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ABSTRACT
Campus chaplains can provide essential support for students as they learn to navigate life in and through this pandemic. However, if chaplains are to successfully confront the oncoming mental health catastrophe on college campuses, theological educators must prepare and equip them to meet this moment. There are three primary tasks theological education must address in their formation of chaplains for higher education: (1) Chaplaincy concentrations and tracks must address the contextual needs for those entering higher education and must include a clear vision of their role as existential guides and public theologians. (2) Theological educators must critically examine the ways in which Christian hegemony and white supremacy continue to inform and shape the logic of theological education and work to dismantle barriers to access for diverse communities. (3) Theological schools must forge creative, interdisciplinary collaborations that leverage the research and best practices honed by scholars outside of theological education.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Rostain and Hibbs, “College Students (and their Parents) Face a Campus Mental Health ‘Epidemic’.”In May of 2019 the language of epidemic first began to appear in popular media following a podcast from Fresh Air that interviewed Dr. Anthony Rostain and B. Janet Hibbs on the publication of their book, The Stressed Years of Your Life: Helping Your Kids Survive and Thrive during Their College Years (St. Martin’s Press, 2020).
2 American College Health Association, 2015 and 2019 Annual Report, accessed September 26, 2020, https://www.acha.org/NCHA/ACHA-NCHA_Data/Publications_and_Reports/NCHA/Data/Reports_ACHA-NCHAIIc.aspx; Healthy Minds, “2018–2019 Data Report,” accessed September 26, 2020, https://healthymindsnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/HMS_national-2018-19.pdf. The recent rise in mental stress and illness on college campuses has been documented by several national associations including the American College Health Association through their annual National College Health Assessment tool. Between 2015 and 2019 reported anxiety increased from 23.7% to 27.8%; depression increased from 15.4% to 20.2%; and stress increased from 32.2% to 34.2%. This increase was also documented by Healthy Minds, a national mental health organization focused on college populations in their 2018–2019 annual report which revealed rates as high as 31% for anxiety and 36% for depression.
3 Cummins, “Annual Reports,” The Center for Collegiate Mental Health, accessed September 26, 2020, https://ccmh.psu.edu/annual-reports; LeViness et al., The Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors 2018 annual survey, accessed September 26, 2020, https://www.aucccd.org/public. Center for Collegiate Mental Health reports from 2009 to 2019 indicate a significant rise in the demand for mental health care and counseling on college campuses.
4 Anderson, Mental Health Needs Rise With Pandemic, September 11, 2020. Accessed October 31, 2020. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/09/11/students-great-need-mental-health-support-during-pandemic; Chirikov, et al., Undergraduate and Graduate Students’ Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic. SERU Consortium, University of California – Berkeley and University of Minnesota (2020). https://cshe.berkeley.edu/seru-covid-survey-reports; Czeisler et al., “Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic — United States, June 24–30, Citation2020.”; Huckins et al., “Mental Health and Behavior During the Early Phases of the COVID-19 Pandemic:. In September, Inside Higher Ed reported on the emerging research related to the impact of COVID-19 on college mental health.
5 Active Minds, COVID Impact on College Student Mental Health, report, April 2020. Accessed September 26, 2020. https://www.activeminds.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Student-Survey-Infographic.pdf
6 Astinet al., Cultivating the Spirit.
7 van Stee et al., “What Effect Do Chaplains Have on Students? A Pilot Study from a Residential Liberal Arts College.” Manuscript submitted for publication. The pilot survey was administered in Fall 2018. The response rate was 40% (N = 1043). The questions focused on religion/spirituality, participation in chaplaincy programs, and student wellbeing.
8 Walker and Dixon, “Spirituality and Academic Performance among African American College Students”; Morgan Consoli et al., “Predictors of Resilience and Thriving Among Latina/o Undergraduate Students.”
9 van Stee, “What Effect Do Chaplains Have on Students?”
10 Studies over the course of the past year revealed Black, Latinx, Asian, Asian American, and Native American communities bear a greater mental health burden. See for example the following surveys and reports: Commonwealth Fund, Beyond the Case Count: The Wide-Ranging Disparities of COVID-19 in the United States, report, September 2020. Accessed February 26, 2021, https://www.commonwealthfund.org/sites/default/files/2020-09/Getachew_beyond_case_count_COVID_disparities_sb_v2.pdf; Ibrahimi et al., “COVID-19 Devastation of African American Families.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7520885/; Mental Health America, COVID 19 and Mental Health: A Growing Crisis, report, February 2021. Accessed February 26, 2021, https://mhanational.org/sites/default/files/Spotlight%202021%20-%20COVID-19%20and%20Mental%20Health.pdf; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Double Jeopardy: COVID-19 and Behavioral Health Disparities for Black and Latino Communities in the U.S., report, April 2020, Accessed February 21, 2021, https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/covid19-behavioral-health-disparities-black-latino-communities.pdf
11 Smanik, “Research Brief: 2015 NACUC Membership Survey; Report to the NACUC Board.” A 2015 survey of religious professionals showed white, Protestant professionals significantly outnumber chaplains from other racial, ethnic, and religious traditions More than 95% of chaplains identified as white and 90% of chaplains identified as Christian. Of those who identified as Christian, 95.1% identified as Protestant.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
T. L. Steinwert
Tiffany Steinwert, Ph.D. became Dean for Religious Life at Stanford University in February of 2019. She previously served as Dean of Hendricks Chapel at Syracuse University and Dean for Religious and Spiritual Life at Wellesley College. Steinwert brings to her work her expertise as an ordained clergywoman, university administrator, and a leader in spiritual life in higher education. At Stanford, Steinwert nurtures religious, spiritual, moral, and ethical education for students, staff, and faculty. She aims to build relationships across difference, cultivate spiritual wellness, and encourage the many communities with whom she works to ask life’s most pressing question: Who are you and who do you seek to become for the sake of the world? Trained as a practical theologian, her scholarly work explores emerging pedagogies for inter-religious education, chaplaincy in higher education, and contemplative studies.