The pathetic lives of rich college students...

April 6, 2004

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/06/education/06STRE.html

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April 6, 2004

New Lesson for College Students: Lighten Up

By SARA RIMER

BRUNSWICK, Me. Ñ It was intended as a statement against the kind of

perfectionism that drives some Bowdoin College students to spend two hours a

day on the treadmill: plastered all over campus recently were photographs of

naked undergraduate Bowdoin women Ñ or at least their bodies, as the

pictures had been shot from the neck down Ñ in all their short, tall, thin,

not-so-thin, fit and unfit, anonymous, unairbrushed glory.

Far from being shocked, Craig W. Bradley, dean of student affairs, said he

supported the women's group that came up with the poster campaign Ñ anything

to get students to stop worrying so much about body image, grades, careers.

Mr. Bradley, along with other college officials, has been telling students

to get off the treadmill. Go for a walk, go surfing. Read a novel just for

pleasure. Eat ice cream. Hang out with the knitting club. Find your passion.

Bowdoin's efforts reflect the ever-increasing attention colleges across the

country are giving to undergraduates' personal growth and emotional

well-being.

It has been more than a decade since colleges became mindful of the new

generation of students arriving on campus with serious mental health

illnesses. But these days, as they respond to the rising number of students

seeking help for stress-related conditions on campus and the expectations of

consumer-minded parents, many colleges are extending the therapeutic culture

far beyond treatment for clinical depression and bipolar disorders.

Private and public colleges alike have begun offering a wide range of

services and activities intended to help students negotiate what used to be

considered the ordinary rites of passage: homesickness, sophomore

existential angst, romantic relationships. There are now free massages and

dogs to cuddle in exam seasons, biofeedback workshops and therapists

available to help students work through their first C.

At Harvard, the training given to graduate students who live in the

undergraduate houses has in recent years expanded to include ways to help

students fight perfectionism Ñ a theme on many campuses Ñ as well as

negotiate matters involving race, class and sexual identity.

At Amherst College in Massachusetts, students can have unlimited sessions

with the counseling center's therapists. They are free to discuss more

mundane concerns like their futures and their relationships Ñ with family

members, roommates, boyfriends and girlfriends Ñ as well as more serious

issues like depression and eating disorders.

Washington University in St. Louis has established stress-free zones during

finals, where students can get chair massages and listen to New Age music.

Addressing the notoriously poor sleeping habits of undergraduates, the

university recently celebrated Sleep Awareness Week by handing out sleep

quizzes and reminding residential advisers not to brag about how little

sleep they can get by on.

Kruger, the associate executive director for the National Association

of Student Personnel Administrators, with nearly 1,500 members, said the new

services were the natural extension of the awareness raised by students with

serious mental health problems.

" This movement is an indication of colleges trying to be more proactive, "

Mr. Kruger said, rather than waiting for students to " flunk out, have a

breakdown or whatever the outcome is going to be. "

But many college officials also acknowledge that they are responding to the

heightened consumer mentality of many parents. " If you're paying a lot, you

expect a lot in return, " said Craig McEwen, dean of academic affairs at

Bowdoin, one of the nation's top liberal arts colleges. " Unhappiness is not

something you're supposed to feel. "

Some college officials say that these services are not only driving up

higher education costs but some may also be an extension of a therapeutic

culture that has gone too far.

While it is important that colleges talk about " the whole student, " said

E. Hyman, the provost at Harvard, and the former director of the

National Institute of Mental Health, " that doesn't mean they should all be

in group therapy. "

Dr. Hyman said he also doubted the value of the biofeedback and massage,

suggesting that it might be more helpful if students learned to organize

their lives.

" It's a difficult tightrope to walk, " said Dr. Hyman, who is a psychiatrist.

" There's a risk that we will medicalize what are really developmental

issues: negotiating independence, deciding what your goals are in life,

having the courage to explore your interests rather than follow the straight

and narrow path of careerism. At the same time, we have to be very careful

that we don't miss serious treatable illnesses like depression, anxiety

disorders and eating disorders. "

Colleges have been steadily increasing the availability of treatment and

counseling, and students have responded. At the University of Michigan, for

example, the number of students seeking counseling has risen 22 percent in

three years, said Todd Sevig, director of counseling and psychological

services.

Some college officials see the contradiction inherent in their new efforts

to offset stress and encourage the joys of reflection and unstructured time.

After all, it was multitasking, hyperorganized, rŽsumŽ building behavior

that helped some students get admitted to their schools in the first place.

" We admit only the most over-scheduled children and we boast of how many

sports they play, how many clubs they organize, how many hours of volunteer

service they provide, " said Elaine Hansen, president of Bates College, in

ton, Me., in her inaugural address two years ago. How then, she went

on, could Bates encourage those same children to risk " moments of

woolgathering, daydreaming, improvisation " that she viewed as an essential

component of a liberal arts education?

Ms. Hansen said she had thought about calling off classes on the

spur-of-the-moment so everyone could enjoy, say, a glorious spring day in

Maine. But, she said: " If we do it without a conversation first about why

we're doing it, we're afraid people will just go to the library and get

caught up. "

In his January letter to parents, Bowdoin's president, Barry Mills,

expressed his concern about what appeared to be a national increase in

stress-related conditions among college students. Expanding on the

president's letter, Dean Bradley spoke to the college's trustees recently

about creating a culture that emphasizes the joy of learning for learning's

sake, " a culture that can itself ameliorate the anxiety many students feel

about grades, jobs, grad school admissions. "

At the same, Bowdoin officials say they do not want their students to relax

too much. " You still have to accomplish, " President Mills said. " You still

have to succeed. This is not about relax and schmooze your way through

Bowdoin. "

Many students here said they welcomed the emphasis on the joy of learning.

And many said they were having fun at college. But they were quick to point

out the realities of the world they live in.

Brennan, a Bowdoin senior who wants to be a lawyer, said all his love

of learning would not get him into a good law school. What he needs, Mr.

Brennan said, are high law board scores. " You have to be mindful that you're

operating in a larger system, " he said.

In the 1960's and 1970's, with students demanding liberation from

administrators, colleges relinquished their role as in loco parentis

chaperones. Now, some of the students who once told administrators to get

out of their lives are parents paying high tuition and expecting colleges to

smooth over everything from their children's relationships with roommates to

grades.

Colleges, in the meantime, are coaching their students on how to manage

their overmanaging parents. At Austin College, in Sherman, Tex., Rosemarie

C. Rothmeier, director of student services and counseling, coaches pre-med

students who are afraid to tell their parents that they hate organic

chemistry and do not want to be doctors after all. One piece of advice,

" Don't drop the bomb at Thanksgiving dinner. "

Some college officials say parents must share responsibility for their

children's difficulties in coping with the inevitable stresses of college.

" Rather than seeing late adolescence as a time of learning by trial and

error, " Mr. Bradley told the trustees, " many parents put great energy into

trying to eliminate the error. " He suggested that perhaps parents were

creating a generation of students afraid to take risks.

Another factor contributing to stress is the high price of education.

" If you break it down, it's about $75 a lecture, " said son, a

Bowdoin senior, quoting a faculty member who had made the calculation based

on Bowdoin's $37,950-a-year price tag.

Ms. son said she had sought her mother's advice about taking a dance

class. " She said, `Are you sure you don't want to take something more

intellectual?' " said Ms. son at a meeting of the college knitting

club.

Ms. son said she figured her mother might have been thinking, quite

understandably, that she was not paying that much so her daughter could take

a dance class. " I ended up taking statistics, " she said. " I realized I

needed it for grad school. "

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April 6, 2004