Healthy Campus: Integrating Student and Academic Life (2011 Strategic Plan)

We propose an expanded “Healthy Campus” initiative to work with student groups, faculty, and staff to develop a more integrated, proactive, and preventative approach to healthy living as individuals and as a campus community. Hampshire can become known as a place that considers student life from a holistic perspective. By “healthy” we explicitly mean the absence of disease and distress and also quality of life of staff, faculty, and especially students. Health is a set of practices that are learned and acted upon. The study and activities around health promotion provide a means to link body and mind, academic life with student life. New college students are free to make key health choices for the first time, choices about foods, sleeping, substance use, etc. Positive decisions lead to academic success and a healthy lifestyle. The creation of a healthier campus could increase retention and improve the quality of academic work as well as reduce overall health costs.

Hampshire works to educate students about healthy lifestyles and choices and about the risks of substance abuse, including tobacco, street and prescription drugs, and over consumption of alcohol. New, creative, and proactive programs supported by sufficient resources are far more effective than reactive responses. We need to continue to raise staffing levels in residences and in the Community Health Collaborative in order to support this important area of education.

Comments
Please include your thoughts on the importance of the initiative, how to frame the issue, things that may be missing, and any additional comments here (you can do so by logging into Hampedia and clicking edit):


 * While I support this initiative fully, I do think we need to be careful to treat substance use as a student health issue and not as a disciplinary issue. Devin Morse