What are the typical stresses in a student’s career?
Even the best-adjusted and best-prepared student faces a series of potentially stressful events and conditions during the course of a collegiate career. Fortunately, most young people of college age are amazingly adaptable and resilient, and they normally respond to such occasions quite effectively, even though they can seem extremely upset, confused, or frustrated at first. Whether the student sees such situations as a normal part of everyday life, and as opportunities for personal growth, depends to some degree on the reaction of his or her parents. A student whose parents remain calm, resist the common temptation to demand a certain course of action, remain supportive even through necessary times of indecision or distress and respect their son’s or daughter’s developing judgment and integrity is likely to profit most from a residential college experience.
The freshman year, though a time of much excitement and eagerness, generally seems beset with stressful encounters. Adjusting to a new roommate, socializing with more freedom than one is accustomed to, establishing independent relationships with faculty and staff members, negotiating fraternity or sorority rush, learning to live and work alongside students of a different culture or lifestyle, and responding to heavier academic demands are important developmental tasks for the college student. Sometimes freshmen attach inflated significance to the outcomes of such challenges. A first-year student may become disconsolate over not receiving a bid from a particular fraternity or sorority. Or a student may be inordinately agitated over a roommate whose personal habits are not readily accommodated to his or her own. Regarding academic work, many freshmen feel acute pressure to meet high standards of performance and become discouraged or frustrated by a single poor test score or paper grade. For some, this appears to be the result of coming from a secondary school experience where high grades were earned with relatively little effort to an environment demanding strenuous effort to achieve similar results.
Stresses in the upperclass years typically center on such tasks as moving toward a deliberate career plan, declaring a major, gaining recognition in extracurricular pursuits, finding opportunities for summer employment, and maintaining satisfying personal relationships — in addition, of course, to sustaining an acceptable academic record. Parents should be assured that the college provides ample resources to help students through such stressful, though usually transitory, situations.
What about alcohol and illegal drugs?
Under state law and University policy, it is unlawful for any person under the age of 21 to buy, possess, transport, or consume alcoholic beverages and it is unlawful for a person over 21 to furnish alcoholic beverages for anyone under 21. Where appropriate, alcoholic beverages may be consumed in a non-abusive manner by individuals of legal age, and social hosts may sponsor events at which alcoholic beverages are permitted with the understanding that hosts bear the responsibility for abiding by state laws, for establishing reasonable guidelines for the behavior of their guests, and for taking measures to discourage alcohol abuse at their social functions. Any student who violates state law or the University’s alcohol policies is subject both to the jurisdiction of local law enforcement officials and the discipline system of the University. The University cannot, however, control all aspects of its students’ lives, nor does it wish to do so. Learning to live responsibly in an atmosphere of freedom is an important part of becoming an adult. Knowing that students, whether under the legal age or not, find it possible to drink alcoholic beverages in certain situations, Sewanee encourages moderation and seeks to educate its students to make informed choices where alcohol is involved. Moreover, the University actively seeks to prevent students from driving when under the influence of alcohol.
Specific rules and sanctions designed to accomplish these objectives and a full statement of the policy on alcohol use may be found on the web College Catalog. These materials contain the official University policy governing alcohol use and abuse.
The University also recognizes the enormous health hazards associated with the use of illegal drugs. In addition to this basic concern for the well-being of students, it is important to note that the college seeks to promote a vigorous intellectual community and a community that encourages growth into responsible citizenship. Since the presence and use of illegal drugs stand in direct contradiction to these basic concerns for our students, the college seeks, through educational efforts, stern policies, and strict rule enforcement, to discourage the presence of these substances on campus. The rules and sanctions associated with illegal drug use may be found in the College Catalog.
