UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 7, Page 7
October 17, 1991
Faculty referrals on the increase

     The number of faculty members referring students to the Center
for Counseling and Student Development(CCSD) has increased more
than 10-fold over the past several years, said John Bishop, center
director.
     During the 1984-85 academic year, the center received 21 calls
from faculty expressing concern about a student. In the last year,
there were 240.
     Bishop partly attributes this rise to the distribution of "A
Referral Guide for Faculty Members," which gives information about
CCSD. It also identifies signs to look for in troubled students and
tells how and when to refer a student to the center.
     Bishop said he feels the increase is possibly due to a rising
concern among faculty members about their students and a better
understanding of the complicated problems they face.
     "It reflects that faculty are concerned about students and are
seeking ways to help students that they may not have thought about
in the past," Bishop said.
     If a faculty member witnesses unusual behavior by a student or
reads a paper discussing ideas of suicide or depression, Bishop
said, they "want to know how to respond to it and how to suggest to
the student they might want to get some counseling." A private
consultation with the CCSD could help the faculty member on how to
approach this sensitive problem.
     Bishop stressed that although a faculty member may refer a
student to counseling, he or she will receive no further
information about the student from the center. "Faculty may refer
someone here, but once a student establishes a contact with us, all
information is confidential."
                                        - Sherry Rubin