Leaders of Syracuse University’s Student Association have been regularly meeting with a high-ranking administrator to advocate for hiring more mental health counselors at the university.

President James Franco and Vice President Angie Pati, in interviews with The Daily Orange, said they are urging SU to use some of the $100 million Invest Syracuse pledge for “health and wellness” initiatives this spring, or next fall, as they prepare for the end of their college careers.

Those initiatives include a proposed “peer listening service” and ideas targeted at improving student living conditions on campus, such as the construction of a movie theater, Franco said.

During meetings with M. Dolan Evanovich, the university’s senior vice president for enrollment and the student experience, Franco and Pati both said they have all discussed Invest Syracuse.

“That commitment … would be in place for the next academic year, in the fall,” Franco said of the hiring of more mental health counselors. “Anywhere we can help.”

The president also credited Joyce LaLonde, SA’s vice president from the 60th legislative session last spring, for commissioning a mental health report that detailed resources at SU. The report, published last year by the Mental Health Action Committee, was written by students.

According to the report, SU had a one to 1,282 counselor to student ratio. In comparison, Cornell University has one counselor for every 830 students and Georgetown University has one counselor for every 1,086 students, according to the report.

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The committee compared national findings from the Center of Collegiate Mental Health with data from SU. The committee also analyzed data from SU’s counseling center as well as the university’s climate assessment survey.

“You can’t argue with the statistics,” Franco said. “We do need more counselors. If you think of peer-to-peer institutions … from counselor to student ratio, we’re one of the lowest in our peer institutions.”

The president added that SA leaders have advocated for the establishment of a peer listening service. Pati has previously said the service would be student-run, but supervised by a social worker or a member of counseling services, acting as a supplement to the university’s Counseling Center.

University officials have “grasped” the issue, Franco said. He added he wants to push forward recommendations made in LaLonde’s report, and establishing a peer listening service was one of those recommendations.

Franco said SA leaders have discussed the possibility of having other initiatives funded by Invest Syracuse that could improve the “student experience.”

“Current students are like, ‘Well, what about me?’ Especially students that start to pay the tuition premium, that new class next year,” Franco said. “You start to say, ‘I’m paying this new premium, if I’m a freshman, what’s different?’”

The Euclid Shuttle, a pilot project funded by Invest Syracuse, is an example of a tangible improvement to student life, Franco said.

As part of Invest Syracuse, first-year and transfer students in the 2018-2019 academic year will be charged an extra $3,300 tuition premium. The Class of 2022 will have to pay more than $13,000 in tuition costs, if it takes them four years to graduate.

In a meeting with Chancellor Kent Syverud on Monday, Franco said the administrator mentioned the possible construction of a campus movie theater with Invest Syracuse funds as a way to improve student life. Franco said other major colleges such as the University of Louisville have movie theaters.

Published on January 24, 2018 at 9:15 pm

Contact Sam: sfogozal@syr.edu | @SamOgozalek