I think that this article misses two really big points. First, students are making an incredible investment (either cash or debt) to go to school. When they are not well and unable to optimize that spend (ie must go part time, stay full time to keep aid and fail all of their classes, etc), schools/advisors are more negligent than coaching them to take some time off. Why encourage a student to spend $20-40k on a semester of classes and have nothing to show for it, plus the sunk cost?
Second, higher education needs to stay in their lane. Schools needs to stay focused on teaching and creating safe places to learn. By building out a hospital like infrastructure in order to support a small segment of students, it calls to question resource allocation and the institution's ability to meet the educational outcomes. We expect hospitals to provide health and wellness education but would never expect them to provide remedial reading courses for people who can't read. It's a parallel. Schools can provide mental health support but the examples provided here are over that line.
15
Schools don’t want to get sued.
4
Empathy and assistance are of course necessary when someone is suffering from mental illness, but all too often professors are expected to act as de facto psychiatrists and social workers. We are in fact, not trained to do this job and it places an undue burden on us when amidst all our other contractual obligations we are supposed to negotiate and tend to the psychiatric disorders of thousands of students. It cannot and should not be the mandate of universities to act as hospitals. Recently I was in a classroom in which a schizophrenic believed that the professor’s lecture on architecture was entirely about her. She was seething and hurtled insults and threats at the professor believing that words such as “angular”, “sharp” and “smooth” were being used to describe her body. This is not an isolated incident, just merely an example of the many extreme cases of instability and disengagement from reality that professor’s are expected to temper and ameliorate. It is an impossible task given that it rests extraordinarily out of the bounds of our job description, which is solely to educate.
77
26,000 paid for a semester at Fordham.
Young man commits suicide 4 weeks into the program.
Daughter asks for help at counseling center.
No grief counselors on staff.
Pathetic excuse for a Catholic university.
7
I was sent home from Pomona College in the fall of my senior year not for suicidal ideation but for an eating disorder that had been treated successfully at home the summer before. After seeking counseling at the school counseling center to maintain my mental health, as recommended by my doctors, I nevertheless was sent home immediately by the school. There was no recourse, and not a single administrator or faculty member ever reached out to ask how I was coping or to help plan a path forward for me to finish my degree.
That was more than a decade ago. I scrambled to complete credits needed to graduate (at more accommodating, less judgmental, more empathetic schools) and now have a jumbled transcript that does a disservice to the years (and money) I spent at Pomona.
Schools like Stanford and Pomona that bill themselves as focused first and foremost on the wellbeing and potential of their students must do a better job of addressing mental health. The pressure to succeed enough to gain admission to these prestigious institutions is only increasing, and the prevalence of anxiety and other mental health issues will continue to increase right along with it.
25
i feel bad for the people who suffer from mental illness, but it is not the college's responsibility. people who are there to learn should not have to deal with that heavy burden. the biggest problem though is the incompetence of mental health providers. most people do not need to be treated with dangerous mind altering drugs.
7
As a College Health professional, I can appreciate both the sadness and frustration of students asked to take time off and the anxiety on the part of institutions about the devastation on a community that an on-campus suicide creates. The anger over taking time off makes me wonder...who decided that college has to take 4 years? Graduating off-cycle should be considered a “normal alternative path” for many students who face a variety of challenges. I believe that institutions would do well to make that path to taking time off and returning healthy and with a plan to stay healthy easy for our students. When my patients with lymphoma have taken time off for chemotherapy, both they and I considered that a logical path. Why should a mental health illness be viewed differently? The challenge in having that insight may be part of the disease with which the student is affected. It may be our role as College Health and Mental Health professionals to compassionately help our struggling students and their families to see that wisdom.
28
I can certainly sympathize with how stigmatized these individuals felt at the treatment. But I think the issue is that the colleges are acting like employers, in that if your mental health condition prevens you doing the "job", then you have to find treatment and in certain cases, you have to leave the job. By abandoning the in loco parentis model of yore, this is exactly how things now work and therefore these kids are left to their own devices. Heartless, yes but this is the Corporation bleeding into educational institutions. And I'd like to plead with parents of kids with histories of chronic mental conditions: please get a health care proxy where you the parents are named healthcare agent of your adult child. It will help with the HIPAA confidentiality issues., etc. But I will proffer one more suggestion: consider your child do one year at home at a local college at home to navigate the college experience. Stress is a trigger for acute episodes of a pre-existing mental health condition. Your kid can be as happy, if not more, at a local state school than at an impersonal ivy league school. It's not a zero sum game and they're not destined to failure if they don't go to an ivy league school.
13
Stanford is kinder to its rapist students than to its students with depression.
35
This increasing demand from universities to offer a secure heaven for students is totally out of control. Universities are centers for advanced learning and research. They are not k12 institutions. The students are legal adults who choose to attend institutions of higher learning. This is a choice, not a legal requirement. It is the responsibility of these adults to take care of themselves. If they cannot, they need to drop until they are able to take responsibility for themselves after they seek private treatment. Professors and staff are not babysitters and it is illegal for universities, including professors to contact parents. They might offer some help as a courtesy, but it not the function of universities to take personal care of students. This current expectation to offer individual care is the result of a current culture with parents who overprotect their children preventing their way into maturity. If they cannot handle the challenge, then they need to withdraw. Moreover, colleges do not require extracurricular activities to earn a degree. If it's too stressful to have an overloaded schedule, then stick to the basics: attend your classes and fulfill the requirements.
17
We really need more research $$ and real solutions to mental health illnesses. Yes, illnesses. The pain is real. The suffering profound. (It is said that 20 years of untreated depression is the equivalent of 20 years of smoking! Imagine the disappointment that one didn't smoke, only to find out it really didn't matter ...) There are absolutely physical, measurable negative outcomes from these illnesses.
Nothing has changed, since the '40s and '50s, even the Prozac '70s, to today. Still the stigma.
You either get better BY YOURSELF or you suffer alone. But better keep it on the down low, push it down and inward. Or you'll never be employed, be in a lasting relationship, or apparently, get to participate in college.
10
This lawsuit is irresponsible.
Universities should provide mental health and healthcare resources - but if something serious and ongoing is happening - that has to go back to the family. These students are still dependents. Other students are too busy with their own schedules and stresses, and can't reliably care for someone in great need AND a suicidal student needs constant care. And, not mentioned in this piece: one suicide can possibly trigger a cluster suicides.
10
I'd like to add a note about family loss. I knew of 3 suicide attempts from my college class of 1500 students - one freshman football player committed suicide while home on Christmas break, another young man tried to kill himself and was sent home and came back more than a year later (with a newfound passion for the arts and seemed much more engaged in campus life), and a young woman committed suicide while away in graduate/medical school after college. All 3 students had parents die within a year or two before they left for college. All three were talented and warm and kind and funny people - not showing signs that would alert someone's radar. I'm no expert in any way, but parents, administrators, friends and neighbors - PLEASE watch students closely who have experienced tremendous loss before or during college.
10
My daughter’s freshman year roommate committed suicide after returning from being sent home due to mental illness, so I have lived this.
Two points: College student services administrators are not psychologists. The person deciding the terms under which my daughter’s roommate could return to campus had no discernible qualifications to do so. This led to a number of restrictions on the roommate that were frankly counterproductive to recovery. She could go to class, but not participate fully in campus life.
Second, the experience of being expelled for mental health issues lead the roommate to distrust the campus staff. If letting a professor or RA know you’re struggling could lead to expulsion, you keep things to yourself. Or turn to your trusted friends. As the roommate began to struggle again, her friends were caught in a terrible place — they didn’t want to betray their friend, or see her expelled, and they were trying so very hard to support her, but they were in over their heads trying to help as well.
The distrust of staff extended to the survivors. When the administration sent out a form letter (yep, my daughter got an email which was not personalized with either her own name or her roommates name) urging students to visit the counseling center or talk to wellness if they were struggling with grief after this girl’s suicide, they students mostly chose to support each other instead. They didn’t know if their grief and stress would get them expelled, too.
34
College students are part of a community of young adults. They have legal standing but limited life experience and varying degrees of maturity. The reality is that other very young adults - from a 19 year old roommate to a 20 year old resident assistant - end up monitoring a depressed or suicidal student and sometimes take responsibility for them. That is extremely unfair to the rest of the students. I know a 20 year old dorm leader who cut down a student who had hanged herself, administered CPR, and yelled for someone to call 9-1-1. The student's parent later repeatedly harassed this volunteer for not closing the dorm room door to ensure their daughter's privacy while receiving CPR. In some cases the tragedy is not that depressed students need to leave campus for a while, but that they must return to a home situation that is part of their problem.
24
Of course, if we had universal health care in this country, there wouldn't be any discussion of who's responsible for treating students with mental health problems.
36
So Stanford's main argument is that depressed students are "disruptive" and are a burden on the university to deal with. Do they know that one of the most common feelings linked to suicide is "feeling like a burden on others?" More importantly; do they care?
21
Until we stop expecting schools (all schools - K-12 through college) to solve society's ills we will continue to be disappointed. The business of school is to educate. Period.
11
I am a professor at a private university. The school is not a mental health facility, and neither I,nor any of my teaching colleagues are mental health professionals. Students who are screened by on campus facilities and found to need ongoing or intensive care should not look to the university to provide it.
15
I have some insight on this topic as a college professor and parent.
We have not done this generation well. Over the past 20 years we have catered to, over indulged, and shielded our kids and young adults from the challenges of life. In the attempt to have our kids grow up “better” than we did; we have shifted the pendulum too far.
As the 18 years olds enter college and start the process of independence and moving toward adulthood they are totally unprepared. They are paralyzed, anxious and incapable of making decisions for their well being. Their self worth is centered around “Likes” and acknowledgements in social medial rather than hard work and self worth.
I am sure the previous generation said the same thing about us; but it seems exponentially worse.
18
@Andrew Cook
I will put a slightly different spin on your post. Parents have hoisted their own insecurities regarding their place on their rung in society thus the fear and paralysis of their children. When these young adults, who were all to the right of the bell curve in high school, arrive to an elite university, the curve is reset. The burden to not let down parents as well as themselves has got to be pretty intense. Disagree with the lawsuit, but still feel for the students.
8
I think the larger issue in which the schools have become embroiled is our nation's lack of adequate mental health services, and adequate insurance coverage for services, in general. If students could obtain good mental health care easily and affordably in whatever community they are a part of, they would be less likely to develop problems that interfere with daily life to such an extent, would return to school more quickly if they did have problems, and university mental health services would not be providing services that the community itself should have for all of its citizens.
13
Colleges and universities provide mental health and wellness and/or counseling centers depending on the needs of their campus, but all should be adequately staffed by licensed professionals who are well trained in suicide assessment. Suicidal ideation in itself is not necessarily a plan or intention of self-harm: we know through extensive research that talking about suicide saves lives. It is unclear in this article how risk was assessed but it concerns me that the disciplinary measures taken as reported would serve to increase barriers to seeking professional help by those who need it the most. It's a complex set of issues between licensed mental health providers and administrators. But all must work together to reduce stigma, minimize barriers to professional help, and promote a model of wellness in our college campuses and communities.
6
Can we get rid of the concept of residential colleges yet?
First of all, dorm living is terrible for mental health (being forced to live in a tiny room with a total stranger, chronic sleep disruption,no privacy, excessive drinking, etc) and in no way prepares anyone for adult life.
Also, having students live on campus creates the expectation that the college is the students' "family" and should be responsible for them. Most college students are over 18. The college owes them nothing more than any adult's workplace would provide.
This isn't Renaissance-era Europe where the elite went away to a cloistered environment to study in austerity. Students can take classes (and play sports, etc) while either commuting from their parents' home or living in their own apartment (which could potentially be covered by a financial aid package to make it feasible for students.)
12
@TT "Can we get rid of the concept of residential colleges yet? First of all, dorm living is terrible for mental health (being forced to live in a tiny room with a total stranger, chronic sleep disruption,no privacy, excessive drinking, etc) and in no way prepares anyone for adult life. "
Amen to this - I miss the learning aspect of College - but all that forced socialization, around people who, for the most part, just wanted to drink & party? Never.Again. So glad THAT'S over. (Or at least make all the rooms singles, why, why, WHY was I forced to live with some of those people. I would have gladly taken a smaller room of my own .... Virginia Woolf would agree ;-)
12
"In loco parentis" on campus was rejected some time ago. Young people are on their own at colleges now. Colleges and universities are in the business of educating people, anything more is not on their radar. Young people who are depressed or have other emotional issues don't sound ready to be on a college campus and they should leave and get the necessary mental health care. I can understand Ms. Minsley's mother did not want Rebecca in bed for months in her apartment but that does not mean Bates had to deal with Rebecca's issues. I can also understand Stanford not wanting an angry young man with a knife, Mr Harrison, on its campus.
14
Colleges have an obligation to educate individual students and an obligation to provide a community that is suitable for learning. Obviously when students are an immediate threat to themselves, they should not be enrolled. It's trickier when an individual student's health issues affect the community at large. How much should roommates or suite mates have to put up with? I recall having a roommate who rarely left our room, cried relentlessly, and wouldn't eat. The same roommate got a little better and then stopped sleeping and engaged in risky behaviors with strangers. Her grades never suffered for it. What about R.A.'s? How much extraordinary work and care should they have to provide?
5
At college in the grunge era, we didn't have depression or suicide, but we had heroin use and overdoses. I didn't know anybody who claimed to be depressed or who tried suicide, but I knew a few kids who were sent to the hospital by heroin.
In 1990, a co-worker at a cafe killed herself. She was an attractive Harvard student. She didn't get humor (she was sort of like Dr. Bones from that TV show) and said some awkward things, but we all liked her and she seemed stable enough. I think she might have been dumped harshly by some guy, Anyhow, none of us saw it coming. Back then, that was my impression of suicide, that you never saw it coming.
3
The article doesn't mention that often the "free help" the students receive from counselors at a university clinic are themselves students, usually grad students in psychology or a related field.
Years ago, when I arrived at the university of Missouri for an MA program, I went to the clinic because I had been in therapy in New York and wanted to continue the work I'd done there. In my session, I told my counselor about my life, problems, etc.
At the end, he said, "We need to continue your work to bring you out of homosexuality." None of the my problems related to my sexual identity, as I had made clear to him. I was fine with being gay! Turned out, he was a member of a conservative Evangelical sect.
Amidst all this moaning about the poor students who are scared to visit the campus mental-health clinic, I just wanted to clear the air: Sometimes (often?), these clinics will screw up a student's head even worse than it was before.
11
@HKGuy I am so, so sorry this happened to you at MU. It is unforgivable. I hope you turned this monster in. He shouldn't have been allowed for a split second to use his job at a public university as surreptitious platform for his hate-based religious extremism. I am appalled. Shame on MU.
6
No one has mentioned the root cause of many students' mental health problems: parents whose employers demand so much of them that they have little time or energy to be good parents.
Even parents who want to do the best for their children may be so overworked by their employers that they pay little attention to their children. The kids are shunted off to daycare at an early age and then to after-school programs while in elementary school. They spend precious few hours with their parents. No, there's no such thing as "quality time."
Kids pick up on the fact that they are a secondary concern in their parents' lives. No wonder so many teens and young adults are in distress.
14
Thirty some years ago, I suffered from an eating disorder in college and was forced to leave the dorm. I subsequently entered inpatient treatment and took a leave of absence. Because I left in the middle of the semester, I was unable to withdraw from my courses and needed to take "incompletes." Although my memory is fuzzy, I believe that my professors were helpful in working with me to make up the work as I was able after being discharged from the hospital, however my grades suffered. I continued to struggle with the eating disorder and continued trying to enroll in college, but my course was random and haphazard. Obviously, this was before the advent of on-line classes. Seems to me that an ideal solution might be for struggling students to be able to seek treatment without stigma and continue their classes without stigma. Counseling centers could structure on-line support groups for similarly situated students who elected (or needed to take leaves of absence.) This way students could be safe, maintain contact with their school and peers, and most importantly still feel productive as they got treatment. It is a catch twenty-two. I needed treatment, but I also needed purpose. We are willing to accommodate students with physical needs and disabilities. It is time to employ the same efforts and creativity to mental health issues as well.
13
I worked at a university counseling center for 35 years. In that time severity of presenting problems went through the roof, as did the fragile state of the students. Many students hadn’t successfully mastered developmental tasks they needed in order to function fairly autonomously as required by being at college. They were diagnosed depressed and/or anxious and while these diagnoses were often correct, many had developing personality issues that often had a host of symptoms. What’s the university’s role in supplying services to these students. The demand went up, emergencies went up and students expected immediate services. Many came in crisis and often were sent to hospitals for evaluation and sometimes went home for more ongoing care. Universities are dammed if they do and dammed if they don’t. No one wants to see students with suicidal ideation have to wait for services or get services that don’t meet their needs. Schools can’t be treatment centers or hospitals however, hence some students went home for more extensive treatment. Better question is why are the number of college students needing such intensive treatment on the rise. It’s nothing in the water, it’s not just social media, where have we failed them before they came to higher education.
44
The status symbol obsession of US & overseas families for: 1) revered brand name/exclusivity-linked, allegedly elite career-sealing public or private college diplomas, and 2) the dorm/roommate/Greek letter life cachet of "study/work hard, party harder!" w/ cool alumni pals (while disparaging small commuter schools, vocational/trade/apprenticeship paths, etc.) has led to many faking their way into costly loans/grants-fueled college lives that were/are/will always be ill-suited to their specific situations.
For instance, K-12 grade inflation, standardized test & interview cram courses, puffed up recommendation letters & personal essays (along w/ privacy laws) hide how many freshmen actually were in intensively supported special ed/IEPs (i.e. never learning to take own original class lecture notes, since teachers give them the slides/notes &/or fill-in-the-blank study guides; always getting extra time & space for tests & projects; being homeschooled in open-book/get extra help from parents/tutors scenarios; taking neurochemical-altering prescriptions or self-medication for attention, anxiety, etc.).
18 year olds w/ such special needs should either be in small class size commuter schools (college or vocational path), hybrid online-campus classes, or be in conservatorship-funded live/work communities.
The vanity of getting ill-suited, harmful-to-self-or-others kids into prestigious traditional public or private colleges, in states or continents away from home, must stop!
3
Never ever tell anyone you've considered suicide. That's a game changer, in terms of how you are treated and viewed. I myself have never considered it, but I took a year off from a PhD program because of insomnia/stress. I returned and got two great adjuncting jobs (before I switched to finance). My year off didn't seem to haunt me at all, but I never ever mentioned suicide and was never viewed as a risk in that way. I also dropped out of college TWICE, but once was to play in band.
Based on my experience, you can do pretty much ANYTHING, expect for mentioning suicidal thoughts, and be reinstated. Mentioning suicide changes everything. I am not sure why someone would say "I'm thinking about suicide" instead of just "I am too depressed to leave my house or to interact with anybody or to enjoy anything."
9
Schools, like people, need boundaries. They're entitled to define them as they wish.
8
This is one weak & damaged generation.
If they can't handle the stress of college, one of the best times of your life, how are they going to cope with jobs, deadlines, spouses, bills and children?
Maybe we build a big bubbly city where they can live, won't get hurt and no hard decisions need to be made. Nice and safe.
Wow.
9
I'm confused. Harrison Fowler said he was having suicidal thoughts but then blames the antidepressant medication he was placed on for his suicidal thoughts.
And did the writer seek to ask the doctor who treated him for input on his or her view of what occurred. It's odd that when it comes to other stories, The Times seeks to have input from both sides but when it comes to its coverage of mental illness, it no longer considers this to be important.
There have been studies on the mental health treatment of college students and it has been found that when the medical records were examined they frequently gave a significantly different picture from what the students said occurred. Either Ms. Hartocollis and her editors are unaware of this or simply chose to ignore it because it didn't fit with the story.
10
@Steve Antidepressants can most definitely cause and/or worsen suicidal thoughts and can trigger mania in some people. Those are well know side effects, which are mentioned in the warnings given with the meds by the pharmacy.
10
Please spread this article far and wide. I've been warning friends and acquaintances not to put too much blind trust in therapists. It is normal to be depressed, but sure please get help if it's severe, but don't tell them you're thinking of suicide if you're not. It's probably normal to consider suicide, it doesn't mean you're mentally ill, but please do not follow through with it.
Therapists can be helpful once in a while. If you find a good one. Quite a few terrible therapists are still practicing that are not insightful, and quite a few are narcissists with their own control issues. Like the priests, they do their jobs with little oversight. Where else would control freaks want to work?
The biggest insight I had was life is kind of hard. That's normal, it's not shameful that you're not gleefully happy every moment of every day. "Depression is the result of not feeling you have the right to feel how you are feeling." Aha. Now I can get on with my life.
5
@FJA Complaints against licensed psychotherapists can be lodged with the licensing board of the state within which the therapist practices. If one’s care is being reimbursed by an insurance company, a complaint can be filed with them. A critical review of a therapist can be placed on Yelp or on similar sites. If one is dissatisfied with the treatment offered, you can terminate. Terrible narcissistic therapists tend not to have successful practices. Most psychotherapists do the work because they care about people and want to help not because they are “control freaks.”
2
As someone living with bipolar disorder, I disagree. Psychologists are very helpful. Treatment with my psychologist helped me stay alive. I had one real suicide attempt, lots of cutting, bulimia, as examples, in the past. Therapy gave me the tools and coping skills to survive. Medication has also saved my life. It’s not all “quackery.” Sometimes it takes time to find the right “fit” for a psychologist. You need to find the right combo of medication and negative drug reactions happen but that’s why you contact your doctor right away (spoken from experience). CBT and DBT and wonderful options for a wide variety of people, including people without a clinical diagnosis or who are just going through tough times. I recommend teaching hospitals for the best care (eg MGH, Mayo, Cleveland Clinic) unless you live in the boonies
3
The obvious answer here is for private (not public, they probably can't do this) colleges and universities that have more qualified applicants than they can accept to make signing the following statement mandatory by all students over the age of 18:
"By your admission to this institution, you waive your rights to health care and mental health privacy when your parent(s) are to be the recipients of the information. We may communicate with your parents about these issues. We may also communicate with them about academic issues. We may or may not give you notice of these communications."
This wouldn't solve every problem like those discussed in this article, but it would sure help to solve a lot of them.
10
Here's a hard truth: colleges are BUSINESSES. Don't let the non-profit status fool you.
Businesses are can be hurt by liabilities. Mentally ill people are just that. They hurt the college's bottom line.
8
I'd love to set aside all of the comments about how coddled this generation is, which is irrelevant, whiny gobbledygook in a conversation about mental illness. Mental illness isn't something that only strikes the self-absorbed, but it might seem so if you like to imagine that you're shielded by your own maturity and hard work or whatever blessed qualities that you think you have that are a magical talisman against depression.
27
Look, life - and the world around you - is tough. You have grown up and left the roost of your parent's - and you are on your own. So, just get on with it; yes, you shall get knocked down every now and then - maybe more often than is anyone's due, but tough. The world outside owes you nothing, leave alone millions in compensation for your issues . . .
4
It's bad enough how you get treated by the health care system if you seek help for a mental health issue. Seeking help through an institution you have some other common interest with (like a university, or worse an employer) is fraught with peril.
I don't mean to discourage anyone from seeking help for mental health problems, but I'd be lying to say that our society doesn't provide far too many reasons for people to be reluctant to do so.
Then we wonder why people self-medicate with alcohol and opiates.
8
This goes to the heart of what colleges and universities are for. I would argue that they should provide for the student's needs that are related to the school, but there is a limit. Schools have medical clinics, but they are not a hospital. Similarly, they provide counseling, but should not be expected to treat deeply troubled students.
10
Colleges have become too expensive and students take on a huge debt load because colleges have been pushed to add services and services and services well beyond education. If someone is unable to use the educational program offered, it is not the fault of the college and the student needs to use the mental health provisions of his parent's health insurance, usually at home.
11
Let's keep things in perspective: graduating later than planned is not the end of the world - especially given how possibly getting more updated college classes may yield to better paid w/ benefits entry-level work, instead of just rushing into the job market w/ outdated skills!
Worried abt lost scholarships & grants (even, when applicable, losing international student visa residency), &/or being on the hook for interest-laden student loans?
Well, as long as one is alive & healthily maturing, one can find ways to make up for these losses & obligations, such as resuming studies (even if only on minimum unit load per sem, to not overwhelm oneself physically/psychologically/financially) in a better-suited college AA/BA/BS degree (or even a vocational/trade school path to employment) in an affordable commuter school, &/or having a paying side job or microbusiness to help fund one's positive campus comeback.
Some loans may even get paid off or forgiven when one gets a job w/ public or private employers that have such options for quality, hit-the-ground-running graduates of any age.
One does not need to go down the spiral of destructively addictive self-medication or dead-end jobs, relationships, total loss of self-esteem, etc. when on needed medical leave from rigorous college academics.
If one's parents, friends, & town harshly judges & shame the on-medical leave pupil as a "drain", "loser", etc., the adult pupil must move away to live/work modestly & heal into resilience!
2
With the exorbitant tuition costs of colleges like Stanford I would expected them to cover more of the students needs including professional mental help.
4
We are under the mistaken impression that universities are full of the best and brightest. When it comes to university administration, that assumption is proved wrong time and again. Administrations are mostly incompetent, and spend most of the time covering up that incompetence. An investigation of university HR complaints would quickly prove it.
4
Could smell this money grab, er, lawsuit a mile away. Don't blame suicidal nutjob - blame deep-pocketed university, collect millions, laugh all the way the the asylum...
Seems to me Stanford acted more than reasonably. Imagine how this story would have been twisted had this kid used the knife he carried everywhere out of habit "because he's from Texas" to kill himself.
15
At the University of Chicago, a mentally ill undergrad caused $300,000 damage to university property and attempted to assault an officer before being non-fetally shot by campus police. (https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/police-identify-charge-student-shot-by...
Universities are not psychiatric hospitals. Sending mentally ill students home is the prudent choice.
9
@Jason
The point is that each individual should be treated as an individual, and not discriminated against on the basis of his disability.
Of course a leave of absence is the best course, sometimes.
The fact that a mentally ill student at Chicago did what he did used to justify treating every mentally ill student as potentially violent, is precisely the kind of reasoning that is discriminatory.
4
I was going to suggest that the subject join one of the kegars that I was able to attend when I was grew up in Paloalto, but since those festivities are not considered PC on the campus anymore and Therefore not available, I suggest he not try to kill himself with Tylenol but but seek counseling for ineffective suicidal attempts ( a fire extinguisher bashed over oneself’s head might work)
This has been going on for years. Students who suffer from mental illness get the bums rush.
5
Incredibly biased article, based only on the contributions of the students. The administration is limited to boilerplate comments, because they can't be specific in any case. Missing are the perspectives of their professors--and as a college professor, I can tell you many mentally ill students have no insight into how their behavior impacts on others. I have had students who need to take a semester off harass other students, make racist/sexist comments, stomp out in the middle of class, disrupt class. Others simply don't bother to do the work or study for tests. Some might also be under the influence as well as mentally ill. And yet, there is nothing I can do as a professor. Nor do I get backing from administration--I have been told repeatedly that "we cannot require a student to get mental health counseling. Even more fun--when I filed a complaint against one extremely disruptive student, she filed a complaint against me. And the dean's position--you complained about her, she complained about you, you're even!
BTW. the shooter at Virginia Tech (10 years ago) had a host of professors who filed complaints against him for disruptive behavior. And nothing was done about him either.
38
Colleges are not treatment centers. Period.
If your difficulties are affecting your ability to learn there, you need to go home for treatment.
13
My Father had an alcohol problem for a while - I asked him if he was going to go to AA or another resource to get help, he said "No, I don't think I need it."
At the time, I thought he was wrong, however, now that I see how reaching out for help can get you blackmailed, I increasingly think he was right.
6
As a psychiatrist (I need to make this intro for the inevitable cries of "if only you knew someone with...how could you!...etc") I wish we would stop using the term 'mental illness', which is about as useful as the term 'physical illness'. "OMG, he has a physical illness". What does that mean? Nothing.
I also wish there was not such a bureaucratic mindset among people who deal with other people in distress, and not such a trend to medicalize everything.
People have problems, everyone does. Most would benefit from more friends, therapy or mentorship. Medication should be used far less than it is. Hospitalization should be rare.
SSRIs are no better than placebo for the most part, and do apparently cause increased suicidal ideation, as well as apparently increased homicidal ideation. No, it's not because the person is "getting better and has more energy", the well worn trope psychiatrists like to spout. There is much outrage when anyone points any of this out, with claims that it's 'irresponsible' to discuss the reality of SSRIs. Huge denial in the field about all this.
What's needed is less hysteria about all this, less bureaucracy, less up-coding. More support to anyone at all who needs it, more flexibility. This rigid legalistic hostility towards students in distress meets a generation who's been taught that everything's a diagnosis. It's a perfect storm.
15
Ridiculous! This student could not handle the stress of college the first time he went and now he’s mad and playing the blame game. Grow up and move on. Your back at school now so focus on that. You needed another year to mature, no shame in that.
13
Just what we need. A mentally ill student attending class with thousands of students, in a country where weapons and bomb making materials are readily available.
11
This is terrible. Is a leave of absence sometimes a good thing for an individual, of course. But a policy that requires it, as this says, it discourages students from going for counseling at all. "Have you had suicidal thoughts?" Who hasn't? I sure have. Demanding hospitalization and being kicked out of school can lead to terrible cycles of loss of social networks, isolation, and yes, suicide.
3
What a weak entitled generation - none more so than these “high achievers.” They should all sue ... their parents.
7
Wow, passed out on the dorm floor and visited by a dean at the hospital? In most places you would just be evicted from the dorms, put on probation and have to take some pointless online class about substance abuse.
7
I found this article particularly relevant because I have been dealing with these issues with my daughter. Two years ago, when she was a freshman at a highly competitive art college in New York, she experienced extreme depression and suicidal thoughts. We spoke almost daily, and I knew she was struggling with sadness and some roommate issues. However, it was not until she returned home for the semester break that she informed me that the school had put her on suicide watch one weekend. I was never informed because of HIPPAA. According to my daughter, after she told a school counselor she was suicidal, the counselor offered to send a security guard by her room a couple of times over the weekend. Thankfully, the crisis ended, and my daughter is now much more willing to share her emotional trials with me.
Should the school have notified me when my daughter was known to be suicidal? Heck, yeah! The health and safety of a peri-adult should trump the legalities of health disclosures.
12
As the parent of a current college student whose best friend's sibling became severely depressed while at university, I unequivocally believe that a student in a similar state must be removed from the academic environment for treatment. It is not in the best interests of anyone for a suicidal student to remain in the pressure cooker environment of a university. The day our friends picked their daughter up and took her home was the day she began recovery. Please do not assume these institutions have the resources to handle the needs of mentally ill students. They absolutely do not, and the ancillary risks to others are unacceptably high.
18
Most people are penalized in our society if they admit to mental health issues. Therefore they do not go forward and seek out professional help. Nor would they ever disclose on any form of having any mental health difficulties or problems. Once it is on your medical record it is an indelible stain unable to be removed. And it can easily be used against you in endless ways. Your health records are no longer private.
Also, many people's health insurance policies do not cover any psychiatric illnesses and or its long term care.
4
I got kicked outta MIT because I tried to quit the drugs I was on and had a seizure on campus. When I woke up in the ICU I was informed I wasnt welcome back on campus and that I was kicked out until I could prove I was drug free.
Well as a pre-med student I realized I had just blown my opportunity to get into medical school so I became a heroin addict for the next 3 years. I almost died but managed to quit and then finally graduate from CU with about $140,000 in student loans.
Now I'm 30, I've been sober for 5 years and I pay over $1,000/month for student loans.
MIT mental health is a joke. They didnt help me at all even though I went there several times for help. They care more about the reputation of MIT then the students. They prescribed me adderall and sent me on my way.
10
Are you saying you had a drug problem, but they kicked you out for mental illness? This comment is confusing. If coming off drugs was so serious as to create seizures that put you in the ICU, and then you continued on drugs for years, what was MIT supposed to do about all this?
10
Why dont you become a paramedic?
I don't understand what colleges are supposed to do in these situations. They are not mental health facilities. Too many people now expect institutions of higher learning to be everything to all people. It's not babysitting, it's not a place to get well from injuries or illness, it's a place to learn, period. Socialization and growing up also happen but the main reason for existence is to provide education and prepare students for "real life." When one of the students says she wishes she could have had things "on my own terms"- what does that mean? Don't we all wish that? But that's not how life works. What if one of these students was a danger to others and actually did something to harm other students and faculty? Then we would be wringing our hands, wondering why the college allowed them to stay! It's a lose-lose situation.
9
The mad murderer of 32 people at Virginia Tech, whose name I won't write, is an ultimate example of what can happen when a university tolerates the presence of an mentally ill (major depression, in his case) student on campus for too long--a person over 18 years and able to take or leave his mental-health treatments, in an institution that cannot play mom or dad to a huge number of young people in addition to all of its normal work.
The safety and the learning experience of thousands, is worth thousands of times as much as the purported rights of an individual. The military services will not accept people with mental-health issues for enlistment even if they are under control with psychiatric medicines. They rapidly discharge any who slip through the recruitment process. Colleges and universities couldn't be blamed for doing the same thing if the student's problems are too much to be handled by routine ordinary means.
7
@Enemy of Crime
I am glad someone brought up Virginia Tech. I suspect that case may be the real reason behind the universities' policy.
To use that case as a basis for wholesale discrimination against a class of students with a particular disability is illegal. Obviously some students should go home -- maybe most. But that could be true of any student struggling with a serious illness. It is illegal to single out the depressed for exclusion.
2
Sadly most colleges are only interested in their legal liability and not at all in the student's interest. I found this to be true for eating disorders, anxiety, and other similar problems. This leads the school to act in their best interest even if the decision is not merely bad, but potentially destructive, to the student.
2
Universities are not rehab or mental health hospitals—students are there to be engaged in academics. Universities can provide medical help (physical and mental) for many issues and many students. But If a mental health issue is so severe that a student misses several classes, the problems quickly mount—falling behind, anxiety about falling behind, work piling up, etc. campuses are not meant to serve as havens, retreats, sanctuaries, hospitals, or rehab—that is not their mission—they arestressful places for even the healthiest. I am *totally* sympathetic with these students—I’ve been there. When one can no longer function on campus in a way that both advances their education AND preserves their mental health, then it’s probably time to take a break and get help elsewhere.
9
If some of these problems stem from sexual trauma, sending a victim home just because she has PTSD, Depression or Panic Attacks isn't right. And a reflexive "just send them home" policy fails to acknowledge how many students come dysfunctional homes.
5
I understand what you’re saying, but no one, including universities, can legally order an adult to go home—they might be able to make them leave a campus, but where they go after that is not in the university’s hands.
3
Wow, Stanford doesn't have enough money to "smooth things over" by hiring an appropriate Consultant Firm to come-up with a reasonable way to make-sure all Students admitted, remain in their hard won Stanford Student Status. That is, if they still would like to remain a Stanford Student.
Stanford cannot afford to let one of those admitted Students go way back to "who knows where Texas", for example. How thoughtless of Stanford, Harvard and all other Ivy League Campuses. The Ivy League seems to have turned Students into trash items, consumed and disposed in a dump. And that's okay to them. It is also not intelligent of Stanford to do this. I mean both Faculty and Administration.
Off the top of my head, in the half hour or so I have been writing this... build a new nice dormitory to accommodate these Students. Or add on to the campus Stanford Hotel. Fill with highly Professional rehab staff, And call Academic Law Enforcement. See if there is a campus reason why they are having such problems. Campus Bullying by other Students, Staff, Professors? Maybe even worse than campus bullying!
As someone who worked at Stanford for many years, I understand both sides. As a business, I found Stanford to be exceptionally generous when it came to mental health benefits.....even staff are offered confidential mental health counseling following HIPPA guidelines by licensed mental health counselors. Staff have the opportunity to take mental health time off, etc., And following HIPPA rules is a huge responsibility each staff must adhere to (including 8 hours of training).
But Stanford is in the business of providing an education, not healing mental and physical ailments. It must stay focused on its mission compassionately to succeed.
17
I don't feel like mental health is an issue colleges can right off as one prescription fix for everyone. Each individual case should require individual attention. To say it would be beneficial for one student to go home and to not know what their home life is like is not caring for the mental/emotional health of the student. A university does not have a place to treat a student dealing with these issues.
However, I do believe that colleges should have more resources readily available for students who seek help and should not be the ones to determine whether or not the student should leave school. There may be students who can't afford or don't have access to that help.
2
I suffered from crippling depression, anxiety and insomnia as a college freshman and sophomore and Stanford was one of the schools I looked at, though I ultimately went elsewhere. In my sophomore year, I struggled to adjust to my new medications and decided to take a leave of absence. I spent a week at home with my parents before realizing that being at home, away from my friends and without a structured routine was making things much worse and decided to return to college. My doctors agreed, but my friends and the college wanted me to take time off and I had to fight tooth and nail to return. Ultimately they allowed it, but I was ostracized by my friends and the college administration treated me like a child. I buried myself in my schoolwork and got good grades, but it was an awful, isolating, lonely time, although I was able to take pride in having been able to succeed against the odds.
As an adult I've found that being open about my struggles with mental illness has helped to normalize it for me and for others around me who have struggled with it. I strongly believe students should not be penalized for speaking up about it - it's so common at this age and not a predictor at all of short or long-term success. These students are brave for sharing their stories and deserve to be treated with compassion and understanding. A leave of absence is probably the right move for some, but the student should have a say in that - everyone's illness and circumstances are different.
21
Unfortunately, this story rings true to my experiences at college. We had a health center on campus that effectively tried to treat everything with an ace bandage or a pregnancy test, and was highly unequipped to handle the various mental health needs of the student body. Since they were out of their depth, they pushed students to take medical leave and find help on their own. This act of sending the student away from the support of their peers, and often, into the unstable home of their parents, was enough for two students to take their lives off campus during my three years at the school. It very much feels like the school is unwilling to put any effort into the students they chose to matriculate, and this is resulting in those students' death.
Remember the time when university was a time to explore, make mistakes, and find oneself?
Nowadays it is all about “performance,” kids (they are still so young) feel immense pressure.
I will send my kid to college pretending it is still the seventies. To find himself. To have joy in just learning.
We should be kinder to our youth and allow them this freedom. However, that line of thinking makes parents worry. There is just too much riding on “education” these days.
4
Colleges and universities are increasingly being asked to take on non-educational functions. Faculty, staff, and administration usually care deeply about the well-being of their students, but may not be equipped to offer the kind of therapeutic services some of them may need. (Institutions are similarly often ill-equipped to deal with accusations of sexual misconduct or assault.) Asking colleges and universities to take on these functions imposes significant burdens. Meeting those burdens does not come cheaply and contributes to what many feel are the exorbitant costs of higher education today.
8
In my years at UC Berkeley, there were multiple suicides every year. After one bad year, all the roof exits were chained shut so students could not jump off the roofs of the taller buildings.
Several courtyards had discolored stone from the blood of multiple jumpers. Schools like Stanford, and the others mentioned in this article are tough environments for even the "healthy" students. These are not "caring environments". Technically I graduated from Berkeley, but what I really feel, some decades later, is that I "survived".
11
College should be about education. When did college become responsible for someone's mental health?
Especially seems like the problems exists before they went to these schools in the first place.
Schools already select admissions based on mental capabilities, we don't blame MIT or Harvard for not admitting the those with who have down syndrome, why should mental illness be any different? Isn't mental illness certainly means lack of mental capabilities?
3
@Timothy
Not according to Hemingway, Lincoln, Darwin, Tolstoy, Newton, Churchill, and Plath, among others
3
Several months ago there was an article about a student who killed himself at Hamilton College. Some people at the college apparently were aware but did nothing to help the young man. Now, much to my surprise I am reading an article crititcizing colleges for asking students to take a leave of absence.
Students who swallow pills and express suicidal ideation do not belong in college. It is not safe for their own well being. What are colleges expect to do? Maybe a student does not belong to that college if he or she cannot handle the pressure and there is no shame to that. Maybe a student needs to address certain issues before being able to deal with academic and social issues at college. College is not just about academics. It’s about growing up and figuring things out. There are a lot of expectations and young people work so hard to get into these places only to find out that they are completely overwhelmed dealing with it.
4
Higher education must always consider the legal liability of leaving the student on campus. For example, what if the student dramatically commits suicide in a packed lecture hall? Is the school responsible for helping all those witnesses? Is the school liable for keeping the troubled student on campus? Will the parents sue? How many parents will sue? We live in America, which means the legal considerations must always be front and center.
5
It is truly disturbing that students are coerced into leaving campus rather than getting the help they need right on campus while still making progress in their schooling. Not many people will want to reach out for help if they know they'll only have to leave the support of their friends and go back home to feel isolated, unaccomplished, and embarrassed. This is just another way of discouraging people from reaching out, causing the mass amount of people who struggle with mental health to grow even larger. Instead, colleges should provide on campus therapists/counselors who can provide guidance, support, and give struggling students ways to manage and better their mental health whether it be depression, anxiety, anger management etc.. This would give the student a comforting assurance that they don't have to deal with everything on their own. Not to mention they will be able to finish school at their expected time and proceed with the rest of life.
@haileybhsap2018 Well trained licensed psychotherapists located on a college campus would likely require a salary of at least $75,000/year plus benefits per person in order to appropriately compensate them for this highly challenging work. Given the time involved in coordinating treatment with resident assistants, professors, psychiatrists and, perhaps, family, they might average 25 actual client hours a week. With the high numbers of young adults experiencing psychological conditions can you imagine the number of clinicians an academic institution would require? How about the administrative staff necessary to manage the clinicians’ schedules and billing?
3
@Mary Smith
Another possible solution is "Medicare for All" that includes mental health services. The student could get care off campus without getting tangled up in the misery of being booted out of college on top of their other difficulties.
1
Presumably these students don't start out that way but become mentally ill in part because of the stress caused by being in a demanding academic program. Stanford is extremely selective (admission rate is +/- 5%), so it would be magnified. If students can't cut it w/the well established policies and resources available, then they should leave - for their own good. At some point, individuals are responsible for their decisions, even ill ones. It is not the job of a university to provide an education and treat all mental illness. They do what they can, but that is not their primary mission. Unless you have worked on campus (and I have at 2 R1 institutions), you have not the slightest clue about how resource-heavy trying to keep marginal students in their programs can be. And to what ultimate end? If they can't cope at school, how will they cope in their careers? It makes perfect sense to weed them out after giving them multiple chances to succeed, in some cases to keep them from feeling suicidal.
2
" . . . he was sent to a private outpatient treatment center, where he was prescribed an antidepressant that he said triggered horrible suicidal fantasies."
When are we going to learn that the psychotropic drugs create psychotic results. They may cause stability on a short term basis, but can do more harm than good in the long run!
And then, who gets to pay for this and live with the consequences?
The student featured from Bates appears to be a success story. She was sent home for mental illness and a suicide attempt, received treatment, and Bates welcomed her back to finish her degree when she was happy and healthy again. But, she complains because going home wasn't on "her terms?" What would have happened to her mental illness if she was allowed to stay? The article states, "By the second semester, she had stopped getting out of bed and going to class." What were the school's options? What were her options?
Honestly, this woman's story sounds like a triumph over mental illness AND a triumph over the detrimental life consequences that are so often the wreckage of mental illness. Moreover, Bates appears to have a compassionate commitment to its students because it readmitted her, and gave her a second chance to finish her degree. I would think gratitude toward Bates rather than resentment would be called for here, even if her dismissal was artless.
15
The entire concept of a leave of absence is ridiculous. It assumes that college students are not yet adults, which they are, and will return to their parents homes for treatment. Not all students have parents or family willing or able to take them in, and would be forced to work a dead end job to maybe make enough to pay rent and put a roof over their head. It's paternalistic in it's assumptions that someone will be there for the student, and devastating if those assumptions are false.
When a college accepts a student and requires them to live on campus, they are taking in an adult. If that adult has issues, they should help them work through them, or refer them to outside agencies in the community. They should not "Send them home" unless they are a true threat to others, not just depressed and potentially suicidal.
4
Although I was not forced to leave, I am unable to return.
I am a student on medical withdrawal (for mental health reasons) from Yale University. I had been away for a little over a year when I applied for reinstatement. During my time off, I completed an Intensive Outpatient Program, held a job, and wrote nearly 500 poems. I was also hospitalized twice--each time for a night; each time voluntarily--for suicidal ideation. When I applied for reinstatement, I was told that "ideally" I would have experienced a "year of stability." And that, because I was hospitalized (for a night), it might be "too soon" for me to return.
Ultimately, they rejected my application. They would not tell me what transpired during the committee hearing--they said only that I was not "ready." I can go through the process again, but I feel afraid to reach out for help, should I need it, lest it becomes always "too soon" for me to return to school, or my year never "stable" enough.
88
@Jen I am so sorry to hear this. I do know that I have worked at a college for 29 years where we value our students who return from leaves, whatever the reason, including those related to mental health issues. These students enhance our community.
1
Stress at college isn't anything new. I went to college in the 1960's, during the Vietnam War. Pressures to get into graduate or professional schools were enormous, and the faculty and deans were not encouraging. No one wanted to go to the college shrink because it was well known that talking to her made you crazier. I knew of 2 students who attempted suicide, and each of my friends seems to have known 2 others. I also knew many people who were so eccentric that I avoided them, who yet experienced miraculous recoveries once they left that school. I understand that colleges cannot take on the role of caregivers to the serious mentally ill, but in my day they seemed to be in complete denial about the stressful environment that they created. Colleges ought to take at least some responsibility for the well-being of their students. It is part of their job of preparing young people for the future.
2
A close family member is starting college this weekend at a socioeconomically elite college in the New York area. She has experienced significant depression, anxiety and anorexia in her life - hospitalized twice. She is bright, passionate and talented, but also selfish, willful and blames others for her problems.
I'll admit it - I feel a little bad for her prospective roommate. I have not a doubt in the world that she will need support from the college. Frankly, I don't know how it will work out.
17
'"she passed out on the bathroom floor of her dormitory from a mix of pills and alcohol. A dean visited her at the hospital and told her that “students in my situation tend not to succeed at Stanford,”'
The dean's statement is probably true, but what else did he/she say? (Taken out of context this makes the remark perhaps unduly callous)
And is it somehow Stanford's fault that someone passes out from a mix of pills and alcohol?
College DO have a responsibility for the students, but can we reasonably expect them to take care of a whole range of possible problems that many students seem to have?
12
In my direct experience as a professor, the counseling services through my university lack both competence and capacity to help students experiencing major mental health challenges. Counselors have been well trained in identifying said challenges, but not in treating them. And even if they were competent to treat, the "session" limit (10 visits per academic year) preclude effective helping. The surrounding community has cutting-edge, effective services, and wait lists, as well as barriers related to cost (to the providers, as they are insufficiently funded, and to the service-users, who have insufficient financial resources, including health insurance). We have learned a great deal about treatment, but as a society lack the will to provide health care to every person within our border, regardless of zip code and financial status. Colleges and universities can send students home but in many instances there is insufficient help available there, also.
8
I am a board-certified psychiatrist.
Most college students are adults and should be treated as such. Colleges should not be in loco parentis for adults.
Colleges have put themselves in a bad situation by agreeing to act as such. They are blamed for suicides, and now are being blamed for sending students home when the colleges don't want to be blamed for suicides. Colleges can blame themselves for taking a parental role with their adult students. It is as simple as that; but colleges want alumni and parents of students to give them money, so the situation continues. It's all about money. What else is new?
80
@Radical Inquiry Hooray! A Heinlein award for common sense. The mistake is in having an office of mental health in the first place. Automatically the university puts itself in a position of responsibility for events it cannot control.
Go to university to learn. If that doesn't work for you, go elsewhere.
3
@Radical Inquiry Kind of harsh.
@Radical Inquiry
Thanks for sharing.
In this case, colleges are being blamed for adopting blanket policies to issues highly personal.
Send some kids home, sure. Not all; and not under the guise if it being a voluntary decision in spite of coercion.
1
A couple of weeks before finals, my daughter called me from her dorm saying she was hearing things that were not there. She wondering if her room was haunted. She sounded fine, but concerned.
I suggested a visit to her campus mental health facility. She did. She was told to leave college and her dorm immediately.
We threw everything in the car as she had no time to pack.
After a real mental health examination, the psychiatrist did not find a mental illness - it was Lyme disease. She was placed on doxycycline and recovered. However, how the college handled this damaged her self-esteem. She was embarrassed by the college's response, leaving without saying goodbye to anyone and graduating late.
As her mother, I have mixed feelings. I would have preferred her to have full mental health and physical exam instead of some college mental health counselor without a medical degree voicing her opinion. I never thought the college wouldn't have a psychiatrist on staff. Nor did I expect them to throw her out in less than 24 hours.
On the other hand, I glad she was home and had excellent healthcare. She continued her education at a local college, graduated and has a career which she (and I) can be proud of.
Things that seem so big at 20, matter far less as time goes by, but this didn't need to happen.
12
According to the journalists, one student had a plan to carry out his suicidal ideation, had access to the medication he planned to use, and routinely carried around a weapon on campus. In another case, a student overdosed on medication.
I think the larger point here is that, college campuses are not designed to deal with the extensive psychological trauma these students were exhibiting. These students all seem to be intelligent and very capable, but they also needed psychological support beyond what their campuses said they could adequately handle. This happens. Indeed, it is helpful to encourage students to re-evaluate and seek refuge in settings that are better suited to meet their needs.
However, there is a false premise embedded in much of the thinking in this piece, that college-going is a straight and an only forward-moving line. This thinking also assumes that it is unhealthy for people and place to part ways. We should all let go of that.
Sometimes when the support some students require extend beyond the scope of the support that colleges can adequately provide, it is in the best interest of the student to seek support and refuge in settings better suited to their needs.
This means abandoning the premise that college-going is linear and abandoning the premise that place must always contort to people.
4
This:
"“At any given moment in a college classroom, there will be between 5 and 10 percent of students who’ve had a suicidal thought in the previous, let’s say, two to three weeks,” said Dr. Christine Moutier, chief medical officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention."
Verbalized suicidal ideation, or "suicidal thoughts" are not terribly good predictors of what researchers refer to as completed suicides, ie, deaths by suicide. Some studies have even found that among medical students, rates of suicidal thoughts within the preceding 6 months are as high as 50% or more.
That said, colleges and universities are cognizant of the financial liability (from potential civil lawsuits) they would take on if a student who verbalized being suicidal ended their lives, or irreversibly and critically injured themselves in a suicide attempt, even if such an outcome was statistically unlikely.
Having a student take a leave of absence may not be the best solution to this, just as having a student in danger of failing a course get a free pass to withdraw from the course after the deadline for withdrawal has ended may not be the optimal solution.
Realistically, if we want to see an end to this without 4 year schools having to hire a whole cadre of mental health specialists (something even most hospitals do not have) then those 4 year schools need to have some protection from civil lawsuits.
The issue of people reacted badly to antidepressants needs to be addressed. Health professionals should be requiring that all patients who are diagnosed first take the GeneSight genetic testing panel. Thanks to those results, an antidepressant I can metabolize was prescribed the first time around and 5months later, I feel much better. The test is covered by insurance and if not, you are guaranteed to pay a maximum of 330$. They offer a tiered fee depending on your income (my income exceeded the financial aid condition). Isn't that a small price to pay compared to years of exploring drugs you can't metabolize and make you worse? I am so grateful I took the test.
1
Colleges aren't hospitals and aren't responsible for the medical care of their students. Basic services are provided as a convenience for students who don't have a private physician far from home, but they are no more responsible for dealing with major illness, physical or mental, than would be an employer.
Mental health crises aren't disabilities. As defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act, disabilities must be permanent or of indefinite duration greater than six months. A broken leg is not a disability; paraplegia is. Crises, by definition, are of short duration.
1
@Jonathan Katz
Clinical depression most certainly can be a disability under the ADA, and under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
It may also be a disability for purposes of Social Security, which appears to be the statute you are relying on.
1
I don't see how these schools are at fault. The students should be allowed to withdraw from classes without penalty if the concerns are that serious. This will sound crass, but it's just another example of how this generation of kids is simply not prepared for the challenges of the real world - and college really isn't even the real world.
62
@Midwest Josh I think it's unfair to shift the entirety of the blame to the students for failure to adapt. There is a reality that pressure is increased on college students compared to the past, and that has a strong effect on the emergent patterns of mental health on college campuses. One cannot just slap on the "kids these days" card on the table without acknowledging that the academic environment has changed dramatically and rapidly in the last two decades.
1
Could we have a few words, please, about the teacher who has to teach 20 or so students while one, suffering from angst, disrupts the entire period?
How about the large and angry student who threatened to punch me out -- and several of the people sitting near him -- while I was a graduate teaching assistant (years and years ago) in Kansas? Was I discriminating against him and his mental health "issues" by asking that he not be allowed in my classroom?
University faculty and regular staff should not be forced to deal with students whose psychiatric or psychological conditions make them uncomfortable or fearful.
11
I imagine it was difficult for the students to share their stories, but so important in raising awareness of this situation. Colleges are there in loco parentis and need to support their students when they struggle. Colleges and universities may need to hire more mental health professionals in order to meet this need. No one wants the further tuition increases that may result, but something must be done to avert this crisis.
College's new motto must be 'toughen up or go home'. No wonder so many kids don't seek the help they need. This is disturbing on so many levels.
I don't expect a college to babysit my teen, but services should be confidential and easily obtained. This isn't rocket science. If they put as much money into this as they do, say sports, there would be a very robust mental health service on campus. Good grief they don't even have a place you can get a band aid (from true experience)
I don't know. The more anti-depressants that are prescribed, the less we see good results, suicides are going up and up. Talk therapy is essential, but good luck finding that or having it covered. And quit blaming the kids. They need help but it is not readily available. Calling mom or dad is not always an option.
5
A leave of absence is EXACTLY the right job for many people with mental health issues at university. If they had jobs heir employers would not be required to offer them mental health services, would they? It is absurd. The number of students with some form of mental health issue has skyrocketed....as high as 30% by some estimates, at some universities.
Universities are not built to deal with this level of distress. If a student can’t hack it they can go home, get better, and come back when they’re ready. It is better for everyone.
5
So, the family has joined a class action lawsuit. Such a lawsuit is very unlikely to solve the problem. It is very likely to increase the already astronomical tuition costs at Stanford, and other colleges. Welcome to America.
The truth is that there is no facile solution to this complex problem, and class action litigation is unlikely to find one.
In 2009, a student at MIT took his own life. After this sad event, and after it was obviously too late to help their son, the parents sued MIT. In May, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts rendered a confusing verdict. The Court ruled that MIT was not liable in this specific case, but that schools might be liable in different circumstances.
So, schools like Stanford are left in a no-win situation. If they ask students to take a leave of absence, they face lawsuits. If they help students get treatment and allow students to remain on campus when treatment fails, and the students take their own lives, the schools face lawsuits.
People with serious mental illness, including depression and suicidal ideation, have the legal right to treatment. It can be difficult to treat and manage many mental illnesses. It’s not the case that schools are able or obligated to provide extensive treatment, when lesser treatment proves inadequate. At some point, the schools must be able to say that they’ve done what they can, and it’s in the best interests of the student, and other students, that the ill student return home.
9
Seems clear that some schools are very much discouraging their students from seeking help. That that wasn't the intention is irrelevant. Any policy or practice that discourages students from seeking help is simply wrong, horribly wrong.
If it can be proven that any school did this they must be severely punished and the individuals responsible must be terminated.
26
This article fails to address the elephant in the room - students suffering from mental illness often cannot successfully engage in the main point of going to a university, passing classes. It's as if universities are expected to be wellness retreats and not centers of education. This puts universities in a bind. Where is the responsibility of society and our medical system to provide mental healthcare? Instead, articles like this imply that providing healthcare is a core priority for a university. Let's remember this the next time they publish an article bemoaning rising tuition. If society expects universities to act as a holistic provider of health, wellness, and education then it will hardly be surprising if costs go up.
10
They sure can. I have suicidal thoughts nearly every day and I am a straight A student. Granted I have just learned skills over the course of a long time to cope with them. I now know the difference between suicidal thoughts and thinking about suicide. I just don't respond to my mind's inclination to have me kill myself and just go back to what I am doing.
I don't think the student is correct in claiming the medicine caused him to have more suicidal thoughts. It's that he didn't get proper help. They don't actually do anything at psychiatric hospitals for patients and they can be very dehumanizing. This is an important life lesson for him.
If you are a college student and you really want help, get a private therapist. I think it's best to set up arrangements with one immediately upon entering college even if a college student doesn't have a history of mental illness.
6
Agree that a college student in full mental illness crisis needs off-campus help.
But too often mandating a student to go on MH leave ASAP is seen by the student as punitive, cutting off a student from his friends and community a time he needs support, not isolation.
Colleges should do a better job with individualized MH leave policies - and adopt measures to stay in touch with on-leave students to assist their transition back to campus.
Few students get better spending time alone in their parents’ basement.
8
Personally I am beyond grateful that my daughter's school insisted that she take a leave of absence when she had an eating disorder relapse. She came home to regular meals and therapy appointments overseen by people who cared (her family). Her desire to go back to school helped motivate her to eat and comply with us and her therapist and her desire to finish school continued s to keep her healthy once she returned. One of their requirements for her to return to school was that she take some community college classes, so while she missed a semester at her school, she is still on track to graduate with her entering class.
28
Why is it that colleges are being called to solve psychiatric problems in their adult students? We wouldn't expect a university to take over a cancer patient's care would we? Their responsibility ends where the parents begin. As an institution they have no legal guardianship over students who are by law adults, that responsibility lies entirely in the pervue of their next of kin.
143
@Ed This got me: Harrison Fowler's quick-thinking attorney explained away his carrying a knife around on campus and in the dorms with: "Being from Texas, Harrison carried the knife out of habit."
Huh? Like Jim Bowie at the Alamo? It seems like this is an excuse calculated to play on Californians' most paranoid fantasies about Texas barbarism, and I speak as a true-blue liberal Californian.
How about it, Texans, how many of you are carrying knives around "out of habit?"
5
@Ed
HIPAA laws do not allow physicians or mental health professionals to call parents unless the student signs a waiver.
But universities who work to help those students with cancer graduate are praised. Why is mental illness different? A liability to the institution, perhaps? Many parents, no matter how caring, are in the dark about the struggles of an 18 year-old child. Why schools don’t/won’t involve them is beyond me.
1
Perhaps students should seek help outside of the college system. There appears to be a conflict of interest in terms of the college's goals and the students' well-being. A therapist at a local clinic or a private therapist working on a sliding scale may be a better option. This gives autonomy to the student and his or her family to decide what is best for them.
11
Many students, on their first excursion from home and now essentially dependent only on themselves, find they are in a situation they can not handle with the added burden of academics. But colleges are not, nor can they be, mental health centers. Some guidance counselors to talk to, some help in making new friends, some guidance in "the brave new world." That's it. Eternal support is simply not the college mission. Preparing one for life includes the "breaking of the shell".
9
This article explains very well what the students' complaint consists in, and why, in their eyes, they are only asking Stanford to end certain discriminatory practices based on the type of disability they have.
The article really does deserve a close reading. It seems to me to be fair to all sides. Of course a leave of absence might be needed sometimes, or be the best choice for a particular student, but it cannot be imposed in a discriminatory way.
The complaint is easily found online. These students are not suing for money. They are suing for equal treatment.
2
Not only are some students being forced to take leaves from their universities due to mental health challenges, countless others are dropping out due to the ways in which mental illness can interfere with school if not treated.
I come from a supporting loving family, but the barriers to seeking treatment for my undiagnosed anxiety disorder were too difficult for me to overcome. I had paralyzing writers block and stopped going to class if I was unable to complete an assignment due to my fears, resulting in multiple failures. I did venture into a little counseling at the time, but when I shared with my counselor that I had skipped classes due to my fear, she told me not to come back to her. This was decades ago, so I hope things have changed in university counseling systems.
I dropped out school from my university for over a decade and gained confidence and skills through work. I was also lucky to have the good will of my family behind me and eventually was readmitted to my university to finish my bachelors and recently finished a master's as well. But not everyone has the privilege to take so many twists and turns in order to get their lives back on track. I worry that fear of being forced out of school for seeking treatment might push more students to remain untreated, facing additional agonies of failed classes, addictions, social challenges, fears of disappointing parents, despair...the list goes on.
4
I may be the ultimateliberal, but I stand by any entity/person who advises ill students to return home to their parents. Those with untreated illnesses are unable to live independently, and, therefore, should best be in the care of relatives, whether parents, siblings, or grandparents.
When effective medication stabilizes an individual, independent living may eventually become possible.
I personally know of an incident in which a student had all courses in a semester expunged because of hospitalization. a year later, she was able to return to school after being monitored by competent doctors and caring spouse.
The correct medication in the appropriate dose can make all the difference in whether a person can function as a contributing, independent member of society.
Colleges need to cancel the enrollments and expunge records of anyone of limited capacity for independent and focused living. Send people with serious illness back to their parents.
I do not intend to belittle anyone with chronic illness. Been there, done that---10 years as an undergraduate, interrupted several times until my illness was correctly diagnosed. To accomplish everything required of a bachelor's degree, one must be in good health.
3
@ultimateliberal This is an addendum to my comment, above.
Because most college students are adults protected by privacy laws, the college deans/medical services/other officials will not even speak with parents.
What I did for my daughter when she was hospitalized was to type a letter of permission to act on her behalf. We affixed both of our IDs--drivers' licenses--- and had our signatures notarized. It was only then that I consulted with the university and obtained expungement of the unfinished semester. I also found out what was needed to graduate. The official spoke freely with me about my daughter's academic records, helping me formulate plan's for my daughter's return.
Upon delivering the info to my daughter, she was much relieved and, when stabilized, returned a year later.
Colleges and universities have privacy laws that prohibit discussions about health, but with appropriate documentation, parents can step in and make arrangements for their ill adult children.
11
I have such mixed emotions here, as I am a mental health professional myself. However, it is clear to me that the issues that these students brought to school were far above and beyond what even a well-staffed university counseling center could handle. These students each needed a higher level of care for their issues, which seem to include anxiety and depression. They cannot get their needs met on campus.
Given the competitiveness of an extremely selective school like Stanford, I can only imagine how hard these students pushed themselves even to get into the school. The adjustment from high school and living at home to attending college is huge. Add to that the likelihood that some of these students may have come from homes and cultures where acknowledging stress and anxiety was not permitted, or where they would be judged harshly.
Without reading the entire lawsuit, and hearing Stanford's side, I cannot judge the merits of the case, but I am tending to side with Stanford here.
31
Is it better for the school to ignore that the student is at risk of death by suicide?
Without a HIPAA waiver, the school cannot discuss the student's risk factors with parents and others who could help out. Sending the student home is the best way to alert the student's support network that the student needs immediate help.
And yes, clearly, schools need to be sensitive in their discussions with students, and to involve health care professionals in discussion. I don't think that's the main point here.
9
I see some comments recommending an increase in more competent, "kind" university counseling staff. While many/most schools are direly underfunded/staffed, it wouldn't necessarily alleviate the issue. My university has a two person counseling center. The staff-student ratio is considered within the acceptable range (university counseling staff to student ratio of 1:1,000-1,500 is recommended by The International Association of Counseling Services). The counselors working here are well-qualified, experienced, empathic professionals--but they are also generalists. They have to be, given the wide range of concerns with which students present. Students, once evaluated, are often determined to require more intensive, long-term, and specialized treatment due to the acuity of their condition--the kinds of treatment which a two person counseling center is certainly not equipped to provide. Students may then be referred to community providers so they can receive the most appropriate treatment, however this often upsets students/families who want services to be provided “in-house” given the convenience and the cost. But meeting the needs of all students within the university is simply not possible, nor is it their best interest. It would be similar to demanding that your primary care physician treat your heart condition rather than agreeing to follow up with a cardiologist.
26
It is not the responsibility of a college to take on mental health care beyond the usual related stress and anxiety created by the workload. If a student is not able to handle college, then they should not be there, no matter what they or their parents think of their potential. They probably should not attempt to be firefighters, surgeons, or soldiers either. That's life. Rather than expecting the world to accommodate them, they should be working on accepting themselves, and their limitations, just as they are.
There are plenty of fulfilling and rewarding ways to live life if only one sees oneself realistically. That might actually be the key to happiness.
38
@DMS
Colleges provide clinics for other illnesses, including some that are severe. What would be the logic in providing less care, or materially different care, for someone with severe clinical depression, as opposed to meningitis or a stroke?
Considering that some of the world's greatest artists and scientists and writers suffered from depression when they were young, what is "realistic" for these young people to aspire to is not yet evident.
5
@Sonja
Which illnesses are these that the college provides care for? I've worked in higher ed for 15 years, and I'm not aware of any college or university taking on the role of healthcare provider.
3
@DMS
In the case of Stanford, take a look right here:
https://vaden.stanford.edu
The issue here is equal treatment for the disabled. The complaint is online. The students are not asking for money.
The access to help and thinking about mental health issues are very different in Texas in California. This young man sought assistance with his "long-standing angst." He answered yes to the question if he had ever had any suicidal thoughts. What it doesn't say is whether or not he was, at that time, thinking of committing suicide, had a plan to kill himself, and had the means to enact that plan. All three factors need to be assessed in determining risk.
Stanford simply shuttled him off to the hospital, rather than provide outpatient treatment on campus. The fact that they're using housing policy to force students to take leave is troubling.
Visits from a dean, while in the hospital, should not be used for anything other than expressing the ways in which the university will support the student in crisis. Any other type of visit to someone hospitalized, particularly when it is an involuntary hospitalization, as was the case with Mr. Fowler's second, is pressure. For a Dean to say, "Gee you're in the hospital, students who have that problem don't succeed," is pressure.
I get that University mental health centers are overwhelmed with the number of anxious and depressed students, but the answer is not to discourage those students from seeking help. The answer definitely is not sending them home, which may or may not be helpful. Factors such as access to treatment should be considered. Accommodation for disability must be individualized AND support provided.
4
It's simply not possible for an outpatient student health center to deal with someone who is suicidally depressed. And it's not at all unreasonable to suggest that a student who is clinically depressed to the degree that they're having suicidal thoughts is not healthy enough to succeed in college in their current state of mental health.
2
Many have touched on this - but universities are between a rock and a hard place - particularly with finances . We are demonized for the rising costs of tuition and fees (trust me - the rise is not in salaries for professors), but we are expected to increase the mental health services we provide. I send students to our counseling center, but I know the number of visits is limited and the waits are long. But isn't that better than nothing? Alongside this is the (proper!) mandate to provide services to those with disabilities outside of the mental health sphere. These are all costly, but still, state schools have funding cut and private schools are criticized for our costs. In most cases home is the best place for anyone with an extended illness (of any kind). In a case where home isn't possible, I know of many professors and staff who've worked tirelessly to place students in a safe place with trusted friends and mentors - and then get them some more help. We try - we really do.
9
@PA
I’m incredibly touched that you and your colleagues have gotten your students to safe places and given them support.
Twenty years ago, when I was a freshman at Stanford, one of my dormmates was required to leave campus for one quarter after telling a residential staff member (an undergraduate student) about her suicidal thoughts. I felt terribly for my classmate, who did not want to leave campus and was shocked that what she believed to be a confidential conversation with a peer advisor had such profound consequences. However, I was also relieved. Her struggles were a source of stress, drama, and distraction for everyone else in the dorm, and were more than a bunch of 18 year olds could reasonably help her face. I can't speak to whether the leave of absence was good for my classmate, but I know it gave those of us who had lived with her a chance to breathe, avoid walking on egg shells, and focus on our classes. When she returned spring semester, we welcomed her back with open arms, stronger footing of our own, and gratitude for her improved health.
Now, as a University professor, I witness this from the other side. College students need to invest in their own learning, and when the demands of supporting of very troubled classmates impinge upon students' own educational opportunities, schools do the right thing by asking students in crisis to take a leave of absence until their needs are well-managed and do not unduly burden others. Many in this conversation overlook that the first-line supporters of students in crisis are fellow students, not qualified professionals.
104
As a university professor with a sister at Stanford at the same time as you, I have to disagree.
The argument that depressed people are intrinsically a “disruption” to be managed different from any other social disruption is tenuous. Is the disruption the concern and moral anxiety about appropriate interventions? That is life. My roommate at Harvard was severely anorexic and mercurial. I talked to her, her friends, and the dean about it. My studies were much more affected by inconsiderate neighbors who blasted music than my roommate. I can’t help but wonder what kind of psychologically scrubbed culture we are envisioning colleges should maintain—sounds scary and quite corporate to me.
This debate should be about colleges giving students access to good medical care (usually off campus) rather than trying so hard to cover their you-know-what.
As others have noted, the dean’s comment is appalling. My formerly sick roommate is now a famous professor at the top of her field, my sister (who was involuntarily committed when she admitted to self-injury w/o suicidal ideation at Stanford) is a successful doctor, and I can’t help but wonder what my dean would have said if I talked to him during darker moments on the tenure track. This is about liability—and discrimination.
8
@Scientist
Thank you so much! Congratulations to your sister.
This is about handicap discrimination, absolutely. The complaint is easy to find online, and does not ask for money at all, but for injunctive relief. In other words, for a court to direct Stanford to obey the law.
Perhaps part of a solution would be to de-stigmatize leaves from school for medical reasons (and also not be dinged financially).
Students who leave school to take care of themselves should be commended, not punished.
Colleges and universities are not full scale medical and mental health providers--at most they should be responsible for minor issues, and provide referrals to professionals who are in a better position to care for those who need more help.
And, needless to say, we need many more such professionals.
15
I agree wholeheartedly. Depression is difficult to deal with in college age students. Many are on the cusp between their teen years and physical adulthood. Medications may have a very different effect on teens. In fact many medications for depression that work fairly well for a mature patient may cause suicidal or even homicidal ideation in teens. Tragically I knew a twenty year old who was prescribed an antidepressant that was considered dangerous for teens. She'd been diagnosed as suicidally depressed but had remained in school. Two weeks after starting the antidepressant she took her own life. (Pills and alcohol.) The most painful detail of the story is that friends got her to the hospital while she was still conscious. In the emergency room instead of being taken immediately in to treatment there was a wait because the alcohol on her breath suggested that alcohol played more of a part in her condition than the pills combined with the antidepressant. Perhaps the fact that she was brought in by other students who had no idea what she'd taken or how to assert themselves in a hospital setting influenced the staff's decision to "keep her walking" until she could be treated instead of taking her in the minute they came through the door. We will never know what the outcome would have been if she'd been asked to leave school and cared for at home or admitted to a hospital for treatment.
1
Bravo-even acknowledging the huge challenges and burdens facing universities, all students should be allowed a "no-fault" LOA and guaranteed re entry without having to produce a doctors letter of clearance or appear in front of an "Inquisition" sponsored by the deans office . At a school with stanfords endowment, this should have policy all along.
2
@SLBvt
I agree. Taking a leave of absence is not a bad thing for anyone!
1
Let's remember some kindness here. The counseling centers at all universities need to be better and to have more staff. Universities need to take on the challenge to make sure that freshman feel connected to a community. The generation of students now attending college have grown up in a highly competitive world that has been focussed on achievement and not belonging. It is a generation that needs most feel that sense of purpose and belonging to something greater than themselves. The current political climate also adds to their anxiety. Many adults are experiencing high levels of anxiety in response to our current political uncertainty on a daily basis. Let's be kind and find a way to help young people and students facing much greater challenges than we did. Universities need to overhaul their counseling centers and do a much better job reaching out to all students as they enter college and face new challenges. Not because this generation is coddled, but because there is a need. AND, parents need to be contacted. If we are paying the bill, we have a right to know if our young adult is in distress.
6
@jaamhaynes
What you're recommending is more appropriate for K-12. It is not the job of a university to teach students how to make friends. There are plenty of opportunities for them to do so. Counseling centers are there to help students succeed in their academics. They are not there for therapy or to fill in the gaps left by technology, helicopter parents or over-scheduled lives. A "young adult" is an adult.
10
@jaamhaynes
Why is it the Universities responsibility to teach the student how to make friends and interact? I learned how to do that in Kindergarten. My goodness yet another generation who needs to have their hands held and told they are perfect in every way.
1
Unfortunately, most 18 year olds are no where near capable of functioning as "young adults" in our society
1
Sometimes students suffering from mental health conditions engage in behaviors which do disrupt the university community, particularly when a student resides in the dorms. If you have a severely depressed student that is chronically self-injurious, or texts multiple peers on repeated occasions making suicidal threats--behaviors which do not always lead to hospitalization--I think you can understand how this might instill much fear in others, especially when they don’t understand the underlying factors that motivate the behavior. Occasionally, the student in question decides not to follow through with recommended treatment or opts not to receive treatment at all. Or, they are in the appropriate treatment but it takes a while to respond favorably. Often counselors, RAs, roommates, various student affairs staff, faculty, try to intervene to no avail. A situation like this may call for the student to take time to prioritize their mental health treatment so that they can feel better enough to return. If the student refuses the leave but the behaviors of concern continue, sometimes a leave is determined--generally by the dean after much consultation--to be the best course of action. In these cases, it’s not the condition itself that is being targeted but the behaviors arising from it. It is always a difficult decision and one that is not taken lightly for anyone involved. Blanket policies are unwise and often discriminatory, but on occasion a mandated leave is justified.
31
A clearing house for problems dedicated to protecting the university, forcing students to leave rather than a mental health center operating to support, guide, and help students? Talk about bait and switch. Depression and adolescents with friendship or boyfriend/girlfriend woes, pressures of classes, money woes combined with poor sleep habits, alcohol and drug use can create a storm of risky behavior. Often university counseling centers are training grounds for graduate students learning their trade with more experienced students supervising. Until we destigmatize mental health treatment and dedicate resources with well-trained professionals planning treatment options or offering resources for students we are failing them. Perhaps for every $1.00 spent or made on athletes the university invests in mental health. Many universities have full health clubs for physical workouts but for distorted thinking? Zip to nada. If you can squeeze out workout rooms you can manage numerous options to fund even a mandatory course on self-care/mental-health care and provide help that actually is intended to help the students recover rather than stigmatize them. You would think with the costs and prestige of Stanford they could/would do better.
9
Suicidal people generally think too highly of the opinions of others. What is success or failure? Often, we let others define it for us. Define success for yourself. Recognize that making others happy is not your job. It is your life, take it where you want it to go and try not to be too hard on yourself when you fail at something. Everyone fails at something at some point. It is only sociopaths like Trump and others who never admit to the reality.
By the way, Universities and Colleges are generally trying to make you a good worker. They don't really want you to think critically. Conformity is usually the path to slavery. They know that. So, while universities can teach you practical skills relative to a specific career, they generally don't want you to think for yourself. They would say the opposite is true, but it is just not true.
6
I wrote about my experience with this at one of the most “progressive” colleges in the country this summer! It’s tame because it was got my job but this is such a prevalent thing and it’s really messed up and destroys people’s self esteem and self worth completely.
http://feministcampus.org/what-my-college-got-wrong-about-mental-health-...
8
@Katherine Crigler
Thanks so much for your advocacy and excellent article (especially the mental health checklist for students). Keep fighting the good fight. And best wishes to you!
2
@Katherine Crigler
What a brave (and intelligent and well-written) article. I hope that you have found a college or university where you can study and thrive. All the best to you.
2
I have very mixed feelings about this. If Mr. Fowler's experience was as he describes it (which I believe), then it seems Stanford acted inappropriately. It doesn't seem that they asked him "are you suicidal right now" but rather "have you ever had suicidal thoughts" which would really encompass a lot of people without suggesting that the student was currently a danger to themselves or others. The fact that the student agreed to check into the hospital does make me wonder if something more serious was going on at the time, however.
That being said, while universities should not overreact to mental health issues, they cannot be expected to manage the mental health needs of all of their students. Maybe now that these needs are becoming greater, universities can look at expanding their resources. However, everyone complains about education costs while not realizing that constantly asking universities to provide more security, more individualized counseling, more deans, more programs, more centers and administrative task forces focused on various needs, the prices just keep going up.
27
Though we want to be careful not to generalize, many of the students are ill-equipped to live alone and master the college experience. They have been coddled and told they're special to the point that they can't deal with real world problems, even the smallest hiccup.
When you feel like the center of the world, then go out into the world and find out that you are not, they can be very disheartening I assume.
You do need to toughen up though, my boy is learning at a very young age he is not the prince, the world owes him nothing and that if he wants to make something of himself in this world it requires hard work and a thick skin, I will not send him out in this world ill-equipped, set up to fail.
132
@There
I cannot fathom how anyone who knows what emotional illnesses are could conflate character flaws with clinical depression, or imagine that the former might be the cause of the latter. If the two coexist in the same person, it is probably due to chance.
If a student who was able to gain admission to Stanford succumbs to a suicidal depression only a short time later, it seems more likely that they have a strong character than a weak one. They may have had to meet more challenges, and overcome more emotional pain, in order to qualify for admission than most people do -- and they may be right in believing their struggles went unacknowledged. I base this on the fact that severe depressive illness usually does not appear this suddenly. Many students had mild depression for years before finally becoming suicidal.
There is no evidence here that any of the students profiled were made to feel like they were "the center of the world," or that their families treated them like "the prince."
This comment does, however, confirm the view that society is not always particularly fair or kind to someone with an emotional illness. Nor are people always willing to give them credit when they work very, very hard to achieve the things that come more easily to most of us. I think it must be quite painful to a severely depressed person to see this.
In any event, these are all very young people, and none of them have "failed."
6
@There Mental Health issues have complex causes, not all of which are caused by "coddling". Most Stanford students worked incredibly hard in high school: academically, athletically and, typically, in multiple extra -curricular activities. The competition is fierce. Many of them experienced plenty of failure - but worked past it. While some wealthy families shelter their kids from failure - they typically continue to do so in college - and beyond. Those kids will make terrible colleagues some day- but they won't have stress-related break downs in college. Family history of mental health issues, multiple sports concussions (which Stanford also handles badly - by failing to adequately support the the need for cognitive rest for symptomatic students), extreme pressure, isolation for those that don't form social connections easily, etc - can all contribute to mental health issues. Stanford's Vaden Health Center says all the right things about supporting students, but what students actually get is a list of providers to call through. None of the providers on the list are taking new patients (because demand far outstrips supply) - unless the student is actively in crisis. Vaden knows this, but hands out the list anyway. It's protocol and it looks like helping - from a distance. If you squint. Net result is that students don't get support to work through issues early - before they escalate.
3
@There I teach at a state university. My students are not coddled, but they face the illness and death of relatives, the need to work two or three jobs, the lack of future employment, and so forth. I'm sick of hearing millennials bashed; they're a good generation.
6
Universities really are not equipped to deal with teen angst. Maybe they should be, but they are not. In fact, at this fall's faculty convocation, our president told us not to think about college-ready students but about student-ready colleges. She went on to tell us that students are part of the Me generation, that everything has to be their way. In a word, Welcome to Burger King University.
I do feel for anyone who is thinking of taking her or his life. Over the course of my life I have known six or seven persons who have committed suicide. I think some people get easily overwhelmed, and it would be nice if someone could throw the person a lifeline.
But it's a matter of resources and priorities. And if you think any university is going to decrease funding for football or basketball, and stop the university's main mission, to prepare a tiny group to play in pro sports, so that there is more money for counseling, I've got a clue for you. It's not going to happen.
And I feel especially sad for the young people who get duped into attending expensive for-profit colleges that deliver low-quality education. Of course, Trump not only has deregulated such colleges, but he has blocked the Education Dept. for investigating fraud at for-profit colleges.
2
Sounds like colleges get sued whatever they do. Treat students like adults, lawsuit. Treat students like children, lawsuit. Tell parents, lawsuit. Don’t tell parents, lawsuit. Fortunately colleges have endowments and land or can raise tuition or get ore from taxpayers. Otherwise these lawsuits would drive them out of business.
52
@Rick
I have never heard of one lawsuit brought by a student whose parents were called. Deans are allowed to call parents in an emergency and many do so. FERPA laws also allow this and federal funds will not be withheld if the college did so in a good faith effort to save the student’s life.
What you said is all true. Meanwhile, colleges are no different from greedy corporations. oh, scratch that, colleges are greedy and VAIN corporations.
1
only with the greatest respect for those facing mental health issues:
the article is misguided...In part this reflects the current infatuation with elite institutions...and the students who attend...
mental illness is a huge burden on the sufferer and on their loved ones. the toll of mental illness can be tragic and heartbreaking...
colleges have an imperative to treat their students with kindness and respect.
but how far does their responsibility go? they should try to help but fundamentally their mission is educational and they are not primarily mental health facilities...
similarly business have an imperative to help employees with mental and other health crises or even personal challenges...but unfortunately there are limits to what they can or should do...
i wish there were easy answers to mental health challenges...for both stanford students and for unemployed high school dropouts alike...
it is almost as if your author cannot believe that even elite students can face true challenges that are life altering without some type of intervention that gets them “back on track”...yes some students college experiences get horribly and tragically side-tracked...it is truly heartbreaking...life is not fair...
but most people at some point face life changing challenges that cannot be solved by a dean (or a boss or a spouse or a friend...)...but the fight is part of life and can be very growth inducing...(but sad and unfortunate at the same time)...
16
No mention here of the college roommate. Colleges need to consider the health of and risks to the roommate as they manage a suicidal student's circumstance.
75
These students sound like they are extremely troubled and did not belong at college.
41
Can everyone over 50 agree that mental health among 18 year olds has tanked during the last 30 or 40 years?
I attended a peer school of Stanford. There was nothing like this level of mental distress among my peers in the early 80's.
This represents a huge dereliction of duty by my generation in terms of parenting. The point of parenting is to raise functional, stable, integrated kids. This is no longer happening for many American kids.
Stop blaming smart phones, social media and other things that happen concurrently with teen angst (though many of these things play an amplification role).
Start looking at what happened to these kids in early years. This is the time frame within which emotional self regulation is (or ISN'T) taught.
Our society is failing small children and the distress and despair of teens is the main signal flag of this failure. Kids who do not get enough solid parenting and secure attachment are collapsing as teens.
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@Megan I'm tired of this narrative of kids being much worse off than we were and it being either their fault or their parents' fault. If you are looking for personal anecdotes, I went to college in the 80s. I dropped out because of what I now look back at and think was some sort of a nervous breakdown. My husband dropped out and only finished years later when he went back to school. We were in school in the 80s, and our dorms was rife with alcohol and drugs. There were kids there who even then I could see should not have been on their own. Several of my friends from that dorm have since died of overdose or suicide. I look back even farther, and neither of my parents finished college, and they both have plenty of stories of friends at school who needed help. For this "kids these days" narrative to work, I need to see stats, not anecdotes, because my anecdotes disprove your anecdotes.
One main difference between kids these days and kids back then is the cost of having to drop out. If kids these days don't finish school, it is far more likely to financially ruin them and their families than it was in our generation. That is a lot of stress to be under. It's not so easy to quietly take the time one needs to get better, because one needs a job to pay back those college loans and healthcare bills ASAP.
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Wait! So if I teach at Stanford, in addition to trying to train a classroom of unprepared undergrads in physics or philosophy, I also have to monitor their psychological state? And if an unhinged student who gets an F kills themselves, will I be held responsible? This is a sad joke. Institutions of higher education are not nurseries or mental hospitals. Mentally ill students are a disruption and should not be on campus at all. Why should faculty and other students be subjected to their erratic behavior, mood swings and in extreme cases, violence? People rightly complain about the cost of college. How will this cost balloon if in addition to teaching, colleges will be held responsible for counseling and treatment of mental illness? The student profiled in this article complains that he was given anti-depressants that triggered suicidal thoughts. So now Stanford is responsible for his medication? This is a frivolous lawsuit and should be dismissed, and students who cannot cope with academic life should be sent home immediately.
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@Mor as a faculty member at a state university, I make it my business to inquire about my students' well being.
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I agree with much of what you are writing, but lumping nurseries and Mental Hospitals together is just cruel. People with mental illness are not infants or infantile. Some may not belong in college, but they certainly should not be insulted, either.
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As a doctor, I find this sad article an alarm for the things that are very wrong about today's increasingly stressful adolescence. I went to a highly selective college in 1960. At that time it wasn't mandatory to be the editor, president, or captain of everything. I had not built houses for the destitute in the third world, started a high tech business, or written a best-seller.
Certainly, I've been blessed with normal mental health, but my stresses were ordinary and quite manageable. These days, college admission, and childhood generally, demand excellence in all aspects of life. How could the unreality of that not bring many to despair? And once in that unhappy state, the student's institution is not allowed to contact the parent.
My goodness, how many 17 year olds can deal with all this without experiencing at least important anxiety? Colleges should challenge, but they shouldn't kill.
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@Wendy Aronson You are so right and what everyone really seems to miss is that this pressure starts when these kids are just 13 and 14. The college race denies them the ability to explore their interests. Teenage years should be a time of beginning self discover ones likes dislikes strengths and weaknesses. It should be a time of building character and a moral compass. Alas for too many children it is the exact opposite.
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@Wendy Aronson
Of course, most of those applicant "accomplishments" are essentially fake, concocted for the admissions process. No one is that accomplished at 17, except perhaps for Mozart or Gauss, and they lived 200 years ago when there was less competition.
Unfortunately we live in a globalized world- this is price we've pay for freeing up literally hundreds of millions of Chinese and Indian citizens to compete with us. (E.g., Who ever imagined math juku in our day ??)
The fundamental problem here is the dire need in this country to develop stronger treatment programs, making them accessible to all those suffering from mental health issues. Additionally, we know that some of the more serious mental health disorders (bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder) often manifest themselves during the college years. For this reason, it would make most sense for colleges to strengthen their mental health centers, including taking on top psychiatric providers in order to best support their students. It is a sad reflection on colleges to note that they expend thousands of dollars to ensure that their athletes receive the best treatment any time they might show any physical weakness, but they are very quick to relinquish any responsibility of care for those who may show mental health vulnerability. And yet, it may be important to note, that untreated mental illness can lead those affected to be a danger to themselves and/or to those around them. It is time we address this negligence, and hopefully these class-action lawsuits can be a wake-up call. It is true that sometimes it might be the best thing for students to take a leave of absence; however colleges are most often motivated to wash their hands of students with mental health problems to reduce the burden that these individuals may place on less-than-adequate staff resources within their institutions.
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Colleges are not mental health facilities, if a student is suicidal it is best for them to take a leave to focus on their health. Nowhere does the article take the professor's experience into account. Since I became a professor in 2005, the number of students in crisis has skyrocketed, and I am not a psychiatrist. This situation takes a huge toll on teachers as well. (to such an extent that sometimes I have sought therapy outside the university to deal with the anxiety) For privacy reasons (FERPA) we are not allowed to communicate with parents. These cases are referred to deans and to overwhelmed counseling services. The administration decides when to contact parents. Again, universities are not health centers and the latter are not equipped to provide long-term psychiatric care. Keeping the student in school is not the best solution.
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“ A dean visited her at the hospital and told her that “students in my situation tend not to succeed at Stanford,” Ms. Trumbly, 23, said”—— this is a horrifying, shameful, damaging statement, and one wonders if the same thing would have been said to one of Stanford’s prized athletes who might have faltered during a night of debauchery or depression.
There are many reasons for suicidal ideation in college-aged people, but it’s incontrovertible that the pressures put on students to achieve, even just to get into college, can be damaging to any young person. The system is part of the problem. Further, any student of color, like Harrison, might need a little extra support in a place like Palo Alto, and to criminalize him is outrageous.
Beyond this, many students find refuge in college from abusive, dysfunctional families. Many of them discover counseling for the first time when they become college students. It’s part of the wonderful opportunity to grow and change and heal and to learn about oneself that doesn’t involve getting a grade.
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@Dena Schoen
Don't shoot the messenger. That dean was simply telling the truth, albeit a bit bluntly. But that's OK, because college is the appropriate place for truth telling and a whole lot of other realizations about the world. Mental health care does not fall under the aegis of the university. Students who expect it have been prepped to do so by parents who have not taught them to be realistic, about themselves or the world.
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@Dena Schoen It's sooo tiresome to keep hearing about "extra support" that today's students need. What does that even mean? Special provisions for everyone? Should colleges just adopt all their students and bring them cookies and milk and tell them they're going to be ok every night? College is not meant to be a "refuge from abusive, dysfunctional families." It's meant to be a place to LEARN. America seems to have forgotten that teachers are not therapists or substitute moms. It's not their job to teach manners or self-care. It's their job to teach skills necessary for entering into a profession. Why do so many seem to have such high expectations of colleges and universities?
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@Dena Schoen
"Horrifying, shameful, damaging"...but what if it was the truth? Good advice is sometimes hard to accept, but delusion is more harmful in the long run. If someone doesn't have what it takes to succeed, whether athletic skill, intellectual aptitude, or mental stability, it is better that he face that early.
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Welcome to the real world children. It is obvious that most are not prepared to enter college and taking a leave would be the best option. The only reason for a counselor, in my experience, was to consider better choices in my class courses. Many of the students made the naive assumption that college would just be a continuation of highschool.
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The policies as described in this article are abhorrent as they further stigmatize depression and other mental illnesses. Having to sign "personal statements 'accepting blame' for their behavior" increases this stigmatization tenfold. Mental illness is nothing anyone wishes for nor can it be wished away. Universities and colleges should have staff on hand to help students who are struggling not sending them away and in effect ostracizing them.
I write this out of personal experience. In the early 70s I was in school and needed counseling. I was able to go to our counseling center and get the help I needed. Nearly 20 years later I was diagnosed with mild to moderate chronic depression. Though my friends at school knew nothing about this having them around me helped.
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@Chuck
Since when is a statement accepting personal responsibility stigmatizing? Why on earth should universities not protect themselves from predictable future lawsuits? And why should other students who are working hard themselves be burdened with the mental health needs of other students? College is hard enough without this.
As someone who works in mental health, I know that colleges and universities offer some of the most accessible mental health care out there believe it or not. And yes, it’s inadequate - as it is in the general population. How can we expect our colleges to do what our healthcare system will not? These students likely needed help long before they got to college but didn’t receive it unfortunately.
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And yet they were encouraged to apply to a pressure cooker school like Stanford ?
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@Rachel, it's as simple as considering for a brief moment the potential financial impact a forced leave of absence would put on students in that position. Not all these forced leaves of absences (i.e. suspensions with a ban from being allowed on campus) occur at the best of times. Some of these students are suspended just before the school receives payment from student financial aid packages, which then don't get applied to the thousands in tuition costs, which are then put on the student to pay back before they're allowed back on campus.
My friends who teach report that more and more of their students are arriving at college with mental health issues, and needing responses and care that they (the professors) are not able to provide.
In some cases, sending a student home is in their best interest; if the stress of adapting to college causes them to consider taking their own life, or acting out in other harmful ways, retreat and off-campus treatment and medication might be the best way to go.
Students expressing a lack of trust in their university may have unrealistic expectations of being taken care of by an educational institution.
While a blanket policy of getting rid of students it feels are at-risk is heartless, even on a case-by-case basis, removing a student contemplating self-harm seems like a logical solution.
In terms of the student's re-entry, perhaps that's what needs the work: establishing a process that allows for a reduction in fees, or arranges for concurrent monitoring by both supportive university resources and the student's own doctors.
The goal is to get the student through their education to graduation...unless it isn't. Students who don't have serious mental issues sometimes find their path is better served by taking time off, transferring to a different school, or leaving college altogether.
This isn't to call the young people babies, or immature, but rather a call for the schools AND THE FAMILIES to do the least harm and help each student in the way they need.
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I am a current Stanford student who first heard of the lawsuit in this article several months ago. I've sought help for mental illness multiple times on campus. The campus health center has a cap on the number of visits students are allowed to have before they push us to seek help elsewhere. Since my last visit there, I've had over a year of no professional help at all due to familial stigma against mental illness, and it's been rough. I've promised myself to seek help at an off-campus clinic this fall, but I fear that if I do so, I will eventually be forced to leave campus in a manner similar to the students involved in the lawsuit. Leaving would be detrimental to me, but I have a feeling from my four long years at Stanford that this institution would not care. I come from an abusive household, and I would literally have nowhere else to go.
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@L
I am so sorry that you are struggling. It took me a decade after college to finally get some support. Here's what I learned along the way.
Find a therapist who recognizes that you are committed to working out your issues - and who will guide and advocate for you. Ask whether they have experience with patients with similar circumstances.
A good therapist will not seek to diagnose you on your first visit and won't likely rush to prescribe medication unless they see an urgent need - and even then they will explain why they are suggesting a medication, what to expect and keep seeing you to assess your response to a medication.
The clinic is good place to start...but also speak to the CA department of mental health and state insurance departments - they will have information on programs you may not be aware of. If you were able to find a good therapist at school perhaps they would be willing to see you privately....or make a referral.
If you are still on your family's insurance - look into what is covered. Mental health parity laws mean that you may be eligible for coverage well beyond the 30-visit limit....regardless of how the policy reads or what the insurance person tells you. A therapist will know how to jump through those hoops so that you can get treatment that is reimbursed. If you have your own insurance, the process should be the same.
The most important thing is not taking no for an answer....or settling for a quick fix.
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@L congratulations for sticking it out at a competitive place for four years! You're almost there. I'm sorry you haven't received the help you needed, but the other response is correct - you're on the right path.
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@L Speak to the ombudsman and I bet you'll get the help you need. Promise to try and invest in getting the best help possible even when you want to be self destructive.
I ***promise*** you Stanford is on your side and wants your best no matter how that is manifested. My husband and I have 40 yrs working at SUMC which is why we can make such bold promises.
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Asking/forcing a student to withdraw could result in immediate financial problems for the student and these could, later on, act as barriers to reentry. Withdrawal may cause a student to lose federal financial aid and any scholarships; the reapplication process for these can be difficult. Further, students who've taken out loans will still be on the hook for these and, depending on the terms, forced to begin repayment after a period of 6 months or a year un-enrolled.
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More and more students are entering colleges with mental health issues and though I would hope that colleges and universities are equipped to managing students' mental health crises, expecting schools such as Stanford to become the ''parent" in these situations is not reasonable. There are a lot of legal issues involved (a student commits suicide on campus -- what stops the parents from suing the university?) and if students in crisis remain enrolled, there are financial and transcript issues that are impacted.
If going home is not a good option for severely depressed students, then other arrangements should be made, hopefully with the support of counseling staff at either the university or the hospital.
I write all of this having attended universities in California - a public university and Stanford - and having suffered severe depression at both. In neither case did I expect Stanford or the public university I attended to take care of me. Going home was not an option. I utilized the resources available to me and figured out how to stay engaged, how to work with the university I was attending so I could stay connected, however loosely, until I could get back on my feet. Yes, I graduated later than I had expected.
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Stress and anxiety are a "normal" part of college, but suicidal attempts are not. Young adults who are incapacitated to the point of hospitalization by mental illness deserve a break to get well before resuming their studies, whether or not they understand it at the time.
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Unfortunately what happens if a school sends students home on medical leave is that even if they complete all of the school’s requirements, they aren’t welcome back.
I was sent home on medical leave told to balance my meds, go to therapy, and take classes, get a job, OR take community college classes by a small liberal arts college in Western Mass. I went to therapy three times a week, saw a psychiatrist biweekly, had a part time job, volunteered several times a month AND took online classes with the local community college.
I later got a letter from the school saying they didn’t think I met their requirements which was understandably their prerogative, however they contacted me well after admission dates to any other college, and I didn’t apply anywhere else because I met all of their requirements on paper and they told me that would be enough.
I was forced to attend a school well below my qualifications because of how they treated me and luckily I was doing better than they thought I was because I have been able to move on from the experience, but getting awfully timed news like that from a college is damaging to suicidal students. It’s not just being told to leave, it’s that schools have always prioritized money and liability and they do it rather obviously under a faux-guise of caring about students’ health.
This happened at one of the most progressive schools in the country.
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@Katherine Crigler The headline of this article piqued my interest because I had a similar experience in college. Reading your comment, I strongly suspect we attended the same school. Although my experience wasn't as bad as yours (I was only barred from campus for a week, and I went on to earn my BA from the college in question), it was still dehumanizing and the college's response seemed to be driven entirely by its concern about liability. Anyway, I just wanted to comment to let you know you weren't alone in your experience at this school. I am glad you have been able to move on, but I am sorry you had to.
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To Peaches,
There is a big difference between suicidal thoughts and suicidal attempts. Many people think about suicide and never follow through. It is very unfortunate that the counseling center at Stanford could not help these students but rather passed the buck when they asked for help.
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The privacy issue has had unintended consequences.
Parents who want and are able to help are not given information by the universities. Even though the universities often contact them on financial issue.
We need to back off a bit on privacy, and make it that you have to opt out, perhaps even for a good reason, before the universities are not able to contact your parents on your behalf.
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@Jim
A person usually show some signs that something's wrong well before reaching college age. Parents should not have to be informed by the school that their children are having problems.
And schools should be given the right to contact someone -- agreed to by the student -- when there is need.
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While many universities probably believe their primary goal is to provide a quality education to their students, what I don't think these administrations realize is that for at least four years, students spend a minimum of 75% of their life at school, not their parents' home, so in essence, the university or college becomes their primary "home" or residence.
Instead of merely casting off or dismissing a student to a hospital (which can be viewed as a pretty extreme option), why not beef up the mental health options and support systems at the school, such as having a 24-hour suicide hotline, staffing additional quality counselors who have expertise in suicide, panic attacks, and other various stressful situations college students find themselves in.
Whether universities want to acknowledge responsibility or not, they ARE responsibility to some degree. Hiding under the bed or the covers to hopes of avoiding this situation only causes more harm and liability down the road.
With the cost of tuition these days, I would hope and expect the university or college would do what they could to nurture and help any troubled student in order to protect this investment in learning. First, the student's parents should be notified. Second, a joint consultation with the mental health advisers, the student and his/her parents should occur. Any shame, guilt or embarrassment the student may feel should be addressed immediately for there is NO shame in feeling overwhelmed or suicidal.
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@Marge Keller
What you are asking the universities to do is not easy and the staffing levels it would require are enormous. Also, the students are legally adults in most cases and cannot be required by the university to submit to medical treatment or counseling for their problems if it is needed.
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@Marge Keller I disagree that a student's parents should be notified. Not all parents understand that mental illnesses are true illnesses, and not all parents are supportive of their children. Divulging personal health information to a parent can sometimes lead to more harm than good.
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@W. Lynch
I understand your assessment and do not entirely disagree. However, I never stated that the universities were required to submit students to medical treatments, but rather, to have a fully or fuller mental health staff available to students should they need their services.
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Admittedly, these are difficult issues for both the students and universities. But should we really expect the institutions to perform the necessary remedial work required to nurture affected students back to health? And suing them when the schools decide this is not part of their mission?
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@Lance Morgan If they're going to talk a big game about how much they "care" about their students, then yes, that is a reasonable expectation. If Stanford said "Listen, you people are here to pay us to teach you stuff, and nothing else" then nobody could reasonably expect them to do anything with regards to students' mental health.
Schools don't get to have it both ways.
They don't get to claim to be inclusive communities where people are supported when they are trying to attract students (read: tuition payments), and ALSO claim to be solely transaction business institutions, when those students need support in an area outside of the realm of academics.
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@Lance Morgan
If a student and/or his parents agreed he would take medication, it was his/ their decision. No one forced him to do it. So, if he is saying the medication caused his mental health problem...
Taking responsibility for your own or your child's mental health is a step toward sanity. I know it's the style now, but blaming others is a sign of a very unhealthy and dysfunctional mentality.
@Lance Morgan
Mr. Morgan, I think you make some extremely valid points.
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This is a very complicated issue, and it goes to the heart of how universities struggle"in loco parentis". On the one hand, we ask universities to be all things to all students. On the other hand, most students who are enrolled are 18 or older, so they are legally entitled to making their own decisions about their healthcare and well being, to the exclusion of parents. Many young people, especially those with mental health issues, are not ideal self-advocates.
I am sympathetic to colleges for wanting students with significant issues to take a leave. Universities are not designed to be therapeutic settings, and supervision of post adolescents is notoriously difficult. Further, most students don't want the responsibility of living in very close proximity to suicidal or erratic classmates (however cold that might sound). I would not want my daughter or son to walk into the dorm bathroom and encounter a fellow student who had passed out on the floor, as mentioned in this piece.
It is certainly important for folks grappling with mental illness to be outspoken about their needs and challenges. I applaud the openness of the people in this story. But colleges are ill equipped to take care of mentally ill people who cannot care for themselves.
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Contact the parents when the student has mental health issues, but don't send them home.
Colleges are now expected to deal with student health problems, sexual assaults and remedial education. In short, all of society's ills. Lets cut taxes and support of higher education.
And you ask why tuition is increasing?
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@pat Universities CHOOSE to cast themselves as inclusive communities that actually care about the students attending them. They could just as easily make their mission statement say "We are a business, and this is a transaction. You show up, pay us, and we give you some knowledge and a degree in return."
But they don't say that. They want to be communities that care about people when they're trying to attract tuition payments, but after that tuition is paid, they just want to be a business transaction, providing you with something in exchange for money.
They have to pick one, because they don't get to have it both ways.
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@Sam Rosenberg "We are a business, and this is a transaction. You show up, pay us, and we give you some knowledge and a degree in return."
The primary mission of higher education has always been to give you some knowledge and a degree in return.
If you want to add, you show up, pay us, and we give you mental health treatment, sexual assault adjudication, etc., then that is also a business transaction.
Readers comments on previous NYTIMES articles have strong suggested that higher education should not be in the business of trying sexual assault cases. As you say, you can't have it both ways.
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The students are adults, and their parents cannot be forced to take them back. They were failed by parents, teachers, and doctors while they were still minors. It is too late for colleges to do anything, other than not to aggravate the problem.
Going home is often not the best medicine for students in mental health crisis. I've known students who suffered abuse at home, which was the cause of their mental health issues. And yet their university forced them to take a leave, worsening the problem. When will schools prioritize actual student welfare over liability? I am hopeful that this lawsuit teaches universities to be more mindful in their treatment of students with mental health issues.
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@Sam
You're right that "home" is often not the right place for mentally ill students to return. Many student escape their homes and parents when they go to college.
But colleges are not the right place either. They are a poor environment for the intensive treatment that students need. It is not fair to assume that liability is all that matters to colleges.
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@Sam:
Universities do have counseling staff to assist students with many types of mental or emotional problems. However, counselors are not trained to deal with severely disturbed students. Universities should not pretend a competence and a staff level that they do not have and take on responsibilities for mentally ill students they are ill equipped to handle and would likely fail.
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@Sam Because when students commit suicide at college their families always blame the college and sue them. Always. Now mentally ill, suicidal students want to sue because universities dont want to be responsible for them. Not the university's job to take care of mentally ill kids. The stanford kid carried a knife because he is from texas? No, i dont think so. Schools cannot be responsible for managing the mental health of their students. Period.
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