The cheers of our new CAS students as they leaped to their feet at Matriculation were still ringing in my ears when I heard the tragic news that we had lost one of them in a train accident on the first day of classes. My thoughts are with his family, friends, and classmates as they cope with their loss. As I mourn this tragedy, I am also thinking of the enormous transition and transformation that all our students undergo in this period of their lives as they leave home and–often for the first time–have to make many daily decisions that can have life-changing consequences. The transition to college life, while rarely so tragic, is inevitably fraught with the anxiety of expectations and transformational change. Our students’ decision to get a liberal education in the arts and sciences can play a very positive role in helping them form a courageous and authentic identity, but it will also challenge them, and they deserve our help and guidance.
The freshman class is outstanding by any measure, and the strongest class in the history of BU. On average, they come from the top 10% of their high school class, where they earned a 3.7 GPA and a 1977 on the SAT (up an amazing 28 points over last year). They come from 49 US states (we really need to do better in North Dakota) and 74 countries. Twenty-four percent of this year’s class is international, 33% are minority students, and 16% are first-generation college students. Another 16% come from a family of BU graduates (something I have in common with them). This eager, talented, diverse class is a huge asset for our intellectual community, and a privilege to teach in the classroom.
High-achieving students, and especially students whose families have sent them a long ways, loaded up with hopes and expectations, are not immune from depression and anxiety. Furthermore, many of our students do not know what they want to study (25% come in “undeclared”), let alone what they want to do with their lives. While a liberal education should encourage exploration of interests and abilities across a wide range of knowledge domains and disciplines, our students often put a lot of pressure on themselves to hurry up and choose a major and find a career. As teachers and advisors, we can guide them by helping them to purposefully and intentionally sample our rich menu of choices in CAS while gaining skills that will serve them well throughout their lives.
As valuable as we believe our mission is, we can’t assume that our incoming students even know what “arts & sciences” means at this point. This first semester is our opportunity to introduce them not just to our own disciplines but also to the concept of a liberal arts education. The very subjects students will be studying in CAS can help them navigate this time of transition and new beginnings in their lives. Studying liberal arts and sciences is ultimately about liberation and developing skills for critical engagement with their community and the world. Our students learn empathy and to appreciate aesthetic values through their study of literature, history, and cultural studies. They learn to think critically about the social world, to question the assumptions they bring from their own communities and families, and to free themselves to learn new ideas and ways of being. They learn to appreciate different value systems but also to interrogate them. They come to a deeper understanding of nature and science, perhaps to question beliefs held near and dear based on an honest confrontation with empirical evidence.
The faculty and staff in CAS are some of the most important role models and authority figures in our students’ lives. Our roles as teachers, advisors, and mentors are collectively to guide with empathy and wisdom, and to recognize and reach out to the struggling student. For faculty in the classroom, I hope you will keep in mind that you are instilling the broader values of a liberal education at the same time as you are teaching them about your disciplinary perspectives and subject matter. And, in all our deliberation and actions, we need to practice and reinforce those skills and values: empathy and appreciation of different values, critical engagement, inclusion and diversity of thought and background, and evidence-based reasoning. We must not only teach, but also, as individuals and as a community, model these values and skills.
Many of our students will soon be struggling – such struggle is a natural consequence of transition, challenge, and transformation. They are facing new ideas and skills that are difficult to master, and most will experience some degree of academic failure (even if temporary) or significant challenge. They will be questioning their self-identities (religious, sexual, political, social), and some will experience homesickness. Of course, many of them will face difficulties that are not intrinsic to their liberal arts and sciences educational experience, but are a normal part of human life: illness, family emergencies, disasters in their home communities. Please exercise empathy and kindness to help our newest community members through these times. A personal connection from a respected authority figure can make all the difference in their lives. And making those connections is part of the privilege we have of teaching and mentoring students in this pivotal life stage.
Finally, “if you see something, say something.” If things seem seriously wrong, if you have a serious concern about a student’s safety, do not hesitate to take immediate action by calling the BUPD. Short of such an immediate emergency, though, you can always refer students to the CAS Academic Advising office as a one-stop shop that can address many student questions and concerns and can refer them to specialized help of all kinds.
Thank you for your mentoring of our students and the care and empathy you extend to our most vulnerable.