The Case Western Reserve University Undergraduate Student Government held their Open General Assembly this past Tuesday, Feb. 24 in Thwing Atrium. The assembly opened with comments from Vice President of Student Affairs Travis Apgar and Interim Executive Director and Senior Director of Operations of University Health and Counseling Services Melissa Borowski.
Apgar emphasized the importance of Student Affairs, highlighting the 23 departments and offices in the division and the mantra it operates by: “You’re welcome here. You belong here. You’re supported here, and you’ve got this.”
He then discussed the reorganization of the division, spotlighting a new project called Student and Family Connections, meant to “bring together a lot of those offices that work with student organizations [to] ensure that every student who comes [to CWRU] has a meaningful connection.” In turn students would ideally feel like they are part of a community, “do[ing] much better academically [and] personally [at and beyond CWRU].” Apgar also wants to get families more involved in the education of their students by keeping them informed about deadlines, in addition to first and second-year processes.
Another key topic was mental health and the university’s efforts to help support students’ well-being.
“We’re actually in the process right now of hiring two senior-level leaders for University Health and Counseling. Both of them will be assistant vice presidents reporting to me,” Apgar said. “One will focus on [the] physical health side of things, the other will focus on the mental health side of things.”
Alongside mental health support, Apgar emphasized the various academic support resources for students such as tutoring and group study sessions, and for crisis support he pointed to the Public Safety Dispatch Center and the Office of Public Safety as resources. “We also have things like our student emergency fund,” Apgar said. “So if there’s a financial crisis and you need some money to get by, we have a fund available for that.”
Borowski made a short speech after Apgar, covering the basics of University Health and Counseling Services and mentioning that the department is “available to all students, as long as [they are] enrolled with at least one credit hour.” She said that the health insurance a student has doesn’t matter as they offer services at no cost to students. For mental health concerns, students also have access to the university’s TimelyCare partnership.
“If you’re enrolled in spring and enrolled in fall, you can utilize TimelyCare over the summer. In the United States, if you’re an international student and you go home to an international country, as long as you have the app downloaded, you can use the call panel service so you can still access in-the-moment mental health support.”
Similarly to the Student Emergency Fund, CWRU also offers the Student Mental Health Fund to help students cover costs of any mental health care they have, even outside of emergencies.
During the event, there was a discussion about where information about events like Wellness Wednesdays should be posted, and Borowski took suggestions from participants. Some attendees suggested posting events on an electronic board in Sears think[box], and another mentioned the practicality of social media. Another participant highlighted the oversaturation of CampusGroups, stating that it makes it difficult to find events unless someone knows exactly what they are looking for.
There is a plethora of resources available to students, and events like these are meant to provide transparency and bridge the gap between students and the administration.