The Tartan Online: Dean of Student Affairs Gina Casalegno, Vice Provost for Education Amy Burkert, and leaders in the student government hosted a Town Hall on Carnegie Mellon culture last Monday.
The meeting, held in Rangos 1 in the University Center, was highly attended — the auditorium was filled to capacity.
10 comments:
It is really obvious, mainly for me in the design production program that the level of stress is pretty high. Our "culture" consists of at least three assignments given to our class a week. Not to mention other homework and crew (and run crew after all that). The "happy mask" this article mentions is a weird concept because honestly, if someone is stressed in the studio, there is not much of a way to hide it, we pretty much just go crazy. I believe that it is how a person deals with the stress and is productive will make or break the college experience.
I am very glad to see that Carnegie Mellon is planing and hopefully enacting things to reduce the stress of the school. After reading the article posted in the Tartan I do think that stress is and extremely big part of our culture as a school. And it is because of its influence that we go out to relieve stress on Fridays and Saturdays or not go out on Fridays and Saturdays. I however don't completely blame the school for the amount of stress we have. we often stress ourselves out the most and the work is just part of it.
I don't disagree that there is a great deal of stress on campus and that it is a problem but for the design and production program its not like we can simply revaluate our schedules like the article suggests. Almost all of our courses are required and none of them are a light load. The only difference I see in the stress issue is that since most of our course work is enjoyable the work doesn't seem so stressful. At the same time I've had non school of drama friends look at my schedule and ask me how I'm not drowning in the work load. It's even scarier when you think about the fact that our "units" relegated to a course and the actual amount of work that course requires doesn't remotely match up. Basic design is a 6 unit course but there have been times that I've spent 14 hours in one week replicating a Monet piece out of paint chips and I know other's took longer to finish it. Or its the fact that if you go into 33 on a weekend at least half the class is bound to be there. Sometimes I wonder if there is a little too much on our plates and we just don't realize it because the work is enjoyable. I know I just listened to a video blog by adam savage talking about the importance of work ethic, and don't get me wrong, I love the fact that this school teaches us the importance of working hard even if the work is not always the most fun. I also understand that we are working harder then we will ever have to work so that way when we leave we will be fully prepared for the careers we are entering into. But there comes a point when the workload is just to high. I don't think I've really experienced mass amounts of stress this year (again, likely do to the fact that I love all the work we've been doing) But I do sometimes think that we all have a little too much going on. When someone is falling asleep in class or forgetting assignments because we are foregoing sleep to get all our assignments done on time I get a little worried.
I do agree with Jenni that the workload in the School of Drama is most likely a very different beast than that of other schools at CMU, but I also think that the professors realize this and are good at forcing us to prioritize and balance. Yes, the professors will keep pushing you, but also, almost all of my classes have included in the syllabus a provision for asking for extensions or handing work in early to be evaluated prior to grading. We can ask for an extension, but it has to be a certain amount of time before the deadline, which means that pre-planning and time management are absolutely necessary. I do think that if you went to any SOD professor if you were really drowning in work and just couldn't keep going, they would absolutely help you and sit down to try to come up with solutions for how to make everything manageable.
There is a huge culture here of "i've pulled 5 all-nighters in a row" and being proud of that that I do think is a problem that needs to be addressed. Many times, it can be addressed before that extreme is reached, but people don't want to ask and get help because there is pride in getting all of the work done. We need to learn a balance and how to prioritize better and at least in the SOD, I think that would go a long way to help.
I completely agree with Cat. I like the fact that there are classes that teach us about pre-planning and time management by giving us the options to have an extension. It takes a lot of the pressure and stress away. The meta skills class we had also helps. It taught us ways to be less stressed and more efficient.
I also agree with Cat about the all nighters and people being proud about that. Another problem is how competitive people are here. It does add pressure.
I think that the stress levels within this building are a completely different type than anywhere else on campus. When we're working on a show or a group project a majority of our stress comes from worrying about other people doing their part. And of course, because we've been trained to obey deadlines like there's a possible death sentence if we don't meet it, we always get the work done, but that comes at a huge cost. I agree with Cat and Dev, it's all about how we plan our time but sometimes when there are six classes in one day, a paper and a design project due the next and full night of crew or work study after 16 hours of crew/work study over the weekend, the options a student is faced with are, sleep and ask for an extension and get behind on projects, or get the work done and sleep later and at least then the only thing to catch up on is sleep. Naturally because of our constant fear of missing a deadline we choose to get the work done. There's also the incredible sense of competition that goes on within SOD that makes it even harder to relax. Of course no one wants to be mediocre or the "weak link" so of course we feel like we can never back down from an assignment or a challenge. If one person starts a project early we all instantly feel like we are behind. The stress we feel is definitely largely self-inflicted because we are always hard on ourselves. However i do believe that we have a lot of things to do during the day, and when a student feels like being in class is taking away their homework time, there's a problem.
This topic has been on the table since the editorial published by Chironis, leading to very interesting discussions and calls for action. I was not able to attend the Town Hall, but I do think that it was a huge step forward and it is encouraging to know that students' issues are being paid attention to. Clearly, just about everyone agrees that there is a problem with the university's culture, such as the five-all-nighters-in-a-row pride that Cat mentions. Now, the logical follow-up is to take action, and it appears that the university is determined to work on improving the situation. I think the idea of a caring@CM class is good, and it will be very interesting to see how that projects develops into a real solution.
When commenting on articles on the Green Page, I feel like I often say that the solution for X problem is to raise awareness. Well, it's nice to see that in our case, awareness was raised and change is now underway.
It is truly relieving to know that the university is aware of the stress they are creating. And their response is a great one. The stress level should not be reduced by lightening the workload, as that would be inefficient in the academic pursuit. Instead, it is necessary to reach out to the student body (as the school has done) and find out how we are dealing with the stress. Seminars on procrastination and time-management are offered year round and should be taken advantage of. It is essential that students are equipped to receive and handle the workload thrust upon them and it is the school's responsibility to provide every resource to aid in that journey. Bravo.
Having been here for over a year I definitely agree that the culture of stress is horrible. But I also think that if we as a student body could stop encouraging it, it wouldn't be nearly as much of a problem. Not that it would solve the problem entirely but it would certainly make a difference. Most of my friends brag about taking work loads they can't handle and I don't understand it. If its a problem then take less, or at least don't pretend you are okay with it. The people who put themselves under so much stress and then brag about it makes it seem okay for others to do the same. I also think that bad time management adds to this problem a lot. I have yet to feel stressed about work, or that I don't have time to finish it all. But other people with the same workload seem to be incredibly stressed out about it most of the time. Its clearly a problem that the university needs to deal with, but its also a problem that we should be helping with.
I'm amazed at all of the surveys that occur at CMU and all of these sessions that I never really know about. What I'd be even more interested in knowing is whether or not any students who may actually be having issues went to the session.
Also what really surprised me or bothered me about this article is that Chironis noted that some services provided by the university such as Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) can be effective, but are often crowded and understaffed. That is a plus and also a negative thing that they are crowded. Good that people are seeking help, bad that they are clearly many people who need counseling. That in itself says a lot.
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