Concern About the Impact of Busy Student Schedules

There is a fine line between rigor and repression, and recent reporting resoundingly reinforces that this relative collegiate Rubicon is now concerningly crossed. Resident Graduate Student Emily Miller, writing in PAW, cites undergraduates whose extracurricular activities (“dance to sports”) frequently start at 11 p.m. and go to 3 or 4 a.m. (On the Campus, May issue). Ms. Miller then adds that these same Forbes College undergrads showed her “... their Google Calendars with nearly every 15-minute chunk blocked in, including FaceTime with parents or friends.” These are not exceptionally encouraging observations.

In light of that article, the good news/bad news story of that same PAW issue is the reporting that University Health Services (UHS) is building a new home that will include expanded “counseling and psychological services” (On the Campus, May issue). Apparently, this development is not a moment too soon. Ms. Miller’s reporting raises alarms for the mental health of the entire undergraduate body, and leads one to question University leadership in this regard.