PRINTER'S NO. 2986
No. 534 Session of 2007
INTRODUCED BY CONKLIN, MELIO, JAMES, BRENNAN, KORTZ, McGEEHAN,
SAINATO, GIBBONS, SIPTROTH, GEORGE, GOODMAN, PALLONE, MANN,
BELFANTI, MAJOR, SHIMKUS, PARKER, PETRONE, MANTZ, HARHAI,
CRUZ, KULA, WOJNAROSKI AND SEIP, DECEMBER 11, 2007
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS,
DECEMBER 11, 2007
A RESOLUTION
1 Urging the Congress of the United States to fund the creation
2 and maintenance of a database of the mental health needs of
3 college and university students.
4 WHEREAS, College students face unique personal challenges,
5 often living away from their parents or guardians for the first
6 time; and
7 WHEREAS, The 2007 Virginia Tech tragedy highlighted the
8 impact of mental health issues on college campuses across the
9 United States; and
10 WHEREAS, Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among
11 college students 18 to 24 years of age; and
12 WHEREAS, Nearly one in 12 college students seriously
13 considers suicide; and
14 WHEREAS, Untreated depression is estimated to be the number
15 one cause of suicide; and
16 WHEREAS, According to a study by the American College Health
17 Association, more than 42% of college students felt too
1 depressed to function at least one time during 2007; and
2 WHEREAS, Compared to all other college health concerns, such
3 as colds, headaches and backaches, depression and anxiety are
4 the fourth and sixth most common health concerns, respectively,
5 as expressed by college students according to the same study;
6 and
7 WHEREAS, More than 130 universities and colleges from across
8 the United States have banded together, including several in the
9 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to form the Center for the Study
10 of College Student Mental Health (CSCSMH), spearheaded by the
11 Center for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at The
12 Pennsylvania State University; and
13 WHEREAS, The CSCSMH is the largest and most comprehensive
14 effort to substantially increase the knowledge base regarding
15 college student mental health and to improve the clinical
16 services provided; and
17 WHEREAS, The CSCSMH represents a groundbreaking, long-term
18 collaborative vision to build a national mental health
19 informatics infrastructure that will transform our understanding
20 of and ability to respond to college student mental health
21 issues for decades to come; and
22 WHEREAS, The CSCSMH has already led the development and
23 distribution of national mental health data standards, along
24 with their scheduling and recordkeeping counseling center
25 software; and
26 WHEREAS, Participating centers will gather standardized data
27 in the course of daily business with the resulting data being
28 uploaded to the CSCSMH servers at regular intervals, where
29 automated reporting technologies will produce actionable data
30 for a wide variety of purposes related to college student mental
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1 health; and
2 WHEREAS, The goals of the CSCSMH include utilizing available
3 technology and developing new technology to assist college and
4 university counseling centers in treating the mental health
5 needs of their students and informing and educating the public
6 regarding the importance of meeting the mental health needs of
7 college and university students; and
8 WHEREAS, Constantly looking for ways to improve the mental
9 health of young people, the ultimate aim of the CSCSMH is to
10 make its ever-expanding data set available to interested
11 counseling centers and academic researchers worldwide; and
12 WHEREAS, Ascertaining information regarding the mental health
13 status and mental health needs of college students will help to
14 better understand mental illness and how it affects college
15 students, to help these students and to prevent incidents of
16 violence; therefore be it
17 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives urge the Congress
18 of the United States to fund the creation and maintenance of a
19 database of the mental health needs of college and university
20 students; and be it further
21 RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
22 presiding officers of each house of Congress and to each member
23 of Congress from Pennsylvania.
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