Over the past 70 years a legend has evolved that the first college health program in the United States was established at Amherst College in 1861. Although the program at Amherst was innovative in its day and served as a model for the field of college health, several other institutions prior to 1860 appropriated funds, hired staff, and established…

The current global recession has increased personal stress levels throughout our society. With dwindling resources, institutions of higher learning are especially prone to budgetary cutbacks during such periods. Based on 22 years of experience as a health service director, the author offers some personal insights in the hope that they will help…

Academic policies that require medical excuses are based on mistrust of students and conflict with institutional honor codes. Such policies undermine the philosophical and educational foundations of higher education; namely, to model and nurture honesty, integrity, and citizenship in emerging adults. Instead, they encourage hypocrisy and…

The introduction of the birth control pill in 1960 precipitated 2 decades of intense social change in the United States, particularly in the area of sexuality. Colleges and universities were not immune to these changes. The author examines the struggles at 1 land-grant university to find common ground on this issue among students, faculty,…

In 1964, Eric Berne, MD, captured one's imagination when he wrote "Games People Play", in which he described some common life experiences as repetitive social exercises requiring participants to assume specific roles to achieve an objective or situation about which they were not always aware. He provided fairly involved transactional analyses of…

In the past 5 years, an important treasure for the field of college health was rediscovered and has been completely renovated. It is the original student infirmary, now called Varsity Hall, at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Varsity Hall is a significant rediscovery for those who are interested in the history of college health. This…

Reporting lines for directors of student health centers (SHCs) at colleges and universities are a matter of continuing interest for those of us who must follow them. SHC directors at institutions with academic medical centers face a greater number of reporting choices that also have the potential of being more politically charged. The author…