My D, who is seriously considering an offer of admission to Tulane, recently came across a very disturbing article on the internet concerning an apparent issue concerning a rash of student suicides and Tulane’s response. Here is the link:
We realize that mental health issues are everywhere in our society, especially around college campuses, but the article is disturbing and not very flattering to the university. Apparently, the story “broke” several months ago and the university was planning to make some changes to address the issues.
Does anyone know what the university has done and plans to do during the coming months?
I think all campuses are struggling with this. I wouldn’t turn down admission based on this article. My son suffers from severe mental illness. He attends our small local university. The disabilities office said they are seeing greatly increased numbers of students suffering from mental illness. Think about it - even the mental health system in each CITY is overloaded! It’s very hard to find a psychiatrist with openings.
Does your daughter suffer from mental illness? If so, you should meet with the disabilities office at Tulane and see how they can assist her. Otherwise, don’t worry - your daughter will be fine.
Another good resource is the state chapter of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). They could give you resources and suggestions.
All valid points. Years ago, I attended a northern university which had a history of student suicides, so I realize that Tulane is not alone with this problem.
That said, the suicide numbers are disturbing, although probably not statistically significant in the technical sense. The more concerning aspect was the Google Doc (which was linked in the Yahoo story), which contained several dozen individual stories from current students who had very bad experiences with mental health treatment at Tulane. ( I was particularly impressed that so many of these students felt strongly enough about the issue that they would sign their names to their posts.) The stories tell a fairly consistent story of an institutional response which should be embarrassing to any university.
The story suggests that the university is taking steps to address the situation. Clearly, no university can solve the overall problem of mental health, but it strikes me as a sort of litmus test for the school’s values. Did the school treat the situation as solely a PR problem or did it at least try to expend some resources to expand the options available for troubled students in need of help?
At this point, all I am after is some facts about what is being done.
@Lostinmd
This has been a very hard year at Tulane, and a bizarre one. As far as I know, there has been nothing like it in the history of the school, and certainly nothing like it in decades. So I think it would be wrong to put too much weight on this year, but right to ask how Tulane has reacted. They have expanded the hours and the number of allowed visits (more than doubled I believe), improved follow-up procedures and contacts, and perhaps most importantly have hired several new mental health professionals, including an MD psychiatrist.
I agree it does seem incompatible with a school that continually is cited as being among those with the happiest students. Perhaps a professional psychologist would have an interesting take on that. But I can only say again that as of now this is a statistical blip, inconsistent with the past. As MaineLonghorn says, it could have happened anyplace and has. I read that Cornell had several suicides per year several years in a row some decades ago, and even though they are now and have been within the national norm for some years, they cannot shake their reputation as the “suicide school”. I also read in that same article that one suicide can trigger that same behavior in others that are at-risk, especially among fellow students. I don’t know, of course, if this played any role in Tulane’s occurrences this year, but it seems possible given how anomalous it is.
My D was there for 4 years and I don’t think anyone committed suicide, at least as far as she knew. And at a smaller campus like Tulane, it would be hard to keep quiet. I’ll ask her again when I talk to her this weekend and if I am wrong about that, I will correct myself. But it certainly wasn’t a major issue like this year. But Tulane has reacted, and reacted strongly I think.
Thanks for the responses.
PS: I am a Cornell grad and was referencing that reputation as a “suicide school.” The fact that the reputation still exists (notwithstanding years of efforts to address the problem) should be taken as an object lesson for the administration at Tulane. They need to get ahead of this issue.
There was a discussion about this on the Tulane Parents FB page. Most parents feel that the University should not be involved in long term mental health counseling. CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services)is necessary and adequate for minor adjustment type issues and crisis interventions, but when it comes to serious psychological issues parents need to be proactive in seeking out off campus therapists. Especially for students who are coming into college with known mental health diagnoses. That support system needs to be put in place before the semester starts not when a crisis occurs. The idea of CAPS providing a list of local psychologists and psychiatrists and what insurance they accept was brought up. President Fitts has written that this is an important issue he will be addressing. I also read an article recently in the Boston Globe about how the suicide rates at MIT and Harvard are above the national average.
@Lostinmd
I actually didn’t see your response as I was intermittently typing mine at the same time you were posting (I am watching the Masters at the same time). But clearly you know better than I the issues Cornell has had. There is another school in California (I think) that has the same problem, but for the life of me I am coming up blank on which one.
I completely agree the article isn’t something any school likes to see out there. And as far as talking to those students, I think you could find enough students at almost any school after even a single suicide to fill out an article like that. You know how journalism works, I am sure. And that isn’t a slam on the journalist at all, that is just how it is when you are trying to support the theme of a story. To be even more fair, the journalist did note that Tulane’s mental health care at the time was not at all outside the norm among universities. Nonetheless, the school has reacted and increased care and resources, as I have noted. That is what has been communicated to all parties with ties to Tulane. So I think they are trying hard to get ahead of the issue, and of course not just for PR purposes but out of genuine concern for students.
Thanks for the responses. I am probably just a little over-anxious and hate the idea of associating the college my D will likely attend with these problems. A high school classmate of my D committed suicide this winter and the Tulane story touched a still rather raw nerve.
As to the potential for journalistic bias, if you read the student stories in the Google Doc linked in the Yahoo News, you get something a little different. That document contains first-person accounts from dozens of current students about their own problems with the existing system. That document and the stories in it seem authentic. As a parent, I find them heart-rending
I guess that I am coming to a bottom line that treating the mental health of thousands of young people is more than can be asked of a student health service at any university. All that can be asked is that they don’t try to sweep it under a rug (i.e,. not like many schools treat date rape and substance abuse). With the demographics of the Tulane student body, most of the students can afford proper mental health care with or without insurance if they just get pointed in the correct direction. Perhaps, the best role for the university is to work on generating greater awareness about what to do when a student or friend has a mental health issue and to create some sort of referral network to ensure that students with issues can easily obtain or be referred to the care they need.
All I am saying is that if I went in with the thesis that most students are helped by the system, I am sure I could find just as many stories where students felt like they got good help, be it a referral, direct help, or something else. I truly am not arguing with you, nor am I saying the system was great the way it was. I am just saying that it is never surprising when these stories have only supporting examples. I am pleased that Tulane has in fact taken very tangible steps to improve awareness, communication, and services. I would sure hope so after the year this has been.
I am wondering how a parent sends a young person with known bi-polar disorder to college many states away without setting up a comprehensive support system including a psychiatrist and therapist. That doesn’t seem like the fault of any college or university to me.
I think the posted article makes some very good points about the increased stress load and lower overall coping skills of current students.
I question it all the time. We see so many students with sometimes very serious mental health disorders. Mom and Dad drop them off at Orientation and wave good bye! Many times we (the university) are not even aware of their diagnosis until it becomes a crisis. Students who don’t leave their room for days at a time, binge drinking, drug OD, failing every class. They leave them with us, with no support system, no family or friends, an unfamiliar city, the stress of a full class load, peer pressure to go to parties, make friends, date, be popular, or be a sports star. It can be overwhelming. There are also students who are not dealing with metnal health issues but the pressure of college can be too much. Then there is the pressure parents put on their kids just boggles my mind. I’m working with a student who failed chem TWICE but her mother will not let her change her major from a pre-health care professional related field. This student is so stressed and so unhappy and with every failed test her self esteem gets lower and lower and lower.
That really is disheartening to hear about. I have heard people say similar things in the past, but it still shocks me a little every time I hear it.
My daughter is a freshman at Tulane and I too am concerned about the issues presented in this article. I was shocked by the lack of information provided to parents. The students are considered “adults” and privacy issues prevent the school from contacting the parents. My daughter’s original roommate has major issues. Nothing was done for her roommate and my daughter was told that she could move and she did. Time and time again kids were moved out to leave the “troubled” roommate, yet nothing is done to help the troubled student.
Under FERPA the school CAN disclose information to parents if the parents claim the student as a tax dependent. They are considered adults in the eyes of the law and they have to want help. you can’t force them. Unless they show furtherance of harming themselves or another. And even then involuntary commitments are what? 72 hours? Who knows what kind of attempts were made to help this student. One of my advisees committed suicide last year. On campus. he never disclosed anything to anyone about what was going on, there were signs and we tried to get him into counseling and I spoke with his mother a few times but he would shrug it all off.
I definitely don’t know the ins and outs of these situations, but as someone who reads about higher education issues frequently, it certainly seems like the Federal Government has these schools a bit tied up in knots as to what they can and cannot do, especially as regards disclosure.
It’s so tough. We thought we had plenty of supports in place for our son - my husband flew down to Texas with him at the beginning of his sophomore year. They had meetings with his advisor, professors, dorm, doctors, etc. But within a week, he was in such bad shape he had to fly home (the doctor was being literal when she said “the next plane”). Looking back, we were in a bit of denial. We couldn’t accept the fact that our highly-accomplished son could fall so seriously ill so quickly. In hindsight, we should have brought him over after his freshman year. 
And now I see other parents frequently making the same mistake. If I know them personally, I try to persuade them to see things realistically, but I’m usually not successful.
Mental health is certainly an issue. My daughter is a Tulane freshman. Oftentimes, it seems like the issues for her and her friends are issues of adjustment - the difficulties of being on their own, as adults, etc., where short-term counseling can often be helpful. And she has been fairly proactive. Where I have seen a little bit of “dropping the ball” is in the follow-up care. After the list of therapists is given to the kid (and I have no idea how these are vetted by the school, which would naturally be a question for any referral from anywhere), there doesn’t always seem to be a follow-up call to the student to find out if they were successful in locating an outside therapist. Whether or not the school has a legal obligation to do so in dealing with these “adults,” I’d suggest that there is an ethical obligation as a therapist/counselor to do so. But like everything else, we hope that our kids will communicate with us if they need help. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.
I just came across a Wall Street Journal article concerning what steps Cornell University took to address the issues of mental health of students that have been bounced around in this forum. Here is the
link:http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB119881134406054777
If that does not work, the title is “Bucking Privacy Concerns” and can be googled.
The point of the article is that there are things that a university can do to help prevent tragedies.