Quadcast: Meeting Students Where They Are: One Professor’s Approach to Care
This week on The Quadcast, MCI reporter Mollie Ames speaks with Sam Dolbee, her former advisor at Harvard College and a current assistant professor of history at Vanderbilt University. As professors around the country find themselves on the frontlines of the student mental health crisis, Sam discusses his experiences providing care to students who are struggling. Conscious of the wide range of stressors his students are facing, Sam is willing to adapt his teaching to meet the needs of his students, as individuals or a group. “I think working with all students involves meeting them where they are and treating them like the complex, interesting human beings that they are,” he said.
Mental and Behavioral Health
Main Stories
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its biannual Youth Risk Behavior Survey, revealing the dire state of mental health among teens. In Bloomberg, columnist Lisa Jarvis calls the report a “red alert” for educators, parents and policy makers to address this growing crisis, especially among young girls, 60% of whom said they’d felt “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness” in the previous year. Nearly one-third had considered suicide. In the face of major contemporary stressors like social media, mass shootings, and climate change, Jarvis argues adults can take practical steps to increase connectedness and improve communication. “But as a society, we are failing our kids,” she writes. “It will take a society-wide response to help them.”
Other News
NPR considers how social media use is contributing to the mass mental health challenges among teens by distorting social interaction and encouraging “bad” behaviors.
For TIME, Minnie Bredouw, executive director of the nonprofit Purpose Project, encourages adults to support teens struggling with their mental health by helping them find their purpose.
Diverse Education announces a new mental health initiative launched by The United Negro College Fund (UNCF), The Steve Fund and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to support Black colleges and universities.
K-12 Dive reviews a recent survey from the consulting firm EAB, finding that the vast majority (more than three-quarters) of superintendents do not feel they have the resources to confront student mental health needs.
According to The News & Observer, the Student Mental Health Task Force out of North Carolina State University released a report recommending “sweeping changes affecting every aspect of campus life.”
For Inside Higher Ed, Barnard College President Sian Beilock encourages colleges to help students find hope, so they can build resilience and overcome mental health challenges.
Inside Higher Ed reports that colleges including the University of Texas at Austin are publishing “nap maps” in order to encourage more sleep and help students find spaces on campus to rest.
Inside Higher Ed highlights ten ways that colleges across the country have designed residential spaces—by gender, religious or even pet-affiliation—to foster not only academic but personal growth.
Also in Inside Higher Ed: students at Stanford and Georgetown University spearheaded programming to commemorate a new student mental health week (February 6-12).
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
News outlets continue to buzz with updates and commentary on the College Board’s decision to modify the curriculum for its Advanced Placement course in African American studies. The changes came shortly after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis banned the course, prompting The Washington Post to explore the political implications of the College Board’s decision to omit the word “systemic” from the curriculum. The New York Times suggests New Jersey Governor Philip Murphy’s plans to expand the AP course implicate his state in “an escalating culture-war battle over the way schools teach about race.” CNN calls the battle between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the College Board ironic, given the governor’s open opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion practices and the nonprofit’s ownership of a test (the SAT) often accused of preventing diversity on campuses.
Student Buzz
Members of the Editorial Board of The State News defend their decision not to attend classes a week after the campus shooting that killed three of their Michigan State University peers.
For The Daily Wildcat, one student columnist describes how the mishandling of two separate incidents, including shootings on and around campus, led her to lose faith in her college, the University of Arizona.
Offering testimonies from his friends and family, The Yale Daily News remembers Yale senior Garrett Woodard, 23, who died by suicide last week.
In the The Daily Princetonian, a student columnist refutes a previous op-ed, arguing that the mental health challenges affecting Princeton students are “the price of greatness.”
Mustang News covers the mental health challenges affecting California Polytechnic State University students who study engineering, typically one of the most intense programs.
Student Success
In the wake of the debilitating impact of the pandemic, is the only way forward for higher education sweeping transformation? In the The New York Times, columnist David Brooks argues that the current moment is ripe for a “schools revolution” that harnesses innovative teaching to confront decreasing enrollment, increasing absenteeism and raging inequality. The Chronicle considers how immersive education, including studying abroad, internships and experiential learning, could help counter the massive wave of “anxiety, hopelessness, and disconnection” crashing upon the college student population.
College Affordability
The Education Department will review an exception to the Higher Education Act that allows colleges to form tuition-sharing agreements with online program managers (OPMs) so long as the companies provide services beyond recruiting students, The Wall Street Journal reveals. Advocates have complained that this provision still leads to “aggressive marketing and confusion” that results in unsuspecting students being saddled with debt.
Basic Needs
In light of a massive housing crisis plaguing California, Fortune highlights one college’s solution to limited dorm space: a floating barge, which some students have likened to a “prison boat.” Yet colleges are struggling to not only find enough space to house students but maintain the spaces they do have. According to EdSource, a new report finds that universities across the California State University system are currently in need of several billion dollars to properly repair their buildings and facilities.
Campus Safety
After a shooter opened fire in a classroom of students attending a lecture at Michigan State University last Monday, killing three of them, the higher ed community is in rampant discussion about how best to keep students safe. The Chronicle reveals that, in response to the shooting, MSU temporarily suspended in-person activities, but students are petitioning for an extension to online classes as they struggle to regain a sense of security at school. The Washington Post explores whether colleges, typically open communities, should consider restricting access to their building. After a shooting last year at the University of Virginia killed students, The Post adds, a proposed bill could require public universities to report any suspected dangerous individuals to the authorities.
