Opinion: NYU Needs More Quiet Spaces For Students
At prestigious universities, student mental health concerns abound. The university must provide students with more quiet spaces to combat this.
(Yuna Baek via Washington Square News)
by Molly Koch
This story was originally published on New York University’s Washington Square News.
At each Presidential Welcome and Reality Show, there is an interesting approach to mental health awareness. In song, students were told the different resources available from wellness workshops to short and long-term counseling options. I’d be surprised if you didn’t walk away knowing the Wellness Exchange’s phone number by heart.
But that welcome was months ago, and the physical and mental health support at NYU seems to be a lot of empty promises, and not a lot of actual support. If NYU wants to improve its mental health awareness and support, it should provide more quiet spaces for students across campus.
NYU has made great effort in creating study spaces for students — as we have Bobst Library study rooms, quiet lounges, reservable spaces in the Kimmel Center for University Life and study spaces across campus. If you’re lucky, you could get your alone time in Tisch Hall’s third-floor lounge or the Silver Center’s second-floor lounge, but those spots are hardly ever quiet. While these rooms are great for focusing on work, a study room that is often fully booked a week in advance doesn’t cut it. Study spaces bring on their own stresses, and your limited hours of quiet shouldn’t be kept to little rooms with a desk. NYU needs to create more dedicated spaces for students to relax in silence.
The reason why we specifically need quiet spaces — not just study spaces — is for the sake of student mental health. Students become increasingly burnt out the further we get into the semester, and a little peace and quiet might alleviate that.
According to the Healthy Minds Study, which compiled information from college campuses across the country, more than 60% of college students surveyed during the 2020-21 academic year matched the criteria for at least one mental health issue. Another national study showed that nearly three-quarters of students reported moderate to severe psychological anguish.
Read the rest of the story at Washington Square News.