Portland State students in search of emotional refuge are about to gain access to several new university organizations and services tailored to their needs.
Dean of Student Life Michele Toppe and her staff are instituting many additional student resources this fall. The majority of those resources were created to provide a safe place for students to share concerns or make the process of finding help simple and stress-free.
“Much of our world is so automated, and people often really need a human being to sit down with and talk to about their experience,” Toppe said.
One place where students can find someone to talk to is the new Coordination, Assessment, Response and Education (CARE) team, run by Assistant Dean of Student Life Gina Senarighi. “We look to aid students in crisis or who are experiencing a lot of stress, and we encourage students to refer friends they are worried about,” Senarighi said. “Our CARE team comes together to talk with students who are really struggling and bring them back into a safe, healthy place.”
For example, Senarighi said, a student with an uncertain or troubling financial situation could benefit from the CARE team by speaking with someone who helps them “find scholarship opportunities they haven’t looked at, or get in touch with financial aid officers.”
Senarighi is also involved with the new Bias Response Team and Queer Student Resource Center, along with Cathleen McGraw, coordinator of queer student services. These programs, Senarighi said, are for students who are “looking for information, or considering their identity.”
The Office of the Dean of Student Life staff is striving to make sure that students are aware of the PSU conduct code, which helps by “educating people about their rights, and helping them access processes if they think they’ve had their rights violated,” Toppe said. The conduct code program is run primarily by PSU Director of Conduct and Community Standards Domanic Thomas.
“Let’s say a student was to get into a car accident. They would need to know what their rights and responsibilities are,” Toppe said. “Or, say they had results medically that prevented them from passing a class and needed to know if they could drop it or get their money back. In that case, we would connect students to Student Legal Services, the Center for Student Health and Counseling and various academic petition processes that are overseen by Registration and Records, such as the Deadline Appeals Committee.”
Toppe’s office has been confronted with the need for these new student resources before, and the staff has always attempted to either help students itself or direct them to the help they need. “Last year, there was a medical emergency in a class where a student had a serious medical condition, and we were not sure if he would survive. The students in the class were impacted and needed help, and our office provided outreach to those students,” Toppe said.
While the Office of the Dean of Student Life mostly aims to provide aid to students who need serious help, Toppe noted that they once expertly tended to a student who simply “had his belt snap, and needed something to hold his pants up.”
Part of the office’s motivation for creating new assistance institutions was the fact that there was such a wide variety of student problems and that specific organizations would be needed to give specialized instruction.
To make accessing these resources an uncomplicated process, the staff is putting together an online tutorial that will include information about all of these amenities and present it in a convenient fashion. “The tutorial gives information about medical processes, appealing a grade, having to drop classes and so on,” Toppe said.
At the moment, the tutorial is meant for faculty members, to help them answer any and all student questions about where to go in case of an emergency or other difficult situation. However, Toppe said she is considering opening the tutorial to students as well.
“We’re trying to coordinate resources and offices, so students don’t have to run around all over campus looking for help,” Toppe said. “Resources exist, but students need to know how to access them.”
Toppe noted the need for these organizations to cater to a vast array of people, given the diversity within the Portland State student body and the many problematic situations that can arise. It is important, Toppe said, to recognize the “broad range” of students that need help, and to make sure that not only are there enough resources for everyone but also a clear path to follow for everyone to find them.
“We’re all about striking a balance and meeting that range of students that need help,” Toppe said. “Our office is trying to make it as easy as possible for them.”