The Quadcast featuring Will Meek, Director of CAPS at Brown University
As schools finalize reopening plans, a key consideration will be the way they support their students’ mental health. The emotional and behavioral impact of COVID-19 and the upset over continued racial injustice in this country combine with practical challenges resulting from the closing of campuses.
In our second “Quadcast” episode, The Mary Christie Foundation spoke with Will Meek, Director of Counseling and Psychological Services at Brown University about how he and is staff are supporting students throughout these challenges. Will brings keen insights into ways campuses can help students heal; how what schools have done prior to the death of George Floyd will affect how they respond; and what mental health services will look like for many colleges this fall.
Black Lives Matter
In the Chronicle, Rafael Walker, an assistant professor of English at Baruch College, writes that administrative statements from college presidents and chancellors must “explain what concrete steps they have taken in ensuring that these tragedies do not happen again. They should detail their commitments not to abstractions but to real groups of people and real departments and programs, in the form of allocations of finances and personnel. Statements are natural places for reckonings, venues for self-reflection in which educational leaders offer frank assessments of their roles in preventing and abetting injustices.”
Princeton University announced that it will remove Woodrow Wilson‘s name from its public policy school over “racist thinking and policies” that the former president championed. In a letter, the university’s Board of Trustees said that long-standing questions over Wilson’s history of supporting segregationist policies were “made more urgent” by the recent high-profile killings of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks.
Coronavirus Impact
The Wall Street Journal takes a deep dive into college student mental health as a major consideration when colleges and universities resume, in some form, in the fall. Given the confluence of current events, counseling centers are bracing for an increased demand for mental health treatment and are making plans to keep everyone safe. Barry A. Schreier, director of the university counseling service at the University of Iowa said, “Students are experiencing trauma, grief, losses as a result of Covid” and the events surrounding the killing of George Floyd. To prepare, some schools are training professors to identify trauma in their students, even over Zoom. Others are expanding their teletherapy services to online group treatment programs and workshops, and increasing their online presence with videos and podcasts. While many schools plan to continue most of their sessions virtually, some, like Rice University, are planning to do some in-person therapy, with temperature checks, required masks, and staggered appointment times. Rice Clinical director Elizabeth Plummer has divided her counseling staff into three teams that will not interact so that “If one team gets infected, another team can come in.”
In Business Insider, Elke Weesjes, an adjunct assistant professor in European History at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY and an associate at a mental health practice in New York City, writes that community college students have been disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, facing difficulties like a lack of internet access, lost income, or difficult living situations. Weesjes remarks that students may be forthcoming about these challenges, and professors should respond by applying a more inclusive approach when designing lesson plans and requirements, using tools that can be accessed from smartphones, and providing consistent structure with firm weekly deadlines.
A Forbes article explains why plans to restart college sports are coming under criticism. Many schools, including Indiana University, University of Missouri, Ohio State and Southern Methodist University have asked student-athletes to sign a waiver or awareness form about the risks of coronavirus transmission. In Sports Illustrated, Brooks Austin criticizes schools for relying on student athletes to keep their athletic departments afloat during a time of financial difficulty. He asks, “Why is it the responsibility of unpaid labor (student-athletes) to protect the entire institution of college athletics from folding amidst financial ruin?” There are significant legal and ethical questions about asking unpaid student athletes to sign waiver documents, and many schools are calling them pledges, saying they aren’t intended to deflect from potential liability. Sports Illustrated quotes Ramogi Huma, executive director of the National College Players Association, a nonprofit advocacy group serving college athletes, who said, “The premise of these schools to bring unpaid players on campus during a pandemic and claim they should be fine while coercing them into signing a liability waiver … there’s a lot wrong with this.” A number of athletes in summer training have already tested positive for coronavirus.
At least seven colleges have cancelled their fall sports in the last two weeks out of concerns related to the coronavirus. Bowdoin College and the University of Massachusetts Boston, were among the first schools to cancel their fall seasons. The College of New Jersey cancelled high-contact sports for the fall term including football and basketball. The Pratt Institute, in New York, and Williams College cancelled their fall seasons. And Morehouse College won’t participate in football or cross-country this fall, saying it was impossible to compete without breaking social distancing guidelines.
The Chronicle reports a spike in coronavirus cases among students at the University of South Carolina. The president, Robert L. Caslen, attributed the cases – an increase of 79 in eight days – to off-campus gatherings in nearby neighborhoods and bars. Colleges are coming to terms with the harsh reality that they can only do so much to control student behavior.
The Chronicle reports on the dilemma that HBCUs are facing as they confront both the pandemic and the trauma of racism and police brutality at the same time. The college communities offer a haven for many of their students, but the safety risks of returning to campus are significant. Financial risk in staying off campus is another factor. “Most HBCU’s are planning to welcome students back to campus this fall in some form, painfully aware that their own economic survival may depend on it. Most have small endowments and operate on razor-thin margins, serving large numbers of low-income and first-generation students whose financial, academic, and emotional needs will be even greater this fall.”
NPR explores the “wild card” for returning to campus in the fall – student behavior. Keeping campuses safe will rely on students following the strict guidelines that schools have outlined. Anna Song, who studies young adult decision-making at the University of California, Merced has found in her research that student behavior can be influenced with the right messaging. She believes that the challenge is to figure out what messages will motivate students to adhere to the guidelines. Others are less optimistic that student behavior can change. “Peer culture is really durable. It is not easy to change,” says Kristen Renn, an associate dean at Michigan State University. “We haven’t done it with alcohol. We haven’t done it with sexual behavior. We haven’t done it with all kinds of things.”
In the New York Times, Susan Dynarski, a professor of education, public policy and economics at the University of Michigan, discusses the return to campus in the fall. She asserts that while getting a college degree is incredibly beneficial, bringing students back to campus represents a “gamble that could generate outsize risks for society and only modest benefits for students.”
UC San Diego announced that all students, faculty and staff returning to campus for the fall quarter will be asked to undergo recurring COVID-19 tests in an attempt to diminish the likelihood of a significant outbreak. However, students can opt out of the testing regimen if they choose.
More than 300 college admission leaders signed onto a statement declaring that they are committed to equity and will not make decisions that disadvantage students who’ve been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The signatories come from a range of colleges, including large public universities like Arizona State and selective, private colleges like Kenyon College.
Mental and Behavioral Health
A new Sacramento State campaign will seek to collect more information about the specific mental health needs and preferences of students of color. The effort aims to improve the mental health and ultimately graduation rates among Black, Latinx and Asian-Pacific Islander scholars.
The Cornell Sun explores the policy change needed to improve mental health for black Cornell students. According to the Sun, Dr. Jacque Tara Washington, LCSW-R, Doctor of Social Work and Cornell Health clinician expressed a desire for systematic change to create a welcoming environment for Black student wellness. Washington envisions improvements in culturally competent care as well as better representation among clinicians and management. “We need more therapists who represent the Black and brown populations, as well as administrative and leadership representation from those populations,” wrote Washington. “The system must be accountable to make systemic changes that benefit and welcome potential Black and brown clients.”
A new report from the Connected Learning Lab at the University of California, Irvine found that young people “see social media as a lifeline to social support” where they seek connections to improve their mental health during social isolation. The study, “Youth Connections for Wellbeing,” encourages educators, mental health professionals and others to draw a line between healthy and unhealthy use of social media.
A new report from the Connected Learning Lab at the University of California, Irvine found that young people “see social media as a lifeline to social support” where they seek connections to improve their mental health during social isolation. The study, “Youth Connections for Wellbeing,” encourages educators, mental health professionals and others to draw a line between healthy and unhealthy use of social media.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Robert L. Caslen. the president of the University of South Carolina at Columbia recently pledged to increase the number of African American students enrolled at the flagship institution. The goal is that the share of Black students at the university will approach the share of Black residents in the state – about 27 percent – by 2025. Black students currently make up 9.5 percent of undergraduate enrollment at the school. During a virtual town hall, Caslen said that black students are “hugely underrepresented.” “That has to be looked at, and that has to be addressed.” The plan to recruit more Black students includes developing and expanding pipeline programs that help elementary- and secondary-school students get on the path to attend the university, and increasing scholarship and fellowship money for underrepresented minorities.
In November, California voters will decide whether to reinstate affirmative action in admissions to the state’s public colleges, overturning Proposition 209, the1996 measure barring government agencies from factoring race, sex and ethnicity in public education, employment and contracting. California is one of eight states where race-conscious admissions policies are illegal.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Education Department is investigating whether the University of California, Los Angeles inappropriately opened a review of a lecturer for using the N-word in two classes, questioning whether the school stifled his academic freedom. In a letter to UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, the Education Department expressed concern that the university “improperly and abusively targeted” the instructor in violation of UCLA’s own policies regarding free expression.
College Affordability
The Wall Street Journal reports that the pandemic has accelerated a shift in bargaining power away from colleges and toward families in tuition bargaining. One consultant, Shannon Vasconcelos, said she expects bargaining between many families and schools to go through summer: “This is a big, big year for asking for more money and receiving.” Students and their families are questioning whether to spend heavily on tuition, and colleges are bracing for an enrollment drop.
A recent survey of more than 15,000 students across 21 colleges found that about half said they wanted to hear more from their financial aid offices during the spring term. A significant share of students also wanted more outreach from their academic advising offices and counseling centers. Experts said colleges should reach out to Pell Grant-eligible and other disadvantaged students to connect them with resources and help them apply for financial aid.
