Dean of the University Faculty William Fry notes that faculty are "very disturbed and concerned" about the recent student suicides. Here Fry shares some thoughts about these issues.

How have faculty responded to the recent student suicides?

There are many on the faculty who want to reach out and help students if they can. I have heard some really poignant stories from students and faculty when that has happened. There have been some disappointments on the part of students when that has not happened.

There is stress on students, and the faculty want to be part of the solution. Nobody wants the suicides; nobody wants the kinds of stress that those students are under. But we don't know at this point what that solution looks like.

How are faculty being supported in helping students in stress?

There are several mechanisms to assist faculty. Gannett Health Services counselors have been meeting with departments, and the discussions almost always extend beyond the allotted time because of intense interest. Faculty are consulting the "Notice and Respond" handbook on recognizing student stress, and many have referred students to their college counselors and to Gannett. Vice President for Student and Academic Services Susan Murphy and Janet Corson-Rikert, Gannett's executive director, will meet with the Faculty Senate next week. Additionally, faculty are reading the administration's various e-mail notices.

What options are the Faculty Senate considering?

There are likely to be many potential options, but none has yet been adopted. However, one possibility that the University Faculty will consider is to adjust the academic calendar. In that regard, one possibility is to reduce the time between the start of the spring semester and spring break. Now it's eight weeks without a break and almost the darkest time of year in Ithaca. A faculty committee will look at everything next year: the spacing and length of breaks, whether or not we have classes on federal holidays, when we start, when we end.

Other possibilities?

Some faculty think we should do away with evening exams and evening classes.

Are grading practices too tough?

I just responded to a parent who thinks that every course at Cornell is graded on a curve, which is not the case. Whether Cornell's grades are tougher than another school's, I don't know. But grade inflation [is] a significant issue.

There are a large number of classes at Cornell in which the vast majority of grades are A's. I saw one in which the median grade was A+. But there are clearly other large classes that do grade on the curve, and the median grade is not A+. I would like to raise the issue of what the pedagogical advantage is to having a very low average on a prelim. I think that's open for discussion.

Why is the faculty voting on a resolution May 12 that would enable them to require advisees to meet with them face-to-face?

One of the resonating comments at the last [Faculty Senate] meeting was that they couldn't compel their students to come see them physically.

How has student mental health changed in recent decades?

Last semester I had more students who I thought were under stress than I had ever seen before [and] students [indicating] that others were in tough shape. Some students who did poorly on exams clearly had no experience with that; they were upset by that. And this was in a class in which the median was ... in the range of a B+. There was one student who was not taking notes in class, who wasn't able to make assignments on time. I did reach out to that student and to others and gave extensions on assignments and exams. I hope that helped.

Is it possible to create a more supportive environment without compromising academic rigor?

I don't think the two are mutually exclusive at all. ... I have to think that it's not just the climate at Cornell that is causing students stress. I think it's the U.S. and world economic situation, that things are less certain, less optimistic, than they were when I graduated from college. It's a really different time. Three years ago, students could have any job they wanted when they graduated from college. Now that's not the case.