To the Editor:
Dr. Elizabeth Chalecki, in a recent letter, offers a response to the brave students who shared their struggles with mental health in “‘I Didn’t Know How to Ask for Help’: Stories of Students With Anxiety” (The Chronicle, February 4). In the letter, Dr. Chelecki seemingly longs for the halcyon days of her undergraduate career, when professors “didn’t give a hoot about [their students’] mental health.” If students think they’re treated unfairly in the university, they are in for a rude awakening when they enter the “real world.” The insinuation: the academy should strive to reproduce the ableist principles of neoliberalism and the market. She concludes with a vague hope that students “deal with” their mental health. No description is offered of what it means to deal with it. Dr. Chalecki does offer the caveat that she “[doesn’t] know what brings on anxiety.” While I share this ignorance, I do know that the mentality she extols only serves to amplify the issue.
Dr. Chelecki’s comments cannot be dismissed as innocuous. Study after study affirms that mental health is an epidemic in higher education, that far too many students don’t seek help, that stigma leads to self-harm and suicide. The stiff upper lip policy has characterized the academy for far too long, and it has caused untold, unnecessary suffering.
Perhaps Dr. Chelecki is correct in characterizing the “real world” as an inflexible, unforgiving environment. Perhaps this nebulous real world won’t tolerate mental illness. But perhaps instead of reproducing these conditions within the academy, we can work to counter them, to subvert their influence. Perhaps, through deliberate, concerted efforts, the university can become an enclave of inclusiveness, a rare space of compassion, kindness, and warmth. Perhaps these spaces will be contagious.
Patrick Flynn
Villanova University
Villanova, Pa.
