The Boyer 2030 Commission says the quiet part out loud: we’re in
“a mental health crisis affecting all ages, including and especially traditional-aged undergraduate students.” My read: student success is now a wellness design problem, not a counseling waitlist problem. Below are three moves I’m committing to going forward, grounded in the Boyer Report.
I will start with the test the Report hands us: “How can we identify and eliminate policies or practices that exacerbate mental health problems, which disproportionately affect students from underrepresented groups?” (47).
Boyer is blunt about drivers of distress: anxiety—“the leading presenting issue in counseling”—is “exacerbated by academic practices like high-stakes exams and first-year grading policies,” amplified by cultures that “value the appearance of ‘effortless perfection’” (48). There’s a model on the table: MIT’s first-year policy is “designed to enhance equitable learning, not grade-induced anxiety” (48). And the mandate is clear: “Perhaps most importantly, we must examine institutionalized academic practices and entrenched campus cultures” to see whether they build learning and well-being or “are themselves part of the problem” (48).
My Work.
I already use staged mastery checks and allow re-attempts tied to learning goals (Boyer 48).
I will continue to normalize humane grading in gateway AND graduate courses so skill building isn’t a panic sport (Boyer 48).
I will publish an annual “stress audit” of course designs; retire practices that add pressure without learning gain, based on multiple types of student feedback.
Boyer points us to what works: historically Black colleges and universities “foster students’ sense of belonging and well-being and contribute to mental health” (47). The governing question belongs on every agenda: “How can we urgently support belonging and wellness in the university community?” (47). And because inequities compound distress, the paired question should gate policy: “How can we identify and eliminate policies or practices that exacerbate mental health problems, which disproportionately affect students from underrepresented groups?”
My Commitment.
I will make belonging practices required infrastructure in all courses, not optional extras (Boyer 47).
I will embed population-wide supports where all students already are. The Report: “Population-wide strategies integrate well-being into the student experience” (Boyer 49). Example outcomes include “opportunities to learn stress management skills, improve attention and focus, and discuss how these skills apply to daily life” (49).
Stigma is structural. The Report synthesizes evidence that “the stigma of mental illness is particularly powerful” for students who already “face additional challenges and stress” (48). Visibility matters, policy matters, and follow-through matters.
My changes.
I will intentionalize the use of destigmatizing language and clear referral paths in every syllabus and LMS shell (Boyer 48–49).
I will integrate basic needs, advising, and mental health referrals so students don’t have to navigate alone (Boyer 47, 49).
I will always keep reception doors open, even reaching out to students and offering ways to catch up with ZERO penalties. As Gary May models, students should “feel they are seen, heard and represented” and know [we] are accessible (Boyer 50).
If professors create avoidable distress, services can’t keep up. I’ll track:
Reduced DFWI rates in redesigned courses.
Student-reported belonging shifts in gateway courses (Boyer 47).
How intentional use of AI Instructional Assistants help or hinder student experiences in learning and engendering writerly growth.
How generative AI and “prompt-first” writing might help or hinder ND student experiences and writerly growth.
Because the stakes are higher than any one midterm, I’m adopting Boyer’s urgency as policy: redesign courses and grading to reduce harm, build belonging as infrastructure, and remove stigma. The Report already hands us the questions. Our job is to answer them with action.
Thanks for reading! - Jeanne
“a mental health crisis affecting all ages, including and especially traditional-aged undergraduate students” (Boyer 3).
“How can we urgently support belonging and wellness in the university community?” (Boyer 47).
“How can we identify and eliminate policies or practices that exacerbate mental health problems…?” (Boyer 47).
“foster students’ sense of belonging and well-being and contribute to mental health” (Boyer 47).
“anxiety—the leading presenting issue in counseling—” (Boyer 48).
“exacerbated by academic practices like high-stakes exams and first-year grading policies” (Boyer 48).
“value the appearance of ‘effortless perfection’” (Boyer 48).
“designed to enhance equitable learning, not grade-induced anxiety” (Boyer 48).
“Perhaps most importantly, we must examine institutionalized academic practices and entrenched campus cultures” (Boyer 48).
“But act we must.” (Boyer 49).
“University leaders should… help destigmatize seeking help for mental health challenges” (Boyer 49).
“Population-wide strategies integrate well-being into the student experience” (Boyer 49).
“opportunities to learn stress management skills, improve attention and focus, and discuss how these skills apply to daily life” (Boyer 49).
“students feel they are seen, heard, and represented” (Boyer 50).
Source: https://www.ueru.org/boyer-2030-report/about-the-commission
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