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That's the focus tonight of# 
our series Rethinking 
College##

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and our reporting on Early 
Warnings:# 
America's Youth Mental Health

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We 
start with Yale University, 
which earlier# 
this year settled a lawsuit 
following the death##

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of a student by suicide in 
2021. According to the# 
agreement, the university will 
now allow students##

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more flexibility to take 
lighter course loads and# 
to keep their health care while 
on medical leave.

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Yale agreed to the policy after 
a group# 
of alumni and students sued the 
school,##

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arguing the policies 
discriminated against# 
students with mental health 
issues.

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Willow Sylvester is a Yale 
graduate# 
who was part of that lawsuit. 
She##

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explained what things were# 
like before the settlement.

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WILLOW SYLVESTER, Former 
Student, Yale# 
University: When I started at 
Yale

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I had to stop seeing my

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Fa 
st-forward to my senior year. 
I was# 
a first-year counselor. I was 
working##

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directly with first-year 
students. And# 
almost every single one 
reported these##

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same feelings of feeling 
isolated on campus.# 
Mental Health Justice at Yale 
was founded in##

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the immediate aftermath of 
Rachael# 
Shaw-Rosenbaum's passing by 
suicide.

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She was a first-year student. 
The# 
resources that she lacked and 
the##

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policies that made her feel 
like she didn't# 
have the help that she needed 
were very,##

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very clear. She had spoken 
publicly about feeling# 
this need to move down to a 
part-time course loa

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and if she could just move# 
down to part-time courses,##

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she would be able to get on top 
of her mental# 
health,

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Another thing which was also 
related to why# 
Rachael wanted to go part-time 
is maintaining##

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access to Yale's health 
insurance when you're# 
on leave or withdrawal. If she 
had gone home##

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and taken a leave for her 
mental health, she# 
would lose access to her Yale 
health resources##

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and also her Yale mental health 
resources while# 
she was home. And she knew that 
she needed those.

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Both of those, as a result of 
the settlement,##

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are now something that students 
ca

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their Yale health insurance and 
students# 
can go down to a part-time 
cour

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We absolutely should not have 
had to# 
lose a life to get these 
changes rolling.

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GEOFF BENNETT: Last year, North 
Carolina# 
State University saw 14 student 
deaths,##

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including seven by suicide, 
leading to concern# 
and criticism about the level 
of student support.

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In a statement to the 
"NewsHour," North# 
Carolina State said it has 
expanded##

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mental health resources and 
access both on# 
campus and to the broader 
school community.##

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That includes nearly 30 more 
counselors# 
and clinical positions in 
recent years,##

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additional wellness days, 
greater peer# 
support, and new telehealth 
options.

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Ireland White is a student who 
started# 
a mental health support group 
called the##

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Self Love Club and wants to see 
even more changes.

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IRELAND WHITE, Student, North 
Carolina# 
State University: I started the 
club##

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in January of this year 
because# 
of the rec

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I thought one of the easiest 
ways I could# 
give back to my community was 
to start a##

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club. We're just trying to 
build a community of# 
people who want to focus on 
themselves and try##

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to do something as a collective 
and create# 
a safe space for people on 
campus to talk.

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There's a lot of anxiety with 
students today# 
of not being cool enough, not 
fitting in,##

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not belonging. I also think 
that# 
schoolwork and just the amount 
of##

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pressure there is for deadlines 
in# 
college really contributes to 
this##

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feeling of anxiety. Not only 
are you missing# 
out socially. You're missing 
out academically.

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And then there's also who's 
doing the best in# 
the class and this kind of 
competitive aspect##

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that you don't even realize 
takes a toll on how# 
you feel about yourself and 
your self-esteem.##

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It was really strange to just 
get an e-mail# 
saying, like, all these 
students had passed away,##

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instead of having a big 
community# 
meeting or a community 
gathering,##

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where we could actually discuss 
about how we# 
can go about this and how 
people are feeling.

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They just kind of introduced 
the student mental# 
health task force and kind of 
called it a day.##

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Doubling the amount of 
counselors does not# 
translate to people are getting 
more help.##

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No matter what you're doing on 
any day# 
of the week, State has an event 
that's##

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going on right now that you 
could just# 
go to later tonight or in the 
morning.

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There's always something going 
on. But there's an##

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absence of people really 
talking about# 
mental health and how it 
affects them.

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GEOFF BENNETT: Let's hear more# 
about what schools may need to 
do.

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Dr. Jessi Gold is assistant 
professor of# 
psychi

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Dr. Gold, what's the main thing 
you hear from the##

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students you work with in 
terms# 
of what they'r

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DR. JESSI GOLD, Washington 
University in# 
St. Louis: I mean, college 
st

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always struggled. It

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But I see anxiety. I see 
depression.# 
College is also a time of 
exploration.##

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So we say substance use. We see 
trouble# 
with concentration. And then, 
obviously,##

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all of that's compounded by all 
of the changes# 
that have happened in the 
pandemic and then all##

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of the changes that continue to 
happen in# 
the world. So it's just been 
really h

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And college students feel 
things# 
and feel things really strongly.

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GEOFF BENNETT: Well, rates of 
anxiety, depression,##

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suicidal ideation on college 
campuses hav

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Is this a generational thing? I 
mean, to your# 
point, there's something about 
attending college##

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that is inherently stressful. 
That's always been# 
true. What's different about 
the current moment?

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DR. JESSI GOLD: I wish we could 
pinpoint# 
one thing and blame that one 
thing,##

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because I know people would 
love to blame things##

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social media and say it's just 
social# 
media

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And I don't think that's true. 
I think we# 
definitely can say that has to

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be 
cause we didn't have social 
media before.# 
And that affects our mental 
health. And we're##

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looking at news more often, 
more -- and the# 
information we're taking in is 
differen

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and the way that we're 
thinking# 
about things is different.

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But then there's also the way 
that# 
we are inter

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and socializing is also 
different,# 
and there's a lot of 
loneliness. And##

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that's contributing. I think 
that we talk# 
about mental health more. And, 
sometimes,

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that leads to overpathologizing 
meaning# 
that we're calling things 
depression and##

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anxiety with a big D and a big 
A, meaning# 
the diagnosis, as opposed to 
the symptom.

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So I think it's good that we 
talk about# 
it more, but it might mean that 
people##

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then associate with the actual 
diagnosis, as# 
opposed to just the symptoms.

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in 
this situation where it's 
hard to know,# 
is the person just struggling 
with the actual##

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feelings or are they actually 
struggling# 
something where they need to 
come see me?

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GEOFF BENNETT: So, what more 
can universities# 
and colleges do to address the 
academic pre

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the loneliness that students 
are feeling? Is this# 
a structural thing that 
colleges have to address?

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DR. JESSI GOLD: There's 
definitely# 
structural points to it.

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So we talk about, how is mental 
health# 
included in ever

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on in college campuses, right? 
So, things# 
leave policies, if someone's 
really struggling,

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how do we make sure that, when 
they leave,# 
they feel comfortable asking 
for help,##

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that they feel comfortable 
coming back# 
on campus, that they're able to 
do tha

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That's really important. 
There's mental health# 
in everything that we're doing. 
But

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how do students feel 
comfortable talking# 
to faculty to begin with, to 
know that##

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those faculty feel comfortable# 
even talking to those students?

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Because I see faculty too, and 
they don't --# 
they haven't had t

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They're not psychiatrists. And 
they're often# 
the first people that come to 
students. And##

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they're supposed to support 
them through# 
their mental health experiences 
as coaches,##

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as faculty members, as 
administrators. And they# 
need the support to be able to 
do that too.

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So how do we make it easier 
for# 
faculty to talk to students,##

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for students to feel 
comfortable talking# 
to faculty, for them

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so they get seen earlier, so 
then they come to# 
me and they can talk to each 
other ea

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GEOFF BENNETT: We have heard 
how# 
students say they want more 
transparency.

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School administrators obviously 
have to# 
abide by health privacy an

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laws. There might be concerns 
about# 
reputational damage to the 
colleges##

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and universities. Some 
administrators have a# 
concern that the more they talk 
about suicide,

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that that might in some ways 
encourage# 
or might lead to more deaths by 
suicide.

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How should university and 
college leaders,##

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how often should they talk 
about this# 
and ho

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DR. JESSI GOLD: So there's no 
evidence that the##

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more we talk about thing

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So, as a psychiatrist, we're 
encouraged to always# 
ask our patients about suicide.

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that we're going to make 
patients then think# 
about it. We don't implant 
those ideas. In fact,##

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we support people by asking 
about those# 
things. So it's important for 
college to##

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be a safe place to have those 
conversations# 
and for students to feel safe 
from the minute##

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they get on campus, to talk 
about mental# 
health from prevention to 
intervention.

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The only way you do that is to 
change the# 
culture of how we talk about 
these things.##

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And you can't be scared to talk 
about it.# 
And we can't be just super 
reactionar

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where the only campuses that 
are doing things are# 
the campuses where something 
really bad happens

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GEOFF BENNETT: The campuses 
that are# 
getting it right, what are they 
doing,##

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the schools that help students 
do# 
their best and feel th

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DR. JESSI GOLD: I wish I could# 
tell you there's one good 
example,##

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and that that's the one to# 
emulate across the country

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And I don't know that we have, 
like, a# 
pe

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because every college is 
probably a# 
little bit different. And so I 
think##

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colleges need to figure out 
exactly what their# 
population wants. So, instead

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co 
okie-cutter mold of what 
everybody wants# 
and should be doing, we need to 
do that.

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I think we need to have 
available# 
resources, of course, so 
that,##

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if people need care,they can 
get it. But that# 
can't be the

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can't just say the answer is 
more therapists,# 
because you could always have 
more therapists,##

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and people will always use more 
therapists,# 
but you will run out of that as 
a resource.

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So you have to start earlier 
with peer support,# 
with supporting faculty and 
staff and he

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students earlier, with helping 
students feel# 
comfortable talking to each 
other and noticing##

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signs and symptoms in 
themselves. That sort of# 
thing is really easy, and it's 
not th

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and can make pretty big changes 
to how we talk# 
to each other and how we make 
changes on campus.

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GEOFF BENNETT: Dr. Jessi Gold,# 
assistant professor of 
psychiatry##

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at the Washington University 
in# 
St. Louis, thanks for

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DR. JESSI GOLD: Thanks for 
having me.

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GEOF

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call or text the suicide and 
crisis hot line# 
at 988. You can also visit 
988lifeline.org.