This qualitative interview study examines challenges college students may experience in extracurricular dialogues on contested sociopolitical issues. It also discusses approaches that students claim support them through the challenges of contested issues dialogues. This study found that college students encountered challenges including difficulty…

The university system in Nigeria has been characterised by persistent social unrest traceable to strained relationships between students and the university authorities. Observations, reports and literature confirm that students' unrest in the universities has become a clog in the wheel of development and speedy actualisation of university goals…

Sociology curricula often house a variety of "hot button" or contentious topics (e.g., race relations, crime and deviance, personal freedoms/choice, gender). While departments may be giving more attention to ensuring that these topics are included in their curriculum, here I argue that we also need to engage students in reflection about…

The functioning of online media as a tool imparting awareness about environmental issues of Pakistan requires attention from academia. Therefore, the present article explains the way students use online media to engage with environment related issues of Pakistan. A carefully constructed survey using a 5-point Likert scale was administered to 223…

Cyberbullying research has typically been focused on specific areas, such as victimization, offender characteristics and typologies, and psychological effects for victims; however, perceived severity of cyberbullying has been studied less extensively. Using data on college students, the present study expands the current knowledge on perceived…

Cyberbullying takes place when the Internet is used purposefully to cause harm or discomfort to a specific person or group of persons. Because of the fast growth of digital technologies, cyberbullying is replacing physical bullying and becoming a prevalent social problem around the world. This study outlines the author's efforts of integrating…

Sense-making theory involves a sociological/communications science approach to the need of students to make sense of their environment and the information they are seeking to find. With many digital resources to choose from, non-traditional students often have difficulty finding the best resource for their assignments, opting for the easiest path…

Oregon Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) focuses its afterschool programs with middle and high school students on inventions that address key problems in developing countries, such as sustainable lighting, water transportation, water filtration, and prosthetics. With the support of a grant from the Oregon Community Foundation,…

In the past 10 to 15 years, the wide prevalence of various forms of negative behavior among young people in college has become one of the main causes of their deteriorating health. Traditionally classified among such forms are the excessive consumption of alcohol, smoking, and narcotics abuse. Issues relating to the protection of students' health…

Latina college students are one of the fastest-growing segments of the college student population. Although there is evidence suggesting Latina high school students are at increased risk of engaging in suicidal behavior, it is unclear Bwhether this risk continues in college. Over the course of 3 years, 554 Latina college students, the majority of…

Using data from the 2009 Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership, this article examines the personal characteristics and environmental experiences that contribute to college students' involvement in social change. Results indicate that collegiate environmental characteristics (i.e., student group membership, leadership training, discussions…

Radical extremists on the left and right are allied in a concerted attack on higher education, blaming the campuses for the unrest. Though the public on the whole has rejected the extreme charges, many have been persuaded that campus reforms would lessen or eliminate the disorders that have swept higher education. Hundreds of studies of student…

The purpose of this study was to discover the underlying and fundamental causes of campus unrest. An attempt was also made to determine how much of campus unrest is a reflection of social ills, and how much is a reflection of current dissatisfactions and uneasiness concerning college curriculum. The report opens with a prologue by the Commission…

This pilot study was conducted with the intention of examining changes in attitude that have or are occurring among upperclassmen on the campus of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. One method of judging this was to assess the attitudes of both sexes toward selected current sexual topics. (Author)

Adapted from a speech delivered on Charter Day at the University of California.