TRENDS: NEWS YOU CAN USE

March 2009

Each year the most thorough study of college students is done through UCLA’s Education Research Institute, led by Alexander Astin since the late 1960’s.  Here are a few “highlights” from UCLA’s latest study (1/17/08) of 14,000 students at 136 campuses nationwide (see www.usatoday.com):

*  “Colleges are considered sort of bastions of secularism,” Alexander Astin says. The findings suggest that “we have every reason to believe that the colleges are actually fostering some of these changes.”

*  The study reinforces other research showing a decline in attendance at religious services among college students.  

*  Among incoming freshmen, for example, 43.7% said they frequently attend services; by the end of their junior year that was down to 25.4%.  In addition, 37.5% of juniors said they did not attend services, up from 20.2% who said so as a new freshmen.  (The UCLA study now goes beyond the freshman year in their research as it did in earlier years.)

*  Astin’s study documents “significant growth” in the desire to engage in a spiritual quest, to be more caring, and to develop an ecumenical worldview.

*  74.3% of juniors said “helping others in difficulty” was “very important” or essential,” compared with 62.1% of the freshmen.

*  66.6% of juniors said “reducing pain and suffering in the world” was “very important” or “essential,” compared with 54.6% of freshmen.

*  63.8% of juniors said they supported “improving the human condition,” compared with 53.4% of freshmen.

*  Nearly 60% of students said their professors never encouraged discussions of religious or spiritual matters, and fewer than 20% said their professors “frequently” encouraged exploration of questions of meaning and purpose.”  Astin went on to say, “these are qualities that colleges can and should care about!”

“Nationally 1,100 college students a year commit suicide.”  However, many colleges, in response to the Virginia Tech catastrophe, have created mental health task-forces to help students through their problems.  Unfortunately “therapy often carries a stigma on college campuses because many high-achieving students believe that seeking help is a weakness.”(Orange County Register, 10.05.07)

“Teen birth rate rises for first time in 14 years,” according to the 2006 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study.  In addition, teen births being up by 3% is sad enough, but, the explosive growth in total out-of wedlock births is up by 8%. (frcpub@frc.org, 1.17.08)

Students associated with the University of Wisconsin-Steven Point pro-life club obtained permission from the school to place 4,000 white crosses on campus grounds.  The display was meant to symbolize the 4,000 unborn babies aborted every day in America. But on May 1, 2008, the display was vandalized by Roderick King, a UWSP student senator, because, he said “the pro-life group had no right to challenge legal abortion because of Roe V. Wade decision in 1973 by U.S. Supreme Court.” (www.onenewsnow.com, 6.10.08)

In the United States and most of Western Europe “a majority of people say they believe their children’s lives will be worse than theirs,” according to a survey by the 2007 Pew Global Attitudes Project.  “This lack of optimism ranges from 80% in France to about 70% in Italy and Germany to 60% in the U.S. and Britain.  We are the first generation in more than a century that does not share a vision of hope and progress.” (Los Angeles Times, 6.11.08)

The University of Colorado at Boulder hopes to endow a chair for a politically conservative scholar (Inside Higher Education, May 13, 2008).  This is likely because most colleges have liberal professors with as many as 90% liberal or more of the entire faculty in numerous academic departments.  David Horowitz, who has achieved notoriety in his critique of the significant political bias on most campuses, says “he applauds the idea of increasing sociological diversity, but fears the move will create a token conservative in a sea of liberal thought.” (cmu@ivyjungle.org, 5.30.08)

Young voters became very engaged in this year’s election cycle.  “57% of voters under 30 say they have given ‘quite a lot’ of thought to the election, up from 44% in 2004.  87% say they plan to vote this fall up from 81% four years ago.” (USA Today, 5.5.08)

“The two openly homosexual members of U.S. House of Representative have recruited 50 of their colleagues to officially join them in promoting the homosexual agenda in congress.”  The two are Democrats Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin who have organized “the House Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Caucus.” (Writer’s comment: It is a sad time when Congress officially promotes sexual immorality.) (www.onenewsnow.com, 6.13.08)

The National Association of Scholars has posted a comprehensive article “Campus Speech Codes: Absurd, Tenacious, and Everywhere,” by Greg Lukianoff, FIRE president.  The article discusses the origins of speech codes as well as their legal history in the courts, including FIRE’s Speech Codes Litigation Project.  Speech codes often limit the opportunity campus ministries gaining legal status on campus or hinders opportunities for presenting speakers who want to stand up for Christ today.  Examples of this have been presented consistently in this “Trends” column over the years. (www.thefire.org, 6.28.08)

Who contributes the most to religions or to charity in America, liberals or conservatives? According to Arthur C. Brooks, a professor at Syracuse University, in Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism, the answer is conservatives give more than liberals.  Brooks is a registered Independent scholar.  As an example: “liberal families income average 6 percent higher than those of conservative families, conservative-headed households give, on average, 30 percent more to charity than liberal-headed household ($1,600 per year vs. $1,227)”.  (Orange County Register,3.27.08)