Dear Campus Community,
We hear you and see you. Like many other schools, we are dealing with a national mental health crisis, and that crisis is very real and present for us here on the Colorado College campus. We also recognize that the Block Plan can create some different stressors on our students than those faced by students at semester schools.
As the senior leadership team of Colorado College, we are having extended discussions about mental health on campus. We are listening to you and considering the best approaches we can take for substantive and sustainable change that will empower our campus community members, and help create an environment where students, staff, and faculty can thrive.
We appreciate the thoughtful letters received recently from students, faculty, and Staff Council pointing out critical needs, specific areas for improvement, and ways CC can better support mental health. The constructive requests have been
collected into one document so appropriate Cabinet members can address needs and priorities. We aim to have a response to the community and specific groups at the beginning of Block 3. In the meantime, we want to communicate clearly that we are committed to raising our focus on mental health on campus to the highest level.
Below are some of the actions we are taking.
Actions specific to the recent student demand letter:
- We are working with faculty to develop guidance that includes absence for mental health as a part of the attendance and excused absences policy.
- We are in the development stages of an anonymous reporting resource for a wide range of campus concerns that will launch in early spring. We will begin communications about the tool in December.
- We are focused on increasing the diversity of our Counseling Center staff in terms of identity, background, and experience. Our eight counselors include five people of color, two bilingual staff (Spanish and Mandarin Chinese), two who have a focus on working with LGBTQIA+ populations, four psychologists, two Licensed Clinical Social Workers, and two Licensed Professional Counselors. Additionally, we have a psychiatrist and a nurse practitioner who provide medication management.
- We are working directly with student facilitators so that multiple existing and new peer-to-peer support services can be available to students.
- We have taken several steps to address the rapidly changing compensation needs of our employees. Earlier this year, we increased salaries by 2.5% for staff in bands 1-6 and 2% for staff in bands above 6 as part of our annual review process. In June of this year, we also provided a one-time payment to staff hired before Jan. 1, 2022 to recognize and acknowledge their invaluable commitment to CC and we raised the campus minimum wage to $17.00/hour (and $15.00/hour for occasional workers).
Actions that will evolve over time:
- We are creating a taskforce on mental health that will include not just students, faculty, and staff, but also parents, alumni, and outside experts who have deep experience in this area.
- We will conduct an external review of our mental health and wellness structures, programs, services, and practices, and explore models to provide wellness resources and promote healthy life skills and habits to our entire CC community.
- We are starting discussions with the Colorado Department of Higher Education on the work we need to do to earn a “Healthy Minds” designation, which is awarded after a comprehensive review of programs and practices to address mental health across campus.
- Through increased funding, some from CCSGA, we are exploring adding additional counselors who will be available to students, staff, and faculty for free.
- We will enhance our free trainings on campus for emergency assistance training, applied suicide intervention skills, and bereavement informational meetings.
- A team from CC will visit Denison University to learn about its approach to building resiliency and creating healthy campus environments. Denison won an Active Minds, Healthy Campus award for innovation in prioritizing and promoting the health and well-being of its students.
- We are examining ways to improve and make our communication protocols more transparent, including communicating about our mental health commitment and work, and using trigger warnings for sensitive communications.
- We are partnering with local healthcare providers such as Children’s Hospital and Cottonwood Creek Wellness Center to expand resources and look at proactive ways to address mental health needs.
- CC is joining the Suicide Prevention Collaborative of El Paso County.
We are committed to prioritizing the mental health of our campus community at Colorado College. Only when all our students, staff, and faculty can learn, work, and live in an environment that fosters mental wellness can we provide students with outstanding liberal arts education experiences, and the skills and habits to live healthy lives.
Thank you for caring for our CC community and helping us do better.
Sincerely,
L. Song Richardson
President
The President’s Cabinet:
Pedro de Araujo
Vice President and Dean of the College
Professor of Economics
Emily Chan
Vice President and Dean of the Faculty
Professor of Psychology
Rochelle Dickey
Dean of Students, Vice President for Student Life
Mike Edmonds
Senior Vice President
Mary Ann Graffeo
Vice President for Advancement
Katharina Groves
Interim Co-Vice President, Information Technology
Director, ITS Applications and Security
Mark Hatch
Vice President for Enrollment
Lesley Irvine
Vice President and Director of Athletics
Robert Moore
Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer
Ryan Simmons
Vice President for People and Workplace Culture
Manya Whitaker
Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff
Tulio Wolford
Interim Co-Vice President, Information Technology
Director, ITS Technology Solution Services
Todd Woodward
Vice President of Strategic Communications and Marketing
