and objective indicators of social class. Discussion focused on the understudied psychological barriers that perpetuate voter inequality in society.

High School Sports Involvement Diminishes the Association Between Childhood Conduct Disorder and Adult Antisocial Behavior

PurposeLife course–persistent antisocial behavior manifests as a display of aggressive and antisocial behavior beginning in childhood (conduct disorder [CD]) and lasting through adulthood (adult antisocial personality disorder). This study aimed to build on prior research by evaluating whether involvement in high school sports helped attenuate the association between CD and subsequent adult antisocial behavior (AAB). MethodsA prospective sample of 967 male and female adolescents (56% adopted) was used. Structured interviews were used to assess CD (symptoms before the age of 15 years), involvement in sports during high school, and past-year adult antisocial personality disorder symptoms in young adulthood (M age = 22.4 years). ResultsAs expected, the association between CD and AAB was significantly less for those involved in sports (β = .28; p < .001) compared with those not involved in sports (β = .49; p < .001), χ2(1) = 4.13; p = .04. This difference remained after including known covariates of antisocial behavior in the model (age, gender, adoption status), and results were consistent across males and females. Involvement in other extracurricular activities (e.g., student government, plays, clubs) did not significantly moderate the relationship between CD and AAB. ConclusionsAlthough selection effects were evident (those with more CD symptoms were less likely to be involved in sports), findings nevertheless suggest high school sports involvement may be a notable factor related to disrupting persistent antisocial behavior beginning in childhood and adolescence and lasting through young adulthood. Implications are discussed.

Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination-USA level 1 and level 2-cognitive evaluation preparation and outcomes.

The Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination-USA (COMLEX-USA) assesses the competence of osteopathic physicians in training. It is designed to protect the public by setting minimum competence standards. All osteopathic medical students must pass COMLEX-USA Level 1, Level 2-Cognitive Evaluation, and Level 2-Performance Evaluation before being allowed to graduate from an osteopathic medical school. Residency training programs use COMLEX-USA scores as a major factor in deciding whom they will interview and admit into their programs. In addition, colleges of osteopathic medicine use student COMLEX-USA scores as an external assessment of their success in educating students. Because COMLEX-USA is a high-stakes examination series, it is important to understand predictive factors for performance. The authors review the literature on the relationship between COMLEX-USA scores and correlated student variables. Results from the Council on Osteopathic Student Government Presidents' survey on students' preparation methods and performance are also provided.

Student pharmacists’ perceptions of access to student organization opportunities at colleges/schools of pharmacy with satellite campuses

BackgroundAn increasing number of schools of pharmacy offer part or entire doctor of pharmacy programs at satellite campuses. Co-curricular offerings such as student organization and student government facilitate professional and personal development of a student pharmacist. Multi-campus schools strive to ensure that the professional experiences at main and satellite campuses are equivalent. ObjectivesTo compare perceptions of and satisfaction with access to student organization opportunities between students at main versus satellite campuses among four schools of pharmacy. MethodsUsing an 18-item online survey instrument, second- and third-year student pharmacists at main and satellite campuses rated their level of agreement and satisfaction regarding access to student organizations. ResultsOf 1013 total students, 314 completed the survey (31.0% response rate); 22.9% of respondents were on a satellite campus. Many respondents were members of a student organization (93.0% main campus and 92.2% satellite campus). There were similar responses between campuses for students who were interested but felt that they had no access to opportunities to be members. A higher proportion of the main campus students were satisfied with access to faculty advisors (93% versus 80%). ConclusionRegardless of campus site, student organizations were available to students, and lack of access was not perceived as a barrier to participation in student organizations. Access to faculty advisors for student organizations should be an area of focus for schools with satellite campuses.

Student Life at the College of The Bahamas: The Role of COBUS

Student government and student activities at the College of The Bahamas have helped to define the growth and development of the institution. The College of the Bahamas Union of Students or COBUS as it is better known, has been a crucible for civic and professional leaders. Many COBUS Presidents have gone on to become leaders in the community, well-known forerunners in their respective fields of endeavour and have become household names in the Bahamas.

Training Young Activists

This article examines how nonprofit activist youth groups shape the civic and political trajectories of their adolescent members. Based on analyses of survey and semi-structured interview data gathered from low-income, racially diverse, and immigrant alumni members of grassroots youth organizing groups and from a comparison sample, findings suggest that adolescent activist groups foster high levels of civic and political participation in early adulthood. Similar to other public-oriented volunteer associations—such as student government—activist groups impart civic skills and experiences that facilitate later involvement. Yet activist groups may function as particularly intensive training grounds for future participation by developing members’ political consciousness and engaging them in political processes. In spite of operating within a neoliberal context that sometimes inhibits the political activity of nonprofits, contemporary grassroots youth organizing groups, somewhat like the 1960s’ civil rights groups decades earlier, can propel some young people toward ongoing engagement with social movements.

The Formation of Political Attitudes according to Participation in the Student Government Activities and Classroom Climate

The Formation of Political Attitudes according to Participation in the Student Government Activities and Classroom Climate

Crowdfunding: A Threat or Opportunity for University Research Funding?

Universities, like many other organisations, have an insatiable need for funding. It appears that student fees, government funding, alumni support and endowments are insufficient to fund the expectations that universities will undertake myriad research projects, knowledge dissemination and staff and student development. Rather than depending on multi-millionaire donors or company commissions, universities may seek to package research into discrete parcels to market to enthusiastic supporters. Thus they will require a funding platform which draws on a multitude of smaller investors/donors. Klaes (2012) notes that crowdfunding, a vehicle through which this can be achieved is a disruptive technology of financial intermediation. However it is unclear whether the development a crowdfunding market will complement, supplement or crowd-out other funding. In addition, the marketability of certain projects may crowd-out less popular projects and further reduce the viability of necessary research.The research question addressed in this study is: does crowd-funding represent a threat or opportunity to the continuation of more traditional research funding sources for the University sector? This paper reviews recent research in the evolution of crowdfunding, legislation governing crowdfunding, and then examines in detail the University crowdfunding sites which are used to generate funds for staff research. This paper describes a few successful University projects which have raised research funds for staff on such sites, and also sought to review both the disadvantages and advantages of this funding method. Advantages include the potential to break the stranglehold on research funding from hyper-bureaucratic organisations. But the downside may be (as conjectured in this paper) that the purported democratization of research is both a dumbing-down and homogenization, a beauty pageant, where those more attractive and popular will be 'winners', and those who cannot position themselves to curry popular favour are losers in this game. The appeal of such a market-led mechanism for university research funding may, in time, lead away from Government funding for the authentic assessment of (at times) apparently unpopular but genuine projects where outcomes are highly technical, may involve a large amount of intellectual property rights, and their funding depends on the open minds of highly experienced and informed decision makers, not those at the other end of a computer mouse. The research question addressed in this study is: does crowd-funding represent a threat or opportunity to the continuation of more traditional research funding sources for the University sector, responding to calls that academics could collect and research crowdfunding, and also increase interest in educating our students as to its evolution and characteristics. The use by Universities to raise material amounts of research funding by such means is scare. This is a surprising result, given how long crowdfunding has 'been around'. Crowdfunding has the potential to tap into previously inaccessible funds, as the characteristics of many donors are those of a generation responding to social media and an internet-based philosophy to banking activity and funding decisions. This study concludes that the Ivory Towers are alive and well as far as research funding is concerned for all by a handful of tertiaries. But even as we write-up this study, we have no doubt that some universities will be actively packaging research into discrete parcels to commence marketing to alumni and other supporters in this manner. It remains unclear at this point whether the development of a crowdfunding market in the tertiary sector will complement, supplement or crowd-out other more traditional patterns of allocation of scarce funding, and relationships with very large funding bodies such as the UK Economic and Social Research Council and the EU European Research Council. Neither of these bodies carry any reference on their sites to research on this activity, appearing on the funding landscape as further two Ivory Towers. We hope that our other studies currently underway will shed light on such evolution and growth of this distinctive funding sources for core university research.

Religions, Philosophies and Ethics: Curriculum Change in the Marketised Academy

This article is a case study of curriculum change centred on the introduction of a new Religions, Philosophies and Ethics degree. This innovation was necessitated by shifting patterns of student demand and government policies at both school and university level but also responded to some factors specific to Bath Spa University. Here we analyse and evaluate the resources upon which we drew in our own heritage as a teaching team, some issues we faced in terms of different Benchmarking Statements, the opportunities we discovered in developing a shared ethos and the threats we identified related to the status of Religious Education, in the expectation that many of the points are of wider relevance. We conclude with some ideas for creative ways forward, entailing cross-institutional co-operation, in a hostile environment.

Predictors of Study Abroad Intent, Participation, and College Outcomes

This study examined US undergraduate students’ intent to study abroad upon college entry and their actual participation in study abroad during their undergraduate years, correlating the college outcomes of three cohorts to identify trends. The findings show that study abroad intent and participation are interrelated and shaped by an array of factors, including gender, race or ethnicity, major, and involvement in college activities. While mathematical ability and helping to promote racial understanding negatively affected study abroad intent, aspiring to earn an advanced degree, time spent socializing with friends, artistic ability, seeking to improve understanding of other countries and cultures, and expectations to join a social fraternity or sorority, to be satisfied with college, and to participate in student clubs or groups positively influenced study abroad intent. Also, the findings indicate that involvement in the student government, a music or theater group, a political club, club sports, and off-campus study negatively affected participation in study abroad. Finally, the findings reveal that study abroad made a unique contribution to college outcomes, such as understanding moral and ethical issues, communication skills, academic performance, and overall satisfaction. Implications for higher education researchers, study abroad professionals, senior administrators, faculty advisors, and college students are discussed.

Student power in a global perspective and contemporary trends in student organising

Students, if organised into representative student governments or movements, can be a highly influential agency shaping higher education policy. This article introduces the Special Issue on student power in a global perspective, which addresses the question of how students are organised in different world regions and what role they play in higher education policymaking within universities or at the national level. The article discusses conceptual considerations in the study of student governments and movements and reviews the contemporary trends in student organising globally.

Student representation and multiparty politics in African higher education

The transition from one-party rule and other forms of authoritarianism to multiparty democracy in the 1990s has had a profound impact on the organisation and role of student politics in Africa. Against the background of student involvement in African politics in the twentieth century, leading up to student participation in Africa's ‘second liberation’ in the early 1990s, the paper analyses the organisation of student governments, student representation in institutional and national governance, student unionism and the emergence of political parties in student politics in the 2000s. Proceeding from Munene's argument regarding a shift in oppositional politics in Africa away from students to multiparty politics, this paper finds that party politics is also increasingly implicated in African student politics with varied results. The paper concludes by proposing a tentative framework for understanding the impact of high levels of resource exchange between student leaders and political parties on student representation.

The impact of Greek organization membership on collegiate outcomes: Evidence from a National Survey

Using a longitudinal survey of college students from over 400 institutions and a propensity score weighting framework, we examine the impacts of college fraternity and sorority membership on academic outcomes and general facets of the college experience. Our results suggest a mixed academic effect for males and a positive academic effect for females. For both genders, we find evidence that membership increases the likelihood of graduating on time and graduate school aspirations. For males, however, there appears to be a small, negative impact on grades. For both genders, we find that Greek membership increases the frequency of alcohol and cigarette consumption and decreases religious convictions and religious service attendance. Lastly, Greek organization members are more likely to participate in student government, perform volunteer work, and begin their careers immediately following graduation.