Dear Santa Clara University community,

Administration, Alumni, Board of Trustees, Faculty and Staff:

We, the students, are writing to you in a time of change, uncertainty, and difficulty, in a time of need for your help and leadership, and in a time of urgency.

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only meant concern for our physical health, but an equally, if not greater, concern for our mental health. The pandemic has prevented us from gathering, causing widespread social isolation, which has been the driving force of depression, anxiety, and loneliness in young people. Humans are biologically wired to desire social group interaction, and college-aged students have struggled with the consequences brought on by COVID-19 and isolation.

Something is deeply wrong with how we are thinking about our current situation. Consider this question: What if we responded to the mental health crisis with as much effort as we have given in response to COVID-19? Is this necessary? Well, which one one is causing more suffering and death amongst our student body? Both COVID-19 and the mental health crisis need adequate responses, but in an effort to meticulously protect against the coronavirus, we have caused a separate health issue in young people which is even worse than COVID-19.

Our situation has changed, the coronavirus is becoming endemic, yet by having classes online, we are operating as we did when we did not have protection against the severity of the disease through vaccination. We must look at the consequences caused by our actions. Either we are in the classroom with a small risk of transmission resulting in substantial illness or we have online classes and experience further isolation with a large risk to our mental health.

We are more at-risk of a decline in our mental health than we are of physical illness from COVID-19. In recognizing this reality, the choice becomes clear. We do not want anyone to get sick or for the virus to spread to elderly or immunocompromised people, and we acknowledge the difficulty in deciding what course of action is right. However, in taking a step back to analyze what is best for our student body and our university, the choice becomes clear. We are taking precautions against the spread of the virus, such as wearing masks in the classroom, and we are protected against the severity and morbidity of the virus by vaccination. Frankly, the classroom might be the safest place on or around campus for student gatherings. The principal reason we are attending college is to learn, and all other campus and student interactions revolve around learning and classes, making the classroom the physical heart of the college experience. Once again, the choice becomes clear. It is doing us more harm than good to have classes online, what is best for us is to conduct classes in-person.

Looking towards the rest of the year, we hope it is one of in person classes. Since the first two weeks have already transitioned to online, it is crucial we at least start in person classes week 3 of winter quarter and remain in person for the duration of the quarter. 

We must have an appropriate response to the mental health crisis on campus and time is of the essence. We cannot afford to let things continue on as if everything is okay; last quarter has shown us it is not. SCU is not alone in facing this challenge, colleges and universities across the country find themselves in a similar situation. However, the founding purpose of Santa Clara University is the facilitation of Jesuit education, making us well-suited for this challenge. Considering Jesuit tradition prides itself in educating the whole person, how can we expect intellectual engagement to continue smoothly when the heart and soul of the person are struggling? We have a responsibility to our community to adequately address this situation. In other words, we have a critical opportunity to pursue a more humane world. Through a reflectful examination of the needs of society, we recognize what is in this moment our most pressing struggle, the desire for a healthy mental well-being. 

We, as a campus, just finished a fall quarter which saw three student deaths, two from suicide, and the on-campus, sensational nature of the most recent suicide towards the end of the quarter left students feeling shocked and scared. We do not know what could possibly be more concerning than this and we cannot expect to carry on in winter quarter without coming together as a student body and as one community.

If there is any university that can do this, it is us. We just need all of us together, as one cohesive community.

Let us make this clear: we believe in our administration, we believe in our community, and we believe in our university. Help us continue to believe.