Accommodating students in crisis

[polly_mer]

How would I want to be treated in such a circumstance? It's easy to say "with compassion and respect," but I am not sure I interpret this the way some of our students do. This student wants to be permitted to do the course as an independent study with my colleague. We are suggesting a medical withdrawal.

I was amazed at how hard I had to lean on a couple students to get them to take a medical withdrawal when their circumstances were so clearly medical and a medical withdrawal had the fewest adverse consequences.  In one instance, I went to the associate dean, explained the situation, and suggested some names of faculty/staff who might do a better job at getting through to the student on just filing the paperwork.  In one instance, the happy ending was a student who filled out the form about 10 minutes before the end-of-term deadline, got on a better medication regime, tried again next offering, and earned a solid B in an engineering course that averages a low C instead of taking the F- from the first offering.

[downer]

Many students and many faculty are stretched to the limit at the best of times. When things start going wrong, it's a house of cards falling down. Everything collapses. Many faculty don't have the resources to be treating individual students with individual exams or grading make up work, especially when there are lots of such students. These days, I have limited ability to cater to many special circumstances.

Sometimes students can dig themselves out of a hole. But most of the time they are much better off withdrawing.

[spork]

Radio interview about the mental illness epidemic on U.S. college campuses: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/05/28/727509438/college-students-and-their-parents-face-a-campus-mental-health-epidemic. Haven't read the book written by the interviewees, but I found it interesting that one of the co-authors, a psychologist, described how some of her parenting practices reinforced her son's lack of coping skills.

[Hibush]

Radio interview about the mental illness epidemic on U.S. college campuses: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/05/28/727509438/college-students-and-their-parents-face-a-campus-mental-health-epidemic. Haven't read the book written by the interviewees, but I found it interesting that one of the co-authors, a psychologist, described how some of her parenting practices reinforced her son's lack of coping skills.

The president of my university reports that mental health is the number one issue raised by students in one-on-one conversations. What's different about today's students? We are drawing from about the same demographic a  generation ago, but demand for mental health services is ten times as big. The social-emotional readiness talked about in the NPR piece seems to feature heavily. Where students used to be able to talk about feeling stressed with a friend or roommate, they have lost that. Getting a Facebook like does not have the same benefit as having a sympathetic ear. Simply interacting F2F in a way that prevents and diffuses stress is a coping skill they did not get.

[spork]

Coincidentally I just became involved in an attempt by a parent to get a student's academic performance last semester wiped from the historical record. Claims of disability accommodations (student never contacted disabilities services office), requests for course withdrawals/leave of absence after the semester has ended, calls to the dean, provost, and president. Sounds like an exact replica of the parental behavior described in the NPR Fresh Air interview. While the student might have real mental health problems, the parent's attempt to remove all challenges from student's life has completely backfired when it comes to college.

[aside]

My institution has the possibility of retroactive semester withdrawal, meaning that if a student has major health issues or extenuating life circumstances yet did not withdraw by the deadline, they may petition to withdraw after the fact.  The petition is heard by a panel assembled by Student Affairs and requires substantial justification and documentation to be granted.

[polly_mer]

My institution has the possibility of retroactive semester withdrawal, meaning that if a student has major health issues or extenuating life circumstances yet did not withdraw by the deadline, they may petition to withdraw after the fact.  The petition is heard by a panel assembled by Student Affairs and requires substantial justification and documentation to be granted.

We had something like that, but, unless the student was literally in the hospital, the deadline was noon on the last day of finals.  Someone who waited until the grades came in to petition was out of luck.

[brixton]

My institution has the possibility of retroactive semester withdrawal, meaning that if a student has major health issues or extenuating life circumstances yet did not withdraw by the deadline, they may petition to withdraw after the fact.  The petition is heard by a panel assembled by Student Affairs and requires substantial justification and documentation to be granted.

We had something like that, but, unless the student was literally in the hospital, the deadline was noon on the last day of finals.  Someone who waited until the grades came in to petition was out of luck.

We allow one of these under the assumptions that once is an emergency.  Twice is not taking care of your health. If they are two unrelated incidents, we'll consider it.  If you are not using your mental health professional to help you manage your illness, then we're enabling you if we keep giving you a break.