Preventing a Coronavirus Holiday Surge
Experts are concerned that Thanksgiving travel and gatherings could cause another surge of the coronavirus – “a surge upon a surge” according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert. Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, told CBS‘ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that anyone who met with people from outside their household over Thanksgiving should assume they have COVID-19 and get tested in the coming week. “If you’re young and you gathered, you need to be tested about five to 10 days later,” she said. “But you need to assume that you’re infected and not go near your grandparents and aunts and others without a mask.”
Another possible superspreader event? Thanksgiving Eve, also known as “Drinksgiving,” when college students home for the holiday meet up with their friends. According to the New York Times, in previous years, it is one of the busiest bar nights of the year. And while many states cut off alcohol sales earlier or cracked down on Covid-19 violations this year, many others have allowed bars to stay open, even as cases rise.
On last week’s Quadcast, we spoke with two college health experts who offered advice on how students, families and colleges can safeguard physical and mental health for students over the holidays.
Mental and Behavioral Health
In The Conversation, Neuroscience professors at Carleton University in Canada discuss the cumulative toll that pandemic-related stress is having on the health and wellbeing of students. They have been tracking the effects of the pandemic on mental health of college students to determine whether those who are particularly vulnerable can be identified. Their preliminary data suggest that the impacts of coronavirus may be affecting students who identify as male and female differently. More female students indicate that the pandemic has been extremely disruptive to their stress and mental health, and that it has significantly disrupted their academic studies. Females are also more likely to report that social isolation has been difficult or very difficult. Additionally, their data show that a subset of students has increased the use of substances such as alcohol to cope. “University administrators must ensure there is adequate funding and resources to support student mental health, including addressing problematic substance use,” they write. “Professors must be willing to acknowledge and address mental health with their student populations.”
Despite reported increases in anxiety during the pandemic, less than a quarter of college students, according to a survey of 3,500 students at 196 universities, have turned to campus resources for mental health support. Kevin Kruger, PhD, CEO of NASPA, posits that this is in part due to more students studying either hybrid on campus or remotely off campus which restricts close proximity to resources. An additional barrier for students seeking remote support includes lack of privacy in their living situation and/or wifi and technical difficulties. Kruger suggests schools inform their students, especially first-year and transfer students, of the options available and how to use them. With many students preferring to turn to a peer for support when struggling, institutions can engage students through organized peer support groups. According to Kruger, in addition to adequate resources, fostering a sense of belonging in students is another essential piece.
The opinion section of the Daily UW, the student newspaper of the University of Washington, is publishing eight pieces that address the UW Black Student Union demands for the University. The seventh highlights the demand for mental health resources on campus for all students and Black students especially, citing a lack of availability of Black therapists. Last year, The Daily reported on the weeklong wait times for the Counseling Center related to a lack of funding. In a September letter to the BSU, President Ana Mari Cauce and Provost Mark Richards wrote that the university is committed to funding expanded mental health resources for all students, but failed to address the BSU’s demand that more Black therapists be hired.
Josie Chen, a first-year student at Harvard, is among the many students who studied remotely this semester. Though Chen had the opportunity to live on campus as a freshman this fall, she opted to remain home to support her family, which includes an older sister studying remotely as a senior at UC Berkeley, a high school brother, her father who is a home worker, and her mother who lost her waitressing job due to a knee injury during the pandemic. While she was first disappointed to be living at home, she felt it was the right decision, especially after noticing that the students on-campus did not seem to be having the college experience they desired due to Covid precautions. Chen said, “Right now I wouldn’t say I belong at Harvard. I’ve never seen the campus. It’s kind of hard to feel like a sense of ownership, or any sense of loyalty even, to a place I’ve never been.” Chen also speaks to developing relationships with classmates and professors through Zoom from her childhood bedroom.
Lizette Alvarez, a Washington Post columnist with a daughter in college, wrote an opinion piece condemning institutions of higher ed for not prioritizing student mental health during the pandemic. She recounts her daughter’s decision to return home after a month of her freshman year on campus. Alvarez strongly encourages institutions to prioritize safe in-person classes, to offer more accessible counseling and promote services aggressively, among other suggestions.
The Daily Utah Chronicle underscores the pandemic’s effect on student wellbeing. Zach Janis, a University of Utah student, told the Chronicle, “As someone with depression, a lot of my coping comes from being in the company of others.” Janis says the lack of face-to-face interaction has left students feeling desolate. “The social distancing was the hardest part. I like being around people and being outside.”
Syracuse University’s Student Association proposed to pilot the My Student Support Program, a mental and physical health app that offers college students fitness lessons, health assessments and 24/7 mental health support. Some offices on campus including the Graduate Student Organization, the Barnes Center at The Arch and the Student Bar Association, have expressed concerns about the price of the app, which would cost about $215,000 to implement. SA proposed a year-long pilot program for about 4,000 students, after which the Student Association and the Barnes Center will assess how much the students used the app.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Frustrated by the limitations of colleges’ verbal condemnation of violence against unarmed Black people and stated commitment to anti-racial work, students across the country are demanding actionable change. Black students at Western Washington University created a petition with over twenty demands including cross-cultural course requirements for each major and a space for Black students to gather. “As Black students, we are tired of being tokenized. We are tired of being ignored,” the petition read. The students warned of severing ties with student government and contacting Black alumni and donors if their demands for antiracist action were not met. In response, Western Washington President Sabah Randhawa issued a statement with detailed action including requiring all students to take a course in African American studies and structural anti-Black racism. Similarly, the California State University System passed a law requiring all 430,000 enrolled students to take an ethnic studies course starting next fall.
The Hechinger Report published a letter addressing Black students, encouraging them to lean into truth and history, continue to fight to achieve despite disproportionate burdens, and to not let white miseducation deny them of this legacy. The letter reads, “Like previous generations of Black students, you must not only master language arts, social studies, math and art, you must do so while still demanding equal treatment and funding for schools, diverse teachers, safe and healthy learning conditions and rich curricular offerings, including the study of Black people’s contributions to American history. And this year, you must do this with schools closed, amid a terrifying pandemic and an economic crisis the likes of which we haven’t seen in a century.”
In an op-ed in the Chronicle, Eddie R. Cole, an associate professor of higher education and organizational change at UCLA and author of The Campus Color Line: College Presidents and the Struggle for Black Freedom comments on “a pattern of modern academic leadership more concerned with safety, civility, and reputation management than with enacting meaningful social and racial justice.” He argues that college and university presidents shy away from the moral authority their institutions grant them when reacting to instances of police brutality or racial injustice.
Sarah Fuller, the senior goalkeeper for Vanderbilt’s women’s soccer team, stepped in to serve as the Commodores’ kicker in Sunday’s football game against the University of Missouri, making sport history as the first woman to play in a Power Five game. Vanderbilt’s kicking unit was sidelined due to coronavirus infections and contact tracing quarantines, so the coaches recruited Fuller to kick, days following the end of her team’s season concluding in an SEC championship win. The back of her helmet reads, “Play like a girl.”
UC Davis AB540 and Undocumented Student Center is helping to fulfill basic needs for the school’s undocumented community. Marian Ashley Fecha, a mental health and cultural identity advocate for the Center, said, “So far, we have hosted support group workshops with our mental health partners, provided bedding (applications are still out for some), emergency grants, food vouchers, and are currently working on sharing other resources with the community with the hopes that they will feel less burdened. Laura Bohórquez García, the director of the AB540 and Undocumented Student Center, explained that the Center offers grants up to $500 that can be put toward basic needs and expenses brought on by the burdens of the pandemic.
Coronavirus: Safety and Reopenings
Several large universities are planning to ramp up or mandate coronavirus testing in the spring, including The University of Florida, the University of South Carolina and the University of North Carolina.
Princeton University will offer housing to all of its enrolled undergraduates in the spring semester. Christopher L. Eisgruber, president of Princeton, told students that the university will continue to enforce strict public health protocols and that most classes will continue to be held virtually.
Massachusetts colleges and universities have been one of the few successes of the pandemic, avoiding outbreaks and keeping case-counts significantly lower than the state’s population. This success is due to an extensive testing system – higher education institutions in the state have conducted more than 2.8 million COVID tests since Aug. 15. “It is a pretty good miniature blueprint of what we should be doing as a society,” said Marc Lipsitch, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Frequent, rapid turnaround testing . . . that should absolutely be replicated at the societal scale.”
Student Success
Education Dive reports that institutions are increasing their focus on serving the roughly 36 million “stopped out students” in the US – those with some college credits but no degree. Virtual learning is helping some colleges make inroads with this population, as they can be enticing to stopped-out students who are often balancing work and family obligations.
In an op-ed in the Hechinger Report, Craig Robinson, the president of College Possible, a nonprofit organization promoting college access and success, urges young people to commit to continuing their education, even amid the strain of the pandemic. “In times as challenging as these, it can be tempting for students to hit the pause button on their education, especially when facing financial hardship,” he writes. But, he argues, the data show that students who enroll in college immediately after high school are more likely to graduate from college, and individuals with bachelor’s degrees will earn $400,000 more in their lifetimes than those with just a high school diploma.
College Affordability
Conversations around student loan debt cancelation as an economic stimulus are growing as the Biden-Harris administration and new members of Congress look to institute change in 2021. Student loan debt disproportionately impacts people of color, Black alumni with loans and a degree are more likely to default on payments than a white person who dropped out of school. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer released a proposal that President-elect Joe Biden relieve all student loan borrowers of the first $50,000. Biden proposed canceling $10,000 for economically distressed borrowers while on the campaign trail. Some argue that student loan relief puts those without access to higher education at a disadvantage, as well as those who have paid off their loans.
Basic Needs: Food and Housing Insecurity
Food insecurity for college and university students has been on the rise as a result of the pandemic and the economic downturn, during which many students have lost jobs and financial support. As a result, students have been turning to food pantries at increased rates. Open Seat, UW-Madison’s student run food pantry, ran a holiday food drive in response to the increase in student demand, which had increased by almost three-fold this past spring. Denise Hollin, Madison College student health educator, noted, “Even as the college prepares for a shutdown with limited access after Thanksgiving, the need remains to help students fight food insecurity.” Open Seat sought to honor students’ dignity by inviting them to select which Thanksgiving dishes they requested, as many draw a sense of control and ownership from the opportunity to choose.
The New York Times reports on student-led mutual aid networks, which have raised tens of thousands of dollars to help peers cover their basic needs amid the pandemic, including housing, medical costs, food and other essentials. Students are utilizing payment apps like Venmo to send funds to students who request small amounts of money. At Vanderbilt University, students and alumni created a network for sharing temporary housing in addition to cash distribution efforts. At Northeastern University, organizers aren’t distributing cash, but using donations to stock a food pantry and distribute personal protective equipment on campus. At Georgetown University, students fill out a funding request form for microgrants of $50 – $100 and are sent money, no questions asked. Sara Goldrick-Rab, a sociology professor at Temple University who studies college affordability and basic needs said, “These mutual aid networks are springing up because the new economics of college, which is what I tend to call it, puts students at a significant economic disadvantage.”
Policy
The Wall Street Journal reports on President-elect Joe Biden’s plans to bring sweeping changes to education and to reverse some of the civil rights-related moves made under President Trump. Biden wants to make community college tuition-free for two years and public college tuition-free for families making less than $125,000 annually. He also supports doubling the maximum value of Pell grants for low- and moderate-income students. He has vowed to push to forgive $10,000 in debt for every American with federal student loans to help them cope during the coronavirus pandemic. “The DeVos administration has basically chosen to side on the powerful and not the vulnerable, not the marginalized,” said Arne Duncan, former President Barack Obama’s education secretary. “That’s going to fundamentally change.”
