Mary Christie Quadcast: College Student Health Care Experts Give Advice to Students and Parents on “Back to School”
In August of any year, the big issue in higher education is the start of school. But in August of 2020, “back to school” has taken on a whole new meaning due to COVID-19 — as has the physical and emotional health of students, whether they will be on campus, learning remotely from home or following a hybrid formula.
In today’s Quadcast, we welcome two college student health care experts who have advice for students — and their parents — about how to navigate your physical and mental health while in college, in general, and in the time of COVID-19.
Dr. Jill Grimes is a Family physician, author, and educator who works with college students in Austin, TX. Her latest book is called “The Ultimate College Student Health Handbook: Your Guide for Everything from Hangovers to Homesickness”
Dr. Marcia Morris is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Florida and Associate Program Director for SHCC Psychiatry. She is the author of “The Campus Cure: A Parent’s Guide to Mental Health and Wellness for College Students.” Listen to the Quadcast here, or by searching “Mary Christie Quadcast” on Apple Podcasts.
Coronavirus Impact
The Wall Street Journal reports on the mental health toll that Covid-19 has wrought on young adults. Social isolation, combined with the economic fallout of the pandemic and vanishing career opportunities, has caused significant distress among high school and college students. “A number of kids are expressing that these are supposed to be the best years-high school and college-the most free years,” said Anne Marie Albano, a professor of medical psychology in psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York. “The possibility that Covid is going to completely change this period of their life, and they won’t ever get it back, is overwhelming for a lot of them,” she says.
USA Today reports on recent data showing increased mental health issues among college students, including the Healthy Minds Network findings of increased depression prevalence since the pandemic compared to the fall of 2019. USA Today also cited the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which reported a 65% increase in call volume to their HelpLine compared with last year, averaging more than 200 calls a day. Most calls ask for support with anxiety. “Gen Z depend on their social connections, and with the restrictions around large group gatherings, sheltering in place, virtual classes vs. in-person and the uncertainty for the future, it’s causing a lot of uneasiness, stress and anxiety,” said Jennifer Rothman, the National Alliance on Mental Illness senior manager of youth and young adult information, support and education.
WGBH reports on the testing regimens at Massachusetts colleges. Brandeis University, which is prepared to provide an on-campus, residential experience for about 2,000 undergrads, has been piloting COVID-19 testing on faculty, staff and about 100 students this summer at a pop-up clinic. Brandeis Provost Lisa Lynch says that the key to success will be social distancing, mask wearing, hand-washing, and mandatory testing. Brandeis, Williams College and Northeastern University, have signed contracts with Harvard and MIT’s Broad Institute to get their coronavirus tests processed. The institute, which is pledging to process tens of thousands of tests each day, says it can provide results within 24 hours and expand its capacity if necessary.
California’s Department of Public Health released guidance Friday to help colleges prepare to hold in-person classes amid the coronavirus pandemic. According to the guidance, colleges and universities must offer classes virtually except for limited hands-on courses that will require physical distancing and other protocols to limit contact between students. Dining halls are urged to provide “grab-and-go” meals, housing should be limited to one student per room whenever possible, and nonessential shared spaces like game rooms and lounges should be closed. Drinking fountains are prohibited. The guidance also states that physical barriers such as plastic screens should be installed between bathroom sinks, and students and staff must wear masks in buildings and outdoors when six-foot distancing is not possible.
Education Dive highlights the difficulty that college and universities will face in changing college student behavior to abide by safety measures designed to prevent the spread of the virus. Early indications of student behavior at off-campus and fraternity parties bode poorly for the coming year, and could undermine college safety efforts this fall. According to Education Dive, campus leaders must acknowledge that college students’ brains are still evolving in a way that makes them prone to taking risks that could endanger them. Leaders must therefore be prepared to educate students and offer rationale for the new safety rules. “If you are asking people to change the way they socialize and hook up, then being able to explain why you need to do it differently I think is important,” said Dominic Packer, a psychology professor at Lehigh University. “If people understand the reasons, then they can take that into account and it doesn’t just feel like, ‘Oh we’re being told what to do because they don’t want us to have any fun anymore.’”
A New York Times article focuses on parents’ concern about their children’s safety in returning to campus in the fall. According to the Times, parents are facing the choice of “forcing their 20-year-olds to stay home against their will, or allowing them to leave and join their friends, knowing the infection data may not be in their favor.”
Notre Dame University is requiring that all students submit a negative Covid-19 test result within seven days before arriving on its South Bend, Ind., campus, but the school does not plan on conducting mass testing of asymptomatic students throughout the semester and didn’t require students to quarantine before arrival on campus. According to the Wall Street Journal, hundreds of students and faculty have signed a petition requesting that the school conduct more widespread testing and expressing concern about virus exposure as students travel from around the country after taking their tests.
Three weeks before the fall semester starts at the University of Maryland, Darryll J. Pines, the school’s president, has announced that classes would begin online until mid-September because of the prevalence of the coronavirus in Maryland and Prince George’s County, where the College Park campus is located. The president also asked that all students stay in their homes as much as possible in early September. “It is our fervent hope and expectation that we will resume in-person and blended instruction on September 14,” Pines wrote. “At the same time, the health of our university community and slowing the spread of COVID-19 must remain our continuing and unwavering priorities.”
The Orange County, NC, health department asked the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to move the campus online for the fall semester, but the university has declined to take the health department’s recommendations, moving forward with in-person operations. In a memo to UNC’s chancellor, provost, and vice chancellor dated July 29 ,Quintana Stewart, Orange County’s health director, wrote “If students begin to move back on campus next week, we could quickly become a hot spot for new cases, as thousands of students from all across the country/world merge onto the UNC campus.” Stewart’s major recommendations were for the university to restrict on-campus housing only to those students who need it most, so that everyone can have a single room, and for the university to hold all classes online for the fall.
After the revelation that University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill declined to follow advice from public health officials, Education Dive explores the disconnect between colleges’ words and actions when it comes to decisions concerning the virus, and the factors that might override public health guidance, like a powerful board or revenue concerns. “One of the things I’ve wondered about since the beginning is how much conversation and coordination is happening between public health officials and college leaders, and how much it makes a difference,” said Kevin McClure, a higher education professor at UNC-Wilmington.
Purdue University’s president Mitch Daniels emerged as one of the earliest and most vocal proponents of an in-person return to campus. The Chronicle recently spoke with Daniels, who remained persuaded of the importance of bringing students back to campus. However, the Chronicle noted that he seemed more circumspect, saying “We have a slightly different apprehension now because infection in our state and in nearby communities has gone up. “We’re at least as concerned about students acquiring the virus off campus and bringing it on, as opposed to bringing it in and then taking it off.”
Johns Hopkins University will hold its fall semester entirely online for undergraduates, a reversal of previous plans. School officials also strongly urged students not to return to Baltimore. The change was announced to campus Thursday evening with “a profound sense of regret and intense disappointment” by the school’s president, Ronald J. Daniels, and other university leaders.
Illinois State University also changed their plans, announcing that most classes will be online-only when the fall semester begins later this month. President Larry Dietz said in an email to students and faculty that the university learned late last week it would not receive some testing equipment and supplies that were expected before classes started due to the fact that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services “reallocated” the equipment and supplies to other agencies.. “While this is a disappointment, it is exactly why multiple resources must be in place in order to provide testing for our students,” he said, noting that testing would be provided at Student Health Services for students who experience symptoms.
Many colleges reopening their campuses this fall have told students who will be living there to self-isolate for two weeks before arriving. The University of Michigan, for instance, is instructing students not to go to work or social gatherings for 14 days. Education Dive reports that this request could significantly disrupt students’ lives, especially for those supporting themselves or their families financially.
After the NCAA directed each division to make its own decision on fall sports, NCAA’s Division II and Division III decided to cancel fall sports championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The NCAA also made clear that all student-athletes must be allowed to opt out of participation in fall sports if they are worried about their health and safety and that colleges and universities must honor the athletes’ scholarship commitments. “The first and most important consideration is whether sports can be conducted safely for college athletes,” said Dr. Michael V. Drake, chair of the NCAA board and University of California system president, in a statement. “Each division must examine whether it has the resources available to take the required precautions given the spread of COVID-19.”
Colorado State is investigating its football department following reports that coaches in the program had attempted to coerce players out of reporting possible symptoms of the coronavirus. Other allegations include warning the team against submitting themselves to self quarantine, threatening them with reduced field time and attempting to manipulate contact tracing efforts to avoid removing players from practice. Officials at CSU said they were taking the accusations “extremely seriously.” University President Joyce E. McConnell wrote in a letter, “An article published today reports some extremely serious and deeply troubling allegations about how CSU Athletics is handling public health precautions surrounding COVID-19. Quoting several student athletes and members of the Athletics staff, the story raises concerns about whether the health and well-being of our student athletes is truly the top priority of Colorado State University.”
The SEC conference announced last week that it will require two coronavirus tests per week, and coaches will be required to wear a face mask on the sideline at all times during football games. Coaches and players who are not competing will be required to wear a face mask or neck gaiter that must “cover both the nose and mouth such that neither nostrils nor the tip of the nose is visible.” Players will be tested six days and three days before a game.
The Pac-12 Conference announced that it had joined the Big Ten in calling off fall sports, including football. “Unlike professional sports, college sports cannot operate in a bubble,” said Larry Scott, the conference’s commissioner, in a statement. “Our athletic programs are a part of broader campuses in communities where in many cases the prevalence of Covid-19 is significant.”
Education Dive reports that a handful of small colleges are offering a period of free tuition to students if they enroll full time for the fall term. Pacific Lutheran University in Washington state is giving undergraduates an extra year tuition-free after their scheduled graduation date if they enroll full time for the coming academic year.
A survey from Simpson Scarborough found that 40 percent of incoming freshmen who aspired to attend a four-year residential college say they are likely or highly likely to not attend any four-year college this fall. Twenty eight percent of returning students who have the option to return to campus say they are not going back or haven’t decided yet. According to the survey, students planning to attend private institutions were more likely than those at public institutions to change their minds about attending.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order continuing the pause on monthly payments and interest for many federal student loan borrowers until the end of the year. The order extends the emergency student loan relief granted in March under the CARES Act.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
A recently introduced bill seeks to increase participation by people of color in the medical fields through a $1 billion grant to several medical schools. The Expanding Medical Education Act, introduced in the Senate last week by Tim Kaine, D-Va., would offer a pathway to “tackle the lack of representation of rural students, underserved students, and students of color in the physician pipeline,” it says. The goal would be to reduce mistrust in doctors and health care institutions among marginalized communities, and narrow the gap in health care.
For years, Pennsylvania’s state higher education system has focused on recruiting more students of color to boost enrollment numbers, But, according to a review by Spotlight PA, the system often fails to support those students once on campus. Although the percentage of minority students enrolled in Pennsylvania’s public colleges has almost doubled since 2008, their graduation rate is nearly 20 percentage points lower than that of white students. And the difference in retention rates has actually grown between white and nonwhite students. Students in the system say they feel unwelcome and ill-supported at best, and feel unsafe and targeted at worst.
The University of Kentucky announced it will fund an institute focused on researching race and racism and will commit $10 million over five years to research racial disparities in a wide range of fields. The initiative, called UNITed In racial Equity Research Initiative, or UNITE, will focus on social and racial injustice, race-related health disparities and the “promotion of health equity across races, ethnicities and genders.” University president Eli Capilouto and the school’s African American and Africana Studies Program also announced a $250,000 commitment to the Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies, which will support an annual Black Women’s Conference, Black studies in Appalachia and a project called “1619, Slavery and UK.”
Also at the University of Kentucky, the NAACP, the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States, is launching a new education initiative that will provide a home for Black faculty to conduct and disseminate research on the community. The focus of the initiative’s work will be to advance and protect education for students from preschool through higher education, with an emphasis on race-based discrimination. Special attention will be paid to students from underserved communities in Kentucky. The initiative will also seek to understand the challenges of students who are marginalized in the education sector based on factors including ability, gender, ethnicity, age and sexuality – and it will explore the intersectionality of these identities.
According to a column by Andre Perry in the Hechinger Report, Congress should cancel student debt for borrowers who have yet to recover from the epidemic of structural racism. “Past anti-Black federal policies and practices in housing precluded Black people from building wealth, forcing a higher proportion of Black borrowers to take out loans for higher education,” he writes. He cited a 2016 Brookings Institution study that found that, upon graduation, Black college graduates owe, on average, $7,375 more in student loans than their white peers ($23,420 versus $16,046). He argues, “By helping restore the wealth that has been extracted by racism and ethnic bigotry, not only will we right previous injustices, we will stimulate growth to the economy.”
A group of Colorado State football players released a statement on behalf of their team that disputes accusations of intimidation and racism against head coach Steve Addazio and his staff. The statement came after the university suspended all team activities and expanded the scope of the ongoing investigation about intimidation around COVID-19 protocols to include concerns about racism and verbal abuse within the athletic department and football program. The school hired a law firm to investigate the program after multiple coaches, players and sports medicine staffers told ESPN and the Coloradoan that players had been instructed to mask symptoms of COVID-19 because they might lose playing time if they contracted the coronavirus. A new round of accusations surfaced on Saturday night including instances of alleged racial insensitivity and verbal abuse within the athletic department. In one situation, Jimmy Stewart, a mental health counselor who works with student-athletes at CSU, said he witnessed Addazio berate and “humiliate” a football player over an academic issue.
College Affordability
In an op-ed in the Hechinger Report, Michele Streeter, a senior policy analyst at the Institute for College Access and Success and Jessica Thompson, an associate vice president of the Institute for College Access and Success, argue that Congress should double the maximum Pell Grant, a federal award for students with financial need. “To help colleges, Congress should send significant funding to states to shore up public colleges and universities,” they write. “Based on calculations of federal support delivered during the Great Recession, we have recommended that states receive at least $28 billion in dedicated higher-education funding, with another $18 billion to be released in 2021 if the economy is still struggling.” They argue that investment is desperately needed to help states to cover operational costs at public institutions and avoid steep tuition hikes.
Greek Life
The Chronicle reports on the emerging movement to abolish predominantly white fraternities and sororities. Largely driven by the national reckoning over racial injustice, students involved say that Greek life isn’t compatible with their efforts to dismantle oppressive institutions. The activism has gained traction through a network of Instagram accounts that publish anonymous submissions alleging racism, homophobia, hazing, and sexual assault within Greek life.
