This One Goes To 11

Editorializing about the possibility of criminal charges by the Orange County DA against students who disrupted an on-campus speech by the Israeli ambassador last year, the LA Times is absolutely right:

Criminal charges...are not appropriate. They would be overkill, a punishment out of proportion to the offense. Is it really necessary to threaten the futures of students who engaged in a nonviolent protest that didn't, ultimately, stop Oren from delivering his remarks? These students have been punished already, in an effort to make clear the difference between legitimate protest and their unacceptable actions. We hope they've learned a lesson. Now it's time to move on.

Hat tip to Tom Tierney

Big Misery On Campus

Experts say college students are more stressed out than ever, because of their worries about declining opportunity after graduation, their student loans, their parents' unemployment, and the pressure they've been putting themselves under since high school. It's worse for young women than men:

“One aspect of it is how women and men spent their leisure time,” [UCLA's Linda Sax] said. “Men tend to find more time for leisure and activities that relieve stress, like exercise and sports, while women tend to take on more responsibilities, like volunteer work and helping out with their family, that don’t relieve stress.”

God And Men And Women At College

The LA Times on a new study of college students' spiritual lives. First, they question what they've been taught to believe already:

It also found that many young people eschewed the rituals of organized religion but embraced what the researchers defined as the cornerstones of spirituality: asking the big, existential questions; working to improve one's community; and showing empathy toward other people.

"These spiritual qualities are critical and vital to many things a student does in college and after," Astin said.

The researchers also found that students who were more spiritual typically performed better academically, had stronger leadership skills, were more amiable and were generally more satisfied with college.