The University of Minnesota’s Faculty Consultative Committee (FCC) introduced and discussed a resolution at a meeting Feb. 16 to articulate concerns about the treatment of faculty, professionals and administrators (P&A) and staff.

The Consultative Committee Leadership (CCL) resolution calls upon administration to create a better work environment that addresses those issues.

The CCL hosts regular meetings where all four University Senate leaders come together and converse.

The CCL resolution is currently a rough draft and the contents are being discussed among the consultative committee members.

The draft has four main principles: to provide liveable, equitable and competitive pay, to recruit, reward and retain employees, to invest in career advancement and to foster manageable workloads.

All chairs and vice chairs of the four University Senates have been involved in the creation of the resolution since it was first proposed, said Tony Fussy, the chair of the Civil Service Consultative Committee, in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

Throughout 2022, the CCL had discussions with faculty and staff about workload and compensation issues, FCC Chair Colleen Flaherty Manchester said

In the fall, the chairs of the committee on finance and planning, the committee on faculty affairs and the FCC decided to initiate what reinvestment in faculty and staff should look like, Flaherty Manchester said.

“Everything is intertwined,” Flaherty Manchester said. “The retention of faculty and staff impact the University’s ability to fulfill its mission and to educate students.”

Fussy said the CCL resolution is about investing in human capital, which is the University’s biggest expense and its biggest asset.

The resolution looks at ways to increase pay, retain employees and avoid the brain drain workers are experiencing due to the reduction in staff numbers across campus, Fussy said.

“[An] issue civil service employees face is feeling like we are more expendable employees since we are often seen as an administrative expense that needs to continually be cut,” Fussy said.

Many civil service employees are concerned with pay, according to Fussy. There was no increase in salary last year for civil service employees and many departments are unable to provide salary increases due to budget constraints.

Budget and staff cuts have resulted in civil service employees being burnt out, Fussy said.

“These issues have been on our priority list for years,” said Adolfo Carrillo Cabello, the chair of the P&A consultative committee.

Carrillo Cabello said the resolution started as a collective interest and effort by committee members to represent a unified voice that addresses the issues faculty and staff face at the University.

Each principle in the draft addresses P&A issues, such as the commitment from the University to foster a culture that includes manageable workloads and structures for work flexibility.

Flexible work arrangements can help retain and recruit employees in addition to increasing their ability to fulfill the University’s mission, Carrillo Cabello said. For example, academic advisors may be able to accommodate students beyond regular business hours through online platforms.

“The resolution packages all the issues we are looking at now, but it also looks into the future,” Carrillo Cabello said.

University workers react positively to the resolution’s principles 

Heather Holcombe, an English lecturer, said she appreciates the resolution’s call to the University to make it a better overall environment for faculty.

Holcombe said she believes people need fair wages, job stability, pathways to promotion and work-life balance.

“I am especially encouraged that this resolution acknowledges how grossly underpaid we are,” Holcombe said.

Holcombe said the resolution holds weight by showing the value of faculty and staff at the University.

“It’s up to the University administration to demonstrate whether they recognize that value,” she said.

Courtney Gildersleeve, a cultural studies and comparative literature lecturer at the University, said the principles are strong and articulate, but she questions how they will be implemented.

“[Faculty and staff] hear about positive plans on the surface, but we don’t know where they’ll go,” Gildersleeve said.

According to Gildersleeve, the principles reflect the struggle of faculty and staff to make ends meet because they are not being paid a wage that reflects the cost of living.

“I think right now the amount that I get paid for classes is [about] the same as grad students, and I have a Ph.D.,” Gildersleeve said.

Gildersleeve said principle four, which asked for manageable workloads, reminded her of her experience feeling overwhelmed last year while teaching a core course of more than 220 students with four teacher’s assistants.

“Because you are an adjunct [professor] people assume you’ll take on anything,” Gildersleeve said.

Gildersleeve said she hopes the consultative committees on campus will have more extensive conversations with the people this resolution impacts most.

“I look forward for the resolution to be taken seriously and for the outlined set of principles to become a set of practices,” Gildersleeve said.

The CCL is currently incorporating feedback into the draft to enrich the resolution, Flaherty Manchester said.

“We think these principles are valuable,” Flaherty Manchester said. “We are trying to emphasize these are the things we want to strive for.”

The CCL aims to present the final draft of the resolution at the University Senate meeting on March 30 and will open it up for discussion with the Senate, Flaherty Manchester said. The University Senate would then vote on the resolution on April 27.

The University of Minnesota’s Faculty Consultative Committee (FCC) introduced and discussed a resolution at a meeting Feb. 16 to articulate concerns about the treatment of faculty, professionals and administrators (P&A) and staff.

The Consultative Committee Leadership (CCL) resolution calls upon administration to create a better work environment that addresses those issues.

The CCL hosts regular meetings where all four University Senate leaders come together and converse.

The CCL resolution is currently a rough draft and the contents are being discussed among the consultative committee members.

The draft has four main principles: to provide liveable, equitable and competitive pay, to recruit, reward and retain employees, to invest in career advancement and to foster manageable workloads.

All chairs and vice chairs of the four University Senates have been involved in the creation of the resolution since it was first proposed, said Tony Fussy, the chair of the Civil Service Consultative Committee, in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

Throughout 2022, the CCL had discussions with faculty and staff about workload and compensation issues, FCC Chair Colleen Flaherty Manchester said

In the fall, the chairs of the committee on finance and planning, the committee on faculty affairs and the FCC decided to initiate what reinvestment in faculty and staff should look like, Flaherty Manchester said.

“Everything is intertwined,” Flaherty Manchester said. “The retention of faculty and staff impact the University’s ability to fulfill its mission and to educate students.”

Fussy said the CCL resolution is about investing in human capital, which is the University’s biggest expense and its biggest asset.

The resolution looks at ways to increase pay, retain employees and avoid the brain drain workers are experiencing due to the reduction in staff numbers across campus, Fussy said.

“[An] issue civil service employees face is feeling like we are more expendable employees since we are often seen as an administrative expense that needs to continually be cut,” Fussy said.

Many civil service employees are concerned with pay, according to Fussy. Faculty, civil service and P&A employees received a 1.5% salary increase for the 2022 fiscal year. For the 2023 fiscal year, there was a 3.85% merit pool available for campuses, colleges and units to use for merit pay.

Budget and staff cuts have resulted in civil service employees being burnt out, Fussy said.

“These issues have been on our priority list for years,” said Adolfo Carrillo Cabello, the chair of the P&A consultative committee.

Carrillo Cabello said the resolution started as a collective interest and effort by committee members to represent a unified voice that addresses the issues faculty and staff face at the University.

Each principle in the draft addresses P&A issues, such as the commitment from the University to foster a culture that includes manageable workloads and structures for work flexibility.

Flexible work arrangements can help retain and recruit employees in addition to increasing their ability to fulfill the University’s mission, Carrillo Cabello said. For example, academic advisors may be able to accommodate students beyond regular business hours through online platforms.

“The resolution packages all the issues we are looking at now, but it also looks into the future,” Carrillo Cabello said.

University workers react positively to the resolution’s principles 

Heather Holcombe, an English lecturer, said she appreciates the resolution’s call to the University to make it a better overall environment for faculty.

Holcombe said she believes people need fair wages, job stability, pathways to promotion and work-life balance.

“I am especially encouraged that this resolution acknowledges how grossly underpaid we are,” Holcombe said.

Holcombe said the resolution holds weight by showing the value of faculty and staff at the University.

“It’s up to the University administration to demonstrate whether they recognize that value,” she said.

Courtney Gildersleeve, a cultural studies and comparative literature lecturer at the University, said the principles are strong and articulate, but she questions how they will be implemented.

“[Faculty and staff] hear about positive plans on the surface, but we don’t know where they’ll go,” Gildersleeve said.

According to Gildersleeve, the principles reflect the struggle of faculty and staff to make ends meet because they are not being paid a wage that reflects the cost of living.

“I think right now the amount that I get paid for classes is [about] the same as grad students, and I have a Ph.D.,” Gildersleeve said.

Gildersleeve said principle four, which asked for manageable workloads, reminded her of her experience feeling overwhelmed last year while teaching a core course of more than 220 students with four teacher’s assistants.

“Because you are an adjunct [professor] people assume you’ll take on anything,” Gildersleeve said.

Gildersleeve said she hopes the consultative committees on campus will have more extensive conversations with the people this resolution impacts most.

“I look forward for the resolution to be taken seriously and for the outlined set of principles to become a set of practices,” Gildersleeve said.

The CCL is currently incorporating feedback into the draft to enrich the resolution, Flaherty Manchester said.

“We think these principles are valuable,” Flaherty Manchester said. “We are trying to emphasize these are the things we want to strive for.”

The CCL aims to present the final draft of the resolution at the University Senate meeting on March 30 and will open it up for discussion with the Senate, Flaherty Manchester said. The University Senate would then vote on the resolution on April 27.

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated salary increases for University workers. Faculty, civil service and P&A employees received a 1.5% salary increase for the 2022 fiscal year.

Students who were enrolled at the University of Minnesota during the spring 2020 semester began receiving emails earlier this month notifying them of an ongoing class action lawsuit against the University alleging failure to reimburse students the full amount of mandatory fees when students were sent home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Students who received the email are members of the class in the lawsuit and are automatically included in the case. Students who wish to opt out of the case must do so before March 27.

In the Comprehensive Student Fee Refund Plan issued in April 2020, students were promised to be reimbursed for 100% of certain charges related to housing, meal plans, transportation and safety, parking and the RecWell fee. Half of what the student services fee would have covered from March 28 through finals would be refunded, according to the plan.

The student services fee goes toward the operation and management of different centers and services on campus available to students. Every student is charged the same fee as part of their tuition whether they use the services, facilities or programs the University offers.

According to the civil complaint, the University only refunded students about 25% of the student services fee. Students are also arguing they should have received reimbursement for additional fees including stadium fees, capital enhancement fees and collegiate fees.

Former University regent Michael Hsu said he advocated for students’ reimbursement for housing during board discussions in April 2020. He said University administrators told him the University was losing money over expenses that were paid through the student services fees. However, Hsu said the University received federal money to continue its operations.

“It’s no surprise they got sued. They must have thought they had a good enough plan to avoid the lawsuit or win the lawsuit,” Hsu said.

In June 2020, Steven Staubus filed the initial lawsuit against the University for not reimbursing him for the student services fees he paid. In December 2020, Patrick Hyatte filed separately, and the two cases were consolidated in 2021 to be put before the same judge.

On Nov. 9, 2022, the case was class certified, which means the Hennepin County Court recognized Staubus and Hyatte as the representatives of more than 60,000 students who paid the mandatory fees during the pandemic and were not fully refunded.

Since the class has been certified and all information for the case has been obtained, the next step in the legal process is to go to trial.

“Our case is about living up to promises; when the campus shut down in spring 2020, students were denied access to facilities, services and programs for which they had pre-paid the University through mandatory fee payments,” Catherine Mitchell, Staubus and Hyatte’s attorney, said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

In a motion of summary judgment, the University argued for the case to be thrown out, which the judge denied in December 2022. The University argued students had no evidence the University promised in-person services in exchange for the mandatory student services fee.

President Joan Gabel and the Board of Regents are unable to comment on the lawsuit.
“It is typical practice for the University not to comment on active litigation,” University Public Relations Director Jake Ricker said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

The trial is set for June 5. Staubus and Hyatte will have to prove the University improperly withheld repayment of student fees.

“We look forward to presenting this case to a jury at trial,” Mitchell said.

The University of Minnesota Environmental Student Association (ESA) and professors on campus are working together to create sustainable systems to help pollinators thrive on campus.

ESA held its first meeting of the semester on Jan. 23, discussed their plans for the semester and visited the Bee Lab on the St. Paul Campus.

ESA was created in 2013 with the mission to provide a productive space for environmentally conscious students to come together while focusing on fostering habits and initiatives to inform the community and provide long-term solutions for environmental issues, ESA President Louisa Brody said.

“We want this to be a space where people can be heard,” Brody said.

One solution ESA is working toward is creating an environment on campus that promotes biodiversity and sustains keystone species, Brody said. ESA is currently pushing for the University to use native plants, like wildflowers, to attract pollinators to maintain the campus’s natural ecosystem.

Due to plant life not being able to reproduce without pollination from insects, ESA has tried to spread awareness about the necessity of pollinators through door-knocking and letter campaigns.

“Often, insects are overlooked,” Brody said.

The “M” symbol on University Avenue and 15th Street is created using flowers that are ripped out and replanted each year, which hurts native pollinators’ ability to fight against invasive species due to population decreases, Brody said.

In an email to the Minnesota Daily, Tom Ritzer, assistant director of landcare in University Facilities Management, said the annual flowers won’t survive the winter months and are removed every fall to make room for the next year’s flowers.

“Because of this, neither leaving nor removing the flowers in the fall negatively impacts pollinators,” Ritzer said.

ESA members also drop “seed-bombs,” which are biodegradable bags filled with soil substrates and native seeds, around campus to support natural bee habitats and increase the population, Brody said.

Dan Cariveau, an associate professor for the entomology department who specializes in native bee ecology, conservation and restoration ecology, monitors Rusty Patched Bumblebees. This species was common in the eastern United States but experienced a widespread and steep population decline before being federally recognized as an endangered species in 2017.

Bees provide valuable pollination services to many flowering plants, such as the fruits and vegetables people consume daily, Cariveau said.

“There are many, many food crops you would not get if there were no bees,” said Department of Entomology Head Sujaya Rao.

Different bee species provide various benefits to the environment, Rao said. Honey bees are reared in hives, which can be placed in different fields to pollinate crops. By contrast, native bees have a smaller population and an annual cycle where they hibernate in winter and re-emerge in spring, she said.

Native bees are not used for pollinating crop fields because their colonies are so small and usually die during the winter. As a result, most native bees are pollinators of wildflowers and other plants.

Cariveau said conservation efforts are essential to maintaining natural systems, and to protect our environment, people should always ask, “Do we value species that are at risk of extinction?”

On Tuesday, Gov. Tim Walz signed the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act into law, codifying the right to abortion access and reproductive care. This makes Minnesota one of the first states to implement abortion protections since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. 

According to a press release, the PRO Act establishes that Minnesotans have a fundamental right to make decisions about their own reproductive health, including the right to use or refuse reproductive health care. 

“This is truly a historic day for our state,” Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said in a press release. “This legislation signals to Minnesotans and everyone across the country that your access to abortion and right to reproductive freedom will be protected here in Minnesota.”

The act serves as a reinforcement and expansion of the 1995 Minnesota Supreme Court decision in Doe v. Gomez, which guarantees the right of every Minnesotan to terminate a pregnancy. Now, state law protects access to birth control, sterilization, family planning support and other services. 

“Today, we are delivering on our promise to put up a firewall against efforts to reverse reproductive freedom,” Walz said in a press release. 

The bill passed the state Senate on Saturday in a 34 to 33 vote after more than 14 hours of debate. Republicans attempted to add amendments, all of which were ultimately rejected, according to CBS news. 

Republican state lawmakers have claimed the act is “extreme” because it will allow women to terminate pregnancies up until birth. 

More than 91% of abortions in Minnesota happen within the first trimester. Of the 10,000 abortions performed statewide in 2021, only one occurred in the third trimester and none beyond 26 weeks, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. 

Walz said he will continue to fight to expand access to affordable and comprehensive reproductive health care for all Minnesotans. Democrats are proposing to strike existing regulations on abortion, such as the 24-hour waiting period, and add legal protections to abortion providers and patients who travel to Minnesota for abortions. 

“Here in Minnesota, your access to reproductive health care and your freedom to make your own health care decisions are preserved and protected,” Walz said. 

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP), an association devoted to academic freedom and defining standards for practices in higher education, launched an inquiry into Hamline University on Wednesday after a professor was dismissed for displaying a 14th-century depiction of the Prophet Muhammed in class. 

The decision by Hamline University was made following several student complaints after the depiction in Erika López Prater’s Islamic art class last semester. 

Many Muslims hold the religious belief that showing depictions of the Prophet Muhammed is prohibited. López Prater issued a warning in the course syllabus and at the beginning of class that the image would be shown and students could leave if they felt uncomfortable. The painting has been commonly shown in art history classes in the past.

Hamline administration announced that “respect for the observant Muslim students in that classroom should have superseded academic freedom.” López Prater’s dismissal was not a firing because she was an adjunct instructor, so she was not re-hired for the spring semester.

AAUP President Irene Mulvaney issued a statement on Jan. 6 calling for López Prater’s reinstatement. 

López Prater’s teaching status raises several questions regarding academic freedom, considering Hamline has issued a statement asserting they “strongly support academic freedom” and that “faculty have the right to choose what and how they teach.” 

In early February, the AAUP intends to send a committee of inquiry to discuss the situation of academic freedom at Hamline. 

Hamline University did not respond to the Minnesota Daily’s request for comment. 

The University of Minnesota continues to address issues of academic freedom, most recently through the passing of the Academic Freedom and Tenure (AF&T) resolution that called for the creation of a task force to gather information, create a report and make recommendations to ensure academic freedom for term faculty. 

Currently at the University, faculty in non-tenurable positions, such as adjunct and term faculty, are not protected against removal or censorship based on political or religious beliefs. 

López Prater’s dismissal highlights the vulnerability of a large portion of the teaching faculty to administrative whims and student complaints, Mulvaney said in a statement. It also has a “chilling effect” on other faculty members, who might be less likely to teach the way they want out of fear, she said. 

The University of Minnesota announced during a press conference on Thursday its MPact Health Care Innovation vision, which aims to strengthen Minnesota’s health care by making the state a leader in health for future generations.

The University is seeking opportunities for partnerships with health systems that will maximize its statewide impact in health care innovations and research, President Joan Gabel said at the press conference. Through these partnerships, the University hopes to bring high quality, patient-centered care to all Minnesotans, she said.

In its commitment to develop and embrace new and leading health care delivery models and “cutting-edge technologies,” the University has made several goals, which include acquiring medical facilities, increased funding and building a new hospital on campus, Gabel said at the press conference.

To ensure all Minnesotans have access to a first-rate academic health system, the University plans to “own, govern and control” all existing health care facilities on the Twin Cities campus, which Fairview Health Services currently owns. In November, Fairview Health Services, a Minneapolis-based health system, announced plans to merge with Sanford Health, which is based in South Dakota and is the nation’s largest rural health system. 

Currently, the University is seeking state and community investments to upgrade medical facilities that “bridge” the present medical centers to a new state-of-the-art hospital, Gabel said.

The new hospital will be located on the Twin Cities’ East Bank campus and will take at least five years to develop, costing about $1 billion, according to Myron Frans, the University’s senior vice president for finance and operations.

According to Frans, necessary public funding has not been secured, so more cost estimates and detailed planning need to occur before construction can begin.

The University expects to staff the new hospital with 1,500 physicians and health professionals who are currently working on campus, said Jakub Tolar, dean of the University Medical School and vice president of clinical affairs, at the press conference

The University remains committed to continued partnership with all healthcare providers, including Fairview Health Services, Frans said.

Gabel said the University also hopes for support from the governor, the state legislature and community leaders to help fund this vision.

“This is a moment rich in promise and opportunity,” Tolar said. ““We need to be bold, we need to be intentional and we need to be ambitious for the state of Minnesota.”

The University of Minnesota’s Honors Program (UHP) is moving away from a heavy advising approach to incorporating more faculty involvement, which has resulted in the loss of honors advisors and an increase in some students’ concerns.

Matt Bribitzer-Stull, director of UHP, referred to the lack of faculty involvement and investment in UHP as the program’s “largest shortcoming.” Many faculty members at the University do not know how students are admitted to the honors program, what UHP’s requirements are or how faculty and departments can best support Honors students, he said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

UHP is undergoing a reconstruction to improve the program by bringing in faculty fellows, who will participate in curriculum, co-curricular experiences and staff meetings.

Faculty fellows are faculty members who are invested in the Honors Program for a year at a time and will be involved with programming and visioning for UHP. They will teach classes involved in the Nexus Program, which consists of non-required experiences for students that address a wide variety of subjects, and provide informal advising to students in fall 2023.

“My hope is that it will vastly increase faculty knowledge of, investment in, and participation in the program to our students’ benefit,” Bribitzer-Stull said.

In addition, UHP is establishing a fund to support honors student research expenses and is devoting resources toward the execution of a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Plan they completed over the summer.

Bribitzer-Stull said he hopes UHP’s changes will allow students to enjoy more faculty and financial support for their research.

“I’m hopeful we’ll also be better able to support student research financially, provide for increased staff professional development, and continue to build on the gains we’ve made in Honors alumni participation in programming we put on for our students,” Bribitzer-Stull said.

To support these changes, UHP had to move advising away from the program and back to the colleges, which leads to less advising time, larger caseloads for UHP advisors and changes in the relationships between students and advisors.

Kristin Farrell worked at the University of Minnesota’s Honors Program (UHP) for more than nine years until leaving at the beginning of Fall 2022.

The main reason Farrell left UHP was the program’s decision to take a different approach working with Honors students.

“For the nine and a half that I worked in honors, there was a philosophy that student relationships with their advisors were very important,” Farrell said.

The lack of focus on advisor-student relationships has created a different work environment, Farrell said.

“I left in part because the way that I had always worked in honors, with a smaller caseload of students, was going to dramatically change,” Farrell said. “Instead of having 250 students on my caseload, that was going to change to over 400 or 500”.

Despite these changes, Bribitzer-Stull said, “the high-quality honors advising that UHP has provided since its inception will remain unchanged.”

Robert McMaster, the dean for Undergraduate Studies, said UHP’s model of intense advising but less faculty involvement was “an anomaly” when compared to other institutions.

“In the best interest of our honors students, we think this is a much better structure that will provide students access to faculty, and our faculty better access to our honors students,” McMaster said.

Several details, such as starting the Faculty Fellows Program and funding, need to be addressed before UHP’s restructuring is completed by fall 2023, McMaster said.

Emma Tierney, a fourth-year student, said she joined the UHP her freshman year and stayed in the program partially because of the additional courses offered.

“The honor seminars are so much fun,” Tierney said. “You really get to know a lot about something that a professor is genuinely passionate about.”

However, Tierney said the main reason she stayed with the honors program was her advisor.

“I really, really liked her,” Tierney said. “I met her at orientation and realized, this is a good fit for me.”

Tierney said she learned the UHP was making changes to the program when her advisor left in October.

Tierney said she had a close relationship with her previous advisor and despite how nice her new advisor was, it wasn’t the same. She said her previous advisor remembered little things about her and would give advice specific to her situation.

“I understand, the honors department wanted to cut costs on advising and put that money towards creating deeper relationships with faculty members,” Tierney said. “But that was really disappointing for me.”

Fostering Education and Training Canines in Housing (FETCH), a Living Learning Community (LLC) at the University of Minnesota’s Bailey residential hall that is offered every semester, was put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic but is now back in full force, completing its first semester back after the pandemic. .

The University’s Housing and Residential Life collaborated with Can Do Canines, a non-profit organization that connects people with disabilities with free, fully-trained assistance dogs, to create the FETCH program in 2016.

The program was put on hold between 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions but has started again this year. There are currently 12 students involved, Kristie Feist, the University’s assistant director of residential life, said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

Second-year student Jennifer Wood said she joined FETCH last year because she wanted to experience having a dog since she never had one growing up.

Wood has worked with three dogs over the last two years through the program and said she has enjoyed her experience so far.

“I love working with the dogs and trainers from Can Do Canines,” Wood said in an email to the Daily. “The dogs are amazing, and I have made a few friends during my time in the program.”

Typically, two students will live together and work as a team to care for and train one service dog for a portion of the spring or fall semester, Feist said.

The program provides all supplies, food and veterinary care, so there is no additional cost for students. Students are, however, required to attend several bi-monthly training sessions.

Morgan Nemeck, a fourth-year student, was a part of the program from fall 2019 to spring 2020. Nemeck said she had a great experience with FETCH and enjoyed being able to handle dogs around campus.

“We were trained to keep the dogs in kennels during the night, work or school,” Nemeck said. “We would take the dogs to our classes so long as they weren’t labs.”

The FETCH Program allows students who are interested in working with animals in their careers the opportunity to learn more about the service animal industry and gain hands-on experience, Feist said.

Students can join the FETCH program by applying online through the LLC website. Applicants can join at the beginning of the fall semester, though rare exceptions are made for students who join at the beginning of the spring semester, Feist said.

“I would highly recommend students join the FETCH program,” Wood said. “It is a great way to learn about training service animals, and these dogs literally change people’s lives in the best ways.”

The Faculty Consultative Committee reviewed a mental health Quality Initiative by Provost Rachel Croson on Nov. 17 to support students struggling with mental health in the classroom.

The University plans to implement recommended practices that support student mental health and increase instructors’ awareness in an academic environment. An assessment framework will be developed over the next three years to guide, document and analyze changes in student mental health.

The Quality Initiative is a component of the Higher Learning Commission and upholds the University’s commitment to ensure all students fully receive the benefits of their educational experience. It aims to transform learning environments by implementing three objectives, which include professional development, recommended practices and assessment framework.

Through professional development, all faculty and instructors are required to complete training on accommodation basics, aspects of Universal Design for Learning and teaching with flexibility.

“The University’s goal is to continually improve learning environments for students,” Croson said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

The three-year proposal is part of a 10-year review cycle, which includes an assessment in 2025 to decide if the University’s interventions have been effective and should be continued, or if changes need to be made.

“Our shared goal is to give instructors the tools that they need to design their courses in a way that reduces stress and promotes mental health,” Croson said.

The Quality Initiative is coordinated by the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost in partnership with the provost’s executive team.

In 2020, 39% of undergraduate students had generalized anxiety disorder, while 35% struggled with major depressive disorder.

Alex Goers, a second-year student, said their struggle with depression worsened when they came to campus.

“It’s a big campus, it’s a big school, there’s a lot happening and it’s very easy to feel lonely,” Goers said.

Due to their depression, Goers dropped out of two classes because they could not keep up with the content and struggled to interact with professors.

“I feel there’s a little bit of a disconnect between mental health resources and the professors at the school,” Goers said. “I feel like [professors] encourage students to seek mental health, but at the same time, if you are going through something, maybe the professor will accommodate, maybe the professor won’t, it just depends.”

A student who wishes to stay anonymous, for reasons pertaining to sexual misconduct, had difficulties with the chemistry department.

The alleged sexual misconduct occurred before the anonymous student had exams and as a result, requested extensions through the Aurora Center, a center designed to help students who’ve experienced sexual misconduct.

“Most of my professors were able to extend the deadline,” the anonymous student said. “But the chemistry department, they were not very accommodating at all.”

The student said the chemistry department did not allow extensions of their exams, instead, professors used the student’s average score from previous exams to replace the missed exam.

“That was really frustrating,” the anonymous student said. “Because I know I definitely could have done better on that exam.”

Educators play a key role in developing the context in which students can manage stressors related to learning, Croson said.

Learning environments, as well as instructor interactions with students, can either support student mental health or cause unnecessary student stress.

“We want to make sure that the course environment and instructor interactions with students result in reduced stress and better mental health,” Croson said.

The Quality Initiative is not the only way students can access support for mental health at the University. Student Counseling Services (SCS) and Boynton Mental Health (BMH) provide short-term mental health services for students, including initial consultations to assess needs and make recommendations for care, group or individual counseling and therapy, and case management services.

Students can access these services through online appointments, walk-ins or by calling Boynton.

“Mental health providers at Student Counseling Services and Boynton Mental Health are committed to creating a safe, welcoming, and supportive environment for students seeking care,” Matthew Hanson, interim director of Boynton Health mental clinic, and Michelle Bettin, interim director of student counseling services, said in an email to the Daily.

Grace Heimdahl, a fourth-year student, has been receiving therapy through BMH for generalized anxiety since her freshman year.

Though it was difficult at first to start therapy, Heimdahl said she has had a great experience with Boynton.

“I have an excellent therapist,” Heimdahl said. “In terms of medication, Boynton is extremely helpful and convenient.”

Students can access personalized mental health support at BMH and SCS. The goal of the Initiative is to transform learning environments so students experience less stress and professors are better equipped to handle students’ mental health challenges.

The Initiative will help the University continue to meet its core mission of education and access, ensuring that all students succeed, Croson said.