StuCo Addresses Mental Health

Student Council (StuCo) invited Principal MacFarlane to join the Council’s weekly meeting this past Tuesday. During the meeting, the Council held a Q&A session with MacFarlane and addressed a number of topics on this week’s agenda, including elections for the prep class’s representatives.

In the Q&A session, students asked MacFarlane about various issues that have been debated by council members—and the broader student population. One of the issues council members focused on was mental health of the student population.

Upper and council member Abijay Saran first brought up the issue of mental health when he asked MacFarlane about where the administration stood in terms of solidifying and reforming policies regarding mental health at Exeter. MacFarlane responded that although she has yet to read the reports on mental health, mental health certainly is an issue she and the administration will address. MacFarlane added that she will strive to make Exeter a less stressful environment while upholding the academic values of the Academy.

“I think that from a student perspective we need to focus on creating a culture that’s more accepting of mental health.”

StuCo President and senior Rebecca Ju, who emphasized the need to focus on mental health issues during her campaign, said MacFarlane’s plan to de-stress the school atmosphere without undermining the academic rigor was a “great idea.” However, Ju said that this may be more of a long term solution, and added that she hopes StuCo will focus mostly on creating avenues to assist students affected by them.

“I think her initiative [is] to teach us not only about school but also about how to relax,” Ju said.

“I also think that from a student perspective we need to focus on creating a culture that’s more accepting of mental health.”

Saran agreed that creating a more relaxed environment was important, but said that there are factors which the faculty or the administration cannot control such as pressure from the college admission process and peer competition that create a culture in which students inevitably experience stress.

He said that specific approaches, such as balancing major assignments between departments and handing out a manageable workload, will be the best pathways to meeting MacFarlane’s goal.

“I think the biggest problem [institutions such as Exeter] face is that it’s really hard to manage the emotions of other people, and it’s especially difficult because of the type of kids who come here,” Saran said.

StuCo Secretary and upper Joel Lotzkar agreed that there can never be a “stress free Exeter,” but emphasized that both students and teachers could benefit from “taking their feet off the gas pedal” at times. Lotzkar mentioned sleep, proper nutrition, less homework and more academic support as factors that could help collectively alleviate stress during the school year.

MacFarlane also pointed out to StuCo that problems of mental health are not unique to Exeter. Almost every college campus is trying to figure out how to deal with it as well, and no institution has a great grasp at the moment of how to fix these issues, she said.

Another topic that arose during the Q&A session was divestment at Exeter. A number of students asked MacFarlane to discuss the possibility of divestment with the trustees, and MacFarlane affrimed that she would in a future meeting. Although she also noted the complexities of divestment, MacFarlane emphasized that she, too, wants to find ways to make Exeter more sustainable and said that small efforts to improve the environment will also be imperative to make the Academy community more sustainable and eco-friendly.

StuCo Vice President and senior Jun Park said that while he also believes in the need for making Exeter more sustainable, StuCo should not take the lead in the effort.

“I think StuCo should not be taking over the role of other clubs on campus. There are things the Council can do specifically that no other club can do on campus—and that’s what we want to take up—but there are a lot of clubs on campus that are already talking about it.” Park said.

After the Q&A session, all of the StuCo committees reported their status. Elections Committee announced that the official prep representative candidates are preps Gillian Quinto, Ashley Lin, Cade Napier, Chim Tasie-Amadi, Mark Blekherman, Etienne Oshinowo, Miles Mikofsky, Maddie Moon, Isaac Choate and Jeremy Xu.

Public Relations Committee announced that Dean of Residential Life AJ Cosgrove will attend next week’s meeting along with other members of the administration to have a Q and A about Exeter’s visitation policy. StuCo encourages all students in and out of StuCo to attend the meeting.

Dining Hall Committee announced that the Phillips Exeter dining hall app is currently available on Amazon and will be available in the Apple Store shortly.