Workshop Overview

With managers, faculty and staff from all over California, we spent two days at Alliant University in San Francisco discussing the complex and challenging issue of dealing with students with mental issues on our college campuses. Little did we know that in the days following, the nation would experience the largest college massacre at Virginia Tech, by a student with a long history of mental illness. This tragedy underscored the importance of ongoing dialogue and training for the college on the complicated management of risk and safety as we continue to try to understand the vast array of student’s psychological disabilities as they affect the student, the college and the community.

Commitments

Our workshop focused first and foremost on the following commitments:

• Commitment to working with students with psychological disabilities to help them be successful in college.
• Commitment to provide maximum opportunities for students with mental illness to get treatment.
• Commitment to fairly and consistently follow the College’s Code of Conduct and related college procedures to deal with all disruptive or threatening behavior immediately.
• Commitment to not allow psychological episodes to be an excuse for bad behavior.
• Commitment to have all students understand there are consequences for disruptive or threatening behavior, and that if they cannot maintain appropriate behavior they are not considered qualified to attend.
• Commitment to do all we can to keep all students, faculty and staff safe.
• Commitment to stay current with all laws and regulations, as well as court rulings which may guide college policies.

Current Trends

Participants discussed the current trends and issues they are regularly encountering and all agreed students with psychological disabilities continue to be a rapidly growing population on our campuses. Many cited 1). improved medications and psychotherapy which has allowed students with more serious mental illnesses to become more stabilized and able to attend college; 2). the increased stress or “overwhelm” on college students causing more psychological crises; and 3). more awareness of previously overlooked disorders, as some of the reasons for the increased problems. At the same time, students with psychological disabilities are becoming a more visible and vocal group, and the demand for personal counseling and other support services had added significant demands on colleges for additional counseling, trainings and financial resources.

Mental Illness on Campus

Colleagues agreed that the most prevalent mental illness issues they are currently experiencing on campus include:

• Eating disorders
• Depression
• Anxiety/panic
• Suicidal tendencies
• Cutting
• Bipolar Disorder
• Aspergers Syndrome
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

It was suggested that many cultural issues around mental illness prevent some students from seeking help and that with the federal restrictions on what colleges can reveal to parents or other college professionals it is difficult to share concerns and obtain support. After a situation like Virginia Tech it is understandable as well that there is fear of some of these students who demonstrate bizarre, rude or unpredictable behavior.

Other related problems can make psychological matters more complex, and it often becomes a combination of multiple issues that confronts campus personnel. This can include:

• Parent’s/guardian’s use of the campus as a “day program” for students
• Alcohol and drug abuse
• Drunk or on drugs during class
• Student’s selling their medications
• Student’s self-medicating
• Student’s being medically non-compliant
• Lack of faculty, staff and administrator understanding of mental illness and/or college policies
• Cross cultural issues
• Student’s failure to obtain help needed, either through resistance or lack of awareness of services

Managing the Challenges

Some potential tools and activities were discussed for managing the challenges of mentally ill students, including the following:

Discipline/Code of Conduct

• Review and update all policies and procedures regularly
• Consistently apply to all students and understand the need for considering mitigating circumstances
• Make every effort to clearly explain rules and guidelines in formats to accommodate all learning styles and students with disabilities
• Utilize written Student Behavioral Contracts
• Action must be based on student’s conduct not their perceived disability
• Differentiate between Code of Conduct violations and criminal violations
• Determine if student has ability to benefit and ability to understand behavioral expectations

Campus Management

• Have clearly delineated preventative measures:
• In place system/process for dealing with problems
• Current Code of Conduct and other college policies
• Availability of resources and support services
• Campus Partnerships to manage problems DSPS/Student Services/Academic Services/Campus Safety
• Community Partnerships for Support
• On-going dialogue and training for key players: DSPS, Campus Safety, Emergency Response Team, Psych Services, Residence Life
• Define Roles: DSPS, psych counselor, campus safety, dean of students
• Use Staff Development programs to present important information to the campus
• Include information on psychological disabilities during new employee orientation
• Have clearly written syllabi for all classes with all expectations for behavior, available support services and resource contacts; specifically address physical and psychological disabilities
• Support faculty in setting classroom behavioral boundaries and enforcing them
• “Coach” faculty and staff to assist with handling problems
• Provide classroom management trainings
• Communicate regularly with campus faculty and staff on psychological issues in general
• Be clear with students about their behavior and why it is inappropriate or frightening
• Use a Wellness Strategy
• Obtain student release to communicate with professional medical care providers
• Have a College Response Plan to deal with emergency situations
• Know when to go to legal counsel
• Know when to call the police or 5150

New/Difficult College Issues

• College policy for returning to class after leave for psych issue (mandatory leave policies)
• Responsibility for care of mentally ill student; difficulty obtaining Emergency Contacts
• Policies on “Emergency removal and return conditions”; liability vs. responsibility
• College responsibility: Classroom, campus common areas, residence halls, off-campus trips or events, college recognized clubs and organizations, fraternities and sororities
• Complexity of required documentation
• When and how to use Involuntary Withdrawal Policies
• Determining what defines a health and safety emergency allowing for student record disclosure.
• The Courts have been favoring the students in recent cases involving removal from campus for suicidal behavior, “reasonably forseeing” student would harm themselves and failure to ensure student’s safety due to prior knowledge of “imminent probability” of personal harm

Summary

There is no doubt that dealing with students with psychological disabilities and mental illnesses are going to continue to pose a difficult and complex challenge to college administrators, faculty and staff. Best practices will continue to be researched and developed in an effort to provide appropriate support services, while at the same time maintaining adequate training regarding these issues for the campus community and balancing all safety concerns both for the student and the campus. The campus must be committed to fair and supportive treatment of all students, providing appropriate services that meet the needs of disabled participants, implementing Code of Conduct guidelines consistently, and supporting ongoing communication with faculty and staff to maximize student success and minimize associated risk.

Resources:

Pavela, Gary J.D., Professor of Law, University of Maryland-College Park, www.garypavela.com

Disability Compliance for Higher Education, Newsletter, www.dche.com

College Administration Publications, Inc., http://www.collegepubs.com

Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology (DO-IT), University of Washington, http://www.washington.edu/doit/

Michigan State University’s College Response Plan,
http://www.rcpd.msu.edu/Services/?Psychiatric%20disabilities.html

College of San Mateo Supported Education Model, contact Tim Stringari at Stringari@smccd.net

UC Berkeley’s Psychological Disability Documentation Requirements, http://dsp.berkeley.edu/PYcert.html

University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Faculty Handbooks, www.ualr.edu/pace/publications

Boston University, Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, http://bu.edu/cpr/

Mills College, Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), http://www.mills.edu/student_services/disability_services/index.php

Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/index.html

International Association of Counseling Services, National Survey Information, www.iacsinc.org/2005%20National%20Survey.pdf

HEATH Resource Center, George Washington University: The National Clearinghouse on Post-Secondary Education for Individuals with Disabilities, http://www.heath.gwu.edu/

American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, http://emory.edu/AAPL/

National Institute of Mental Health (NIH), http://www.nimh.nih.gov/

Association of Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD), www.ahead.org

American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, http://www.emory.edu/AAPL/

National Mental Health Association, http://nmha.org/index.cfm/

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), http://www.nami.org

American Psychiatric Association, http://www.psych.org/

Laws Limit Options When a Student Is Mentally Ill, The New York Times, April 19, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/19/us/19protocol.html?ex=1177560000&en=4817a63814386456&ei=5070&emc=eta1

About the Authors

Denise Swett, Ed.D.
Dean of the Middlefield Campus
Foothill College

former Vice President of Student Services

Canada College

Denise Swett has over 20 years of experience in higher education. She has been the Vice President of student services at Cañada College and the Dean of students at Chabot College and was part of the leadership team in student services at the University of San Francisco. Denise has taught graduate courses focusing on issues and trends in higher education, and has served as a consultant for colleges, universities, vocational and private institutions, in legal and discipline issues, psychological disabilities and crisis management. Denise has an Ed.D. from the University of San Francisco, a MPA and BS from San Jose State University, and is currently the Dean of the Middlefield Campus at Foothill College.

Email: swettdenise@fhda.edu

Jess Miller
Director of Services for Students with Disabilities
Mills College

Jess Miller has been working with people with disabilities since 1985. As a counselor and group facilitator she has worked in adult day health care and senior centers, in half way houses and acute and sub acute psychiatric hospitals. In higher education, Jess was the Director of WorkAbility III at Cañada College where she also served as a crisis counselor and as a drama and life skills teacher for students with psychological and learning disabilities. She has been the Coordinator of the Human Services Program at Cañada College and an adjunct faculty member there since 1997. Jess is currently the Director of Services for Students with Disabilities at Mills College where she will begin a doctoral program in education in fall 2007. She received her MA in Clinical Psychology from Antioch/San Francisco.

Email: jmiller@mills.edu