Quadcast Episode: Flourishing Series, Dr. Corey Keyes, Emory University Sociologist
The latest episode in the Quadcast’s special Flourishing series is out now. This week, we hear from Dr. Corey Keyes, a professor and sociologist at Emory University, whose work has centered on promoting positive mental health.
Our flourishing series is based on the report, “Creating Environments for Flourishing” released by the Mary Christie Foundation and Georgetown University and highlights major themes of the paper. Our next episode, out in two weeks, will focus on Innovation and Measurement, and will feature Dr. Jim Hudziak of the Wellness Environment at University of Vermont and Daniel Eisenberg, Director of the Healthy Minds Network and Professor of Health Policy of Management in Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA.
Coronavirus Impact
Data from the University of Iowa‘s University Counseling Services illustrated only slight increases in academic and family stressors reported by students in 2020 compared to 2019, with no significant change in any other measured symptoms. Additionally, reports of suicidal ideation declined in March to May of 2020 compared to those months in 2019. In response to the data, UI’s UCS staff points to the emergence and acceptance of telehealth as a treatment tool. Director of Student Health at UI Paul Natvig says the pandemic may have discouraged people from seeking non-essential medical care and that the numbers and the demand for services may eventually catch up.
NBC29 reports on students at the University of Virginia facing the stress of academic work on top of pandemic concerns. Students on campus were recently told to be prepared to move to quarantine or isolation at any moment. “They’re being asked to move out of their dorms while classes are still going on within 48 to 72 hours,” UVA Student Council Member Abel Liu said. “I worry most about students who don’t stay connected to others in some way, shape, or form,” UVA Director of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) Nicole Ruzek said. “We have two groups dedicated to students in isolation and quarantine who really just want to connect while they’re going through that experience,” she continued.
The Crimson White reports that students at the University of Alabama are feeling isolated and depressed, due to the combination of stress and lack of human connection. “I feel so shut off from everyone, and I feel so alone, like I have no one,” one student said. Greg Vander Wal, executive director of the Counseling Center, said that 60% of students using the center’s services report a lack of focus in class and stress over academics. “We know that stress can increase when we face undesired circumstances, sudden change and uncertainty, which is exactly what COVID-19 has brought to our world,” Vander Wal said. “It is understandable that students may have more difficulty coping with this on top of the usual rigor of the college environment.”
Students at Rice University spoke to the Rice Thresher about mental health amid the pandemic. One student said, “I just have a whole new set of stressors that I haven’t really figured out how to deal with.” Another student said, “There were so many days in the summer and even in the fall where my only social interactions were through Zoom. When I’m feeling more depressed, I’m much more likely to interpret my interactions with people as hostile or dismissive, even if they’re not, and I feel like Zoom exaggerates that, because it’s hard to read people’s social cues over Zoom.”
The Daily Tarheel reports on the strategies that University of North Carolina students are using to combat the mental health and wellness issues that the pandemic has created or worsened, including teletherapy, virtual group services, such as meditation and support, keeping to a consistent schedule, talking with friends and family, and spending time outdoors.
Temple News highlights the sometimes-difficult circumstances LGBTQ students are facing when they are sent back home from campus. Many students not only lose their source of support on campus, but also return to environments that may be traumatizing or distressing for them. Temple’s Counseling Services only offers remote therapy for students who are within state lines this semester. Michael Mangino, a counselor at Temple who specializes in therapy for LGBTQ, transgender and gender non-conforming individuals said that he’s heard from students, both individually and in group settings, that they are concerned about being home. “Some students elect to sit in their cars and have their therapy sessions, some prefer to go on a walk where they can be alone,” Mangino said. “We really try to make it a safe space even if they are back home.”
College students who are parents, one in five undergraduates or 4.3 million students, are under immense stress this year as they support themselves and their children in regards to education and in general. Many student parents live close to the poverty line and may not have reliable internet connection, a must-have for any student during the pandemic. Nicole Lynn Lewis, founder of a DC nonprofit called Generation Hope that creates community and supports teen parents earning college degrees, said, “What people aren’t understanding about student parents is that they had so much intersectionality prior to covid-19– housing insecurity, being front-line workers, having school-aged children. And with the pandemic, there are layers upon layers of difficulty that are not being talked about and addressed.” Some solutions schools have implemented include extending wifi to the parking lot so students can work safely in cars or spread out.
Jamain Stephens, a college football player at California University in southwestern Pennsylvania died after being hospitalized with COVID-19 this month. The New York Times reports that his death has left many in the sports landscape reeling, as he is believed to be the first college football player whose death can be traced to the virus.
The New York Times reports on new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that confirms what many already knew; The surge in coronavirus cases among young adults – many attributed to parties, dormitories and other crowded venues- then seeded waves of new infections among more vulnerable Americans – middle-aged and older Americans. The researchers found that infections were staggered between age groups. After an outbreak among young people, virus cases increased nine days later in people aged 40 to 59 years old, and 15 days later among those older than 60. The New York Times highlights another study that shows that college reopenings may pose a particular threat. Researchers found that surges in cases occurred about two weeks after colleges reopened, with a higher increase for those adopting in-person models than those offering online classes.
The Washington Post reports on efforts to curb student parties and risky behavior. According to the post, college presidents, student leaders and local officials are trying a variety of approaches. Some colleges are handing out masks as popular bars close to campus. Others are shutting down socializing all together, or removing students for violating rules. In College Park, MD, home to University of Maryland’s flagship campus, the city council passed a steep increase in fines for people who threaten the health and safety of the community, $50 to $1,000. Tensions have risen over who is to blame, with many administrators blaming students, and many students placing the blame squarely on their peers, and specifically Greek life. A sorority member at N.C. State reported that someone threw a coffee at her after seeing a Greek sticker on her car. She shut down her Twitter account after people were messaging things like, “Go kill yourself.”
At Beloit College in Wisconsin, students wrote the Covid-19 rules themselves, and they’re now enforcing them. Beloit enlisted 20 students to write up a set of guidelines for navigating life on campus during a pandemic that they call “Behavioral Expectations.” “Faculty and administration do not experience campus life the same way students do, and with COVID-19, we realized students needed to help redefine expectations of campus,” junior Saad Ahsan, the Beloit student government co-president, said to NBC News. “We felt it was important to add behavioral guidelines to reflect the values of the Beloit student body.” The Beloit rules recognize the need for socializing among college students. The student-designed regulations spell out how to safely hold a party or hang out at a dorm and even give advice on other activities that are frowned upon during these socially distanced times.
In The Conversation, Jamaal S. Abdul-Alim writes that universities must collaborate with government policy-makers to provide guidelines that acknowledge the important role socializing plays in student mental health. He argues that new guidelines are needed to provide students with safe spaces to congregate. “Universities owe their students a duty of care to ensure that they are not just remaining safe from COVID-19 but, that they are still able to learn and grow from the valuable experiences that post-secondary life brings inside and outside the classroom,” he writes.
Caterina Scaramelli, PhD, a professor of environmental anthropology at Boston University offers a view into her hybrid class that includes a handful of in-person students, students studying remotely from campus, and students studying remotely at home or other non-campus locations, including locations abroad. This short video explores the rhythm of a hybrid course and class experience for both a professor and her students, and students’ responses and feelings on this hybrid model. One student commented, “I certainly want to see my classmates, but there’s always this like, lingering sense of loneliness and isolation. Even when in person, we’re far apart.”
Reuters reports on renewed calls from students to cut tuition and fees due to reduced in-person classroom time and less access to on-campus resources. As many colleges move at least some of their fall classes online, students say they are not getting the education they purchased.
Colleges are hiring their own students as social media influencers, asking them to share content about the coronavirus and staying safe on their personal accounts. At the University of Missouri, which hired six student influencers, Christian Basi, the director of media relations at the University of Missouri said, “We’ve never tried this before. But we felt that this particular situation was so important that we wanted to make sure we were reaching students in a format, on a platform that they would most respond to.” He continued, “Students don’t read email details,” he said. “They’re not going to necessarily listen to a speech by an administrator or watch a video by an administrator, but they will listen to their friends and they will listen to their peers and they will certainly watch them on social media.”
Mental and Behavioral Health
New research found that engaging in health education is beneficial in changing perceptions of stress for some college students but not all, with the variance based on personality. The researchers conducted an online survey with a group of 423 students taking a college health education course. They found that students with specific personality types, especially neurotic students, were more likely to improve their stress mindset by engaging in health education. Researcher Jennifer Wegmann said “Neurotic students tend to be worriers with high anxiety. The findings of this research show how focusing on their health, in general, can change these typically high-stressed students’ beliefs about the stress they experience.”
This fall, UConn’s Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Carl Lejuez, is leading an undergrad course titled Tools for Emotional Wellness. The goal of the class is to empower students to thrive in college and beyond, a goal that many people are striving for amidst the pandemic. “I was sitting in my office, and I was worried about a lot of students not having as much in- person classes as they’d like,” Lejuez said, “and so, as Provost, I normally don’t teach, but I thought ‘why don’t I try and teach an in- person course that actually focuses on something I knew students would need now?’” 75 students enrolled in the class.
The Sandspur, Rollins College’s student newspaper, published a letter by alumnae Tianna-Marie Rosser (’20), written in spring 2020 where she describes her experiences struggling with mental health as a student athlete at Rollins. “Being an African American woman in America, I already deal with some anxiety and depression while navigating our society and adapting to its norms. Adding the identity of student-athlete to the mix, I am constantly under pressure, on and off the court,” she wrote. “My mental health took a toll on me that almost ended my life. I didn’t want to go to school, didn’t want to play basketball, and I most certainly did not want to be on this earth.” She writes that she had supportive coaches at Rollins, but is concerned that other student athletes wouldn’t receive the same level of support she did. “If we want to see change in our Athletics Department, mental health should become a priority.”
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
In an executive order, President Trump expanded a ban on diversity training programs the administration deems divisive, or that promote racial or sexual “stereotyping” and “scapegoating.” The order states that “instructors and materials teaching that men and members of certain races, as well as our most venerable institutions, are inherently sexist and racist are appearing in workplace diversity trainings across the country, even in components of the federal government and among federal contractors.” Experts say it was not clear whether colleges that received federal grants would have to halt programs that violate the executive order’s provisions or whether they would just be prohibited from using federal grants to pay for them. Leaders from across the higher education sector criticized the order. Shaun R. Harper, a professor of education and business at the University of Southern California who founded and runs the USC Race and Equity Center, says that he doesn’t know of any programs that are “blame focused” or engage in stereotyping. “I am pretty sure the Trump administration has no real idea of what actually happens in most of these programs. It’s reckless to engage in policy making without knowing what their substance and goal might be.” University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel said that it violates free speech rights and could undermine efforts to acknowledge and address systemic racism. The Chronicle explores the research on diversity training’s effectiveness; Some studies have found some effectiveness others have found some mandatory training can cause a backlash and incite more stereotyping.
The Washington Post reports that more than 80 college presidents signed on to a letter urging the Education Department to drop its investigation into Princeton University that seeks to determine whether it is in compliance with federal anti-discrimination law after the school’s leader acknowledged systemic racism. “It is outrageous that the Department of Education is using our country’s resources to investigate an institution that is committed to becoming more inclusive,” the presidents of Wesleyan University and Amherst College wrote.
The Daily Iowan reports that members of the Iowa City Council hosted a listening post focused on community policing in collaboration with the University of Iowa Undergraduate Student Government. The UI student government and dozens of other student organizations have called on the UI to cut ties with the Iowa City Police Department in June, after the department deployed tear gas on protesters. USG President Connor Wooff shared his perspective as a former Resident Assistant in the UI residence halls about how it can be traumatic for students to have police walking the halls. He discussed the Reimagine Public Safety Action Committee at the UI. The committee is looking into policies, practices, and structures to build a safe and inclusive campus.
A California state audit found that the University of California admitted at least 64 students over more qualified applicants because of the students’ connections to university staff or donors. The audit investigated four campuses – UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Barbara – from 2013-14 through 2018-19 and found that the campuses failed to evaluate students fairly and to develop adequate and standardized admissions processes. Auditors found that UC Berkeley admitted 42 applicants because of their connections to donors and university staff. They gave one example where a regent violated university policy by improperly advocating for a student. Most of these applicants were white and at least half had annual family incomes of $150,000 or more.
Despite distinctions for efforts to combat racism and promote diversity on campus, not all of the Texas Christian University community is on board. TCU received a Higher Education Excellence in Diversity award from Insight Into Diversity magazine in 2018, 2019, and again in 2020 and became the second university in Texas to join the Universities Studying Slavery consortium this year. But many students call these efforts “too little too late.” Students and alumni are calling on the school to recognize and reform what they say is a culture of racism on campus, particularly toward Black students. A federal lawsuit filed in January by five anonymous current and former students accuses the faculty and administrators of race- and gender-based discrimination. The university tried 14 times to get the suit dismissed. Students and alumni have presented the administration with suggestions to deal with racism on two separate occasions this year. Faculty members told The Chronicle that they were brushed aside and not supported by the administration when they tried to raise concerns about a racist campus climate.
The Lambda Chi fraternity at the University of Georgia has been suspended after a group message was revealed in which members made racist and sexist comments. The fraternity’s national organization said that the chapter would coordinate with “local authorities” and “take all appropriate steps to restore decency, dignity and integrity to our Lambda Chi family.”
In the New York Times, Rainier Harris, a senior at Regis High School in New York, writes about the casual racism he faced at his elite high school, and the steps the school took to address it effectively. The school employed the “restorative justice” approach, which is meant to repair the harm caused by a crime, and involves a collaboration between victim and offender. It offers a powerful example for how colleges and universities might address racism on campus. “While restorative justice is often looked at through the lens of prison reform, I believe that it can play an especially effective role in schools around the country,” Harris wrote.
The Eagle Online reports that Gianna Wheeler, an American University senior who was forcibly removed from her apartment by AUPD in 2019, has filed a lawsuit against the University, alleging that she was grossly mistreated by officers after a student allegedly complained that Wheeler assaulted them. According to the report, the suit disputes the claim of assault and that the officers’ response was at all justified. It highlights a series of alleged abuses by the police, AU decision-makers, which culminated in Wheeler being restrained at a hospital for days on end, suspended from school and forced to defend her actions to a University panel. “Ms. Wheeler’s goals in this lawsuit are really to change the policies and practices at AU, so that no other student like her experiences this kind of abuse at the hands of the police,” Kaitlin Banner, Wheeler’s counsel, said. “We’re addressing the culture that led to this.”
Physical Health
Recent data from the American College Health Association suggest that health center budgets are decreasing at many colleges this year. In a survey, of the respondents who knew their health center budget allocation for the 2021 fiscal year, 43 percent said that budget would be decreased from FY20 funding. Nearly one-quarter said they were expecting reduction in staffing. Sixteen and 17 percent of respondents also said they expected staff reductions in mental health and health promotion services, respectively. Gerri Taylor, co-chair of the survey subcommittee, said the results are concerning, as health, counseling and wellness departments are overwhelmed.
Student Success
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center released data showing that fewer students are pursuing undergraduate degrees this semester. Enrollment among undergraduates is down 2.5 percent this year across all types of institutions, while the head count of graduate students is up 3.9 percent. Enrollment at U.S. community colleges has dropped nearly 8% this fall. To curb further dips, higher education experts say college leaders should target resources to vulnerable students and prioritize funding for academic support services.
California State University announced that Joseph I. Castro, president of Fresno State University since 2013, will become its next chancellor. Castro, who will be the first Mexican American to become chancellor of the system, is pledging an effort to lift graduation rates in the nation’s largest four-year university system. About 43 percent of Cal State’s students are of Hispanic or Latino background, and Cal State officials say about 62 percent of their students graduate with a bachelor’s degree within six years. They are pushing to raise that share in the next several years to 70 percent.
