Giving Compass' Take:

• Hallie Busta, writing for Education Dive, shares three issues that colleges across the U.S. are facing: concerns over free speech, voting accessibility, and mental health specifically among minorities and LGBTQ students. 

• How do college educators plan to take action? How can philanthropists help colleges address these issues? 

• Read about how reforming Title IX policies will impact sexual assault investigations on campus. 

The academic year is well underway and already campuses are grappling with many of the same issues that characterized the turbulence of 2017-18. Among them, free speech concerns, the ongoing debate over the efficacy of affirmative action admissions policies and increasing urgency around the need to manage rising tuition costs.

In an increasingly partisan environment mired by issues such as sexual misconduct and racial discrimination, college campuses have become nerve centers of unrest. Add to that the fact that the majority of college-age individuals use social media and administrators should be prepared for conflict to escalate quickly.

Concerns over free speech have stemmed from a range of sources, including invitations to controversial speakers by campus groups (and additional fees assessed to provide security) and outcry over the presence of Confederate monuments and symbols.

The upcoming midterms raise the issue of voting accessibility and the challenges facing students who hope to cast their vote from campus or their adopted community. While 62% of college students were registered to vote in the 2014 midterms, just 12% of students ages 18 to 21 actually did so, according to the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education (IDHE) at Tufts University.

Mental health is a growing concern on campus, particularly among minority and LGBTQ students. Education Dive reported last year that while students are seeking mental health services in record numbers, two-thirds of struggling students don't take that step. Black students are less likely to do so than their white peers while being 20% more likely to experience depression, suicidal thinking and post traumatic stress disorder.

Read the full article about college campus issues by Hallie Busta at Education Dive