Webinar: Peer Programs in College Student Mental Health
Yesterday, the Mary Christie Institute and Ruderman Family Foundation hosted a webinar to review the findings and implications of their recent white paper “Peer Programs in College Student Mental Health.” You can find the slides presented at the webinar on this site. A link to a full recording of the webinar will be posted shortly.
The webinar opens with a presentation of the white paper by co-author Dr. Zoe Ragouzeous, MCI’s clinical director and head of counseling at NYU. MCI executive director Marjorie Malpiede then moderates two panel discussions: the first with Dr. Dolores Cimini, former director of the Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program at the University of Albany, and Amanda Fowler, a student at the University of Albany and senior peer self-care coach in the Middle Earth program; and the second panel with David Arnold, assistant vice president at NASPA, and Dr. Marcus Hotaling, counseling center director at Union College and president of the Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors. The session concludes with a Q&A with audience members.
Mental and Behavioral Health
Main Stories
For Inside Higher Ed, Marcus Hotaling, director of the Eppler-Wolff Counseling Center at Union College, explains his “cautious optimism” regarding the trend of more colleges using teletherapy to tackle demand for campus counseling services. The partnerships counseling centers are forming with teletherapy companies may expand accessibility, he writes, but the future seems precarious, especially if the companies hike up costs and their clinicians become overwhelmed. In another op-ed for Inside Higher Ed, Philip J. Rosenbaum, director of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at Haverford College, and Richard E. Webb, the former director of CAPS at Haverford, take a stronger negative stance on outsourcing teletherapy: they frame it as a compromise many college counseling centers are making at the detriment of higher quality services.
The Washington Post dives into the leave of absence policies at Yale University that have left students who struggle with their mental health fearful of being forced to take time off. The Ivy League institution became infamous for demanding students take mental health withdrawals and then requiring they “reapply” in a process that involved submitting another application fee, personal essay, and letters of recommendation; conducting a new interview with school officials; and earning two courses-worth of credit elsewhere. Although advocates helped secure the dissolvement of these practices, concerns about forced withdrawals and generally inadequate mental health care on campus continue. The Post offers five tips, informed by expert input, to college students considering taking a mental health leave.
Other News
For Inside Higher Ed, Eric Skipper, provost at the University of South Carolina at Beaufort, suggests that unchecked optional attendance policies are counterproductive for student learning and wellbeing.
The Chronicle questions what approach to setting deadlines is the best, noting that some professors experimented with lax deadline policies in the interest of student mental health during the pandemic.
The New York Times dives into the unique pressures on female college student athletes surrounding body composition testing and the disordered eating they can inspire.
In The Atlantic, one op-ed stresses how mental health wellness days are not an effective solution to the rampant burnout that continues to affect American workers since the pandemic.
NBC Bay Area tapped its Investigative Unit to assess how local universities track student suicides and suicide attempts, finding that some schools record and will share data, while others won’t.
WCNC Charlotte reports on the mounting mental health crisis at North Carolina State University, where the fourth student since the beginning of the school year died from suicide on Thursday.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal cover a recent report from the Institute of International Education and the U.S. State Department, finding that international student enrollment rose by 3.8% between the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years—in part thanks to the arrival of students who deferred enrollment during the pandemic lock-down. Previewed data for the 2022-23 year suggests that international enrollment has since continued to increase significantly (by up to 9%).
For Inside Higher Ed, Wil Del Pilar, the vice president for higher education policy and practice at The Education Trust, and Dhanfu E. Elston, the chief of staff at Complete College America, demonstrate how higher education is failing to serve Black and Latino students. These students are underrepresented at every public flagship university in the country, and their rates of completion significantly trail those of white students. Part of the solution, the authors suggest, can come from cultivating a welcoming campus culture and providing basic needs support.
Two higher education experts anticipating a Supreme Court ruling against race conscious admissions, Richard D. Kahlenberg and John C. Brittain, offer a number of suggestions for how colleges and universities can create diversity after affirmative action. Published in The Chronicle, their advice includes putting an end to preferences for applicants who are children of faculty or alumni, as well as giving a “boost” to low-income applicants, first-generation applicants, and applicants from disadvantaged areas.
Student Buzz
Iowa State Daily explores the complexity of faculty roles in supporting student mental health, including the importance of open sharing but also respecting personal boundaries.
The Auburn Plainsman explains how sports psychologists and other campus programming play roles in assessing the mental health of student athletes and supporting them through the stress of competition.
The Ithacan covers the recent campus screening of a new documentary, “All the Lonely People,” followed by a panel discussion about the toll loneliness and isolation can take on people of all ages.
According to The Oberlin Review, a new app called Early Alert is now up and running to help assess students’ wellbeing on a weekly basis and refer them to campus resources as needed.
The Yale Daily News reveals what new initiatives, including the addition of clinicians and locations, the mental health services teams says is significantly decreasing wait times for appointments and treatment.
Sexual Assault & Title IX
In light of the recent death of Zhifan Dong, a first-year student from China at the University of Utah, assumed to be at the hands of her boyfriend, The Chronicle explores the unique ways that international students are vulnerable when it comes to sexual and dating violence. Sudents from countries where conversations about sex are taboo may struggle adjusting to the culture of sex on American campuses, not to mention navigating the sexual assault reporting process.
Greek Life
In an op-ed for Inside Higher Ed, Daniel R. Schwarz, Frederic J. Whiton Professor of English at Cornell University, argues for the elimination of Greek Life across college campuses. He suggests that the type of binge drinking, hazing, groupthink, and sexual assault cultivated within fraternities and sororities suppresses personal growth and individuality—altogether antithetical to the mission of today’s institutions of higher learning.
Reproductive Justice
As Inside Higher Ed reports, the debate over access to abortions is both politically and academically contentious. The legitimacy of a paper suggesting that women who get abortions do not end up with poor mental health outcomes has come into question, specifically by another researcher on abortion whose work “has been characterized as exaggerating the effect of abortion on mental health.”
Student Success
Inside Higher Ed and The Chronicle feature a new report from the National Student Clearinghouse, revealing the detrimental impact of college and university closures on student academic longevity. Of the 143,215 students who attended institutions that closed between July 2004 and June 2020, the study finds, less than half (47.1%) went on to enroll at another college or university and only 36.8% of those who re-enrolled eventually earned a credential.
A recent episode of The Key, a podcast from Inside Higher Ed, asks three experts how colleges and universities can ‘prove themselves’ to prospective students, who may be losing faith in the value of higher education. In part, the guests emphasize the importance of data collection to demonstrate higher ed as a route to employability and financial security.
College Affordability
In the latest turn for President Biden’s student debt relief program, The New York Times reports that three federal appeals court judges unanimously voted to block the plan from being set into motion. While the Biden administration will continue to fight for the activation of the program, The Washington Post suggests, officials may extend a student debt freeze as an alternative.
Basic Needs
It took until mid-November for Bronx Community College, which is part of the City University of New York system, to regain heat after a month without, Inside Higher Ed says. The heating problem seems to be a symptom of wider infrastructural issues on campus, where a lack of funding has meant unmet maintenance needs accrue among 80-year-old buildings.
Campus Safety
The Washington Post profiles the three football players from the University of Virginia who were killed, while two other students were injured, on Sunday as a result of a campus shooting. Meanwhile, on the same day, four students from the University of Idaho were killed in a homicide, which The New York Times says officials are calling a “crime of passion.”
After a FBI investigation spanning several months, The Washington Post reports officials from the bureau announced they’ve linked the string of bomb threats against historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) earlier this year to the same person, a minor. While the FBI is keeping the identity of this individual private, the suspect was evidently responsible for orchestrating threats against 50 different institutions.