*All results come from the same survey conducted via All-student email, for which 84 respondents participated.

D&I

(On a scale where 1 is not enough, and 10 is plenty)

A number of students who elaborated upon this question falling into the “No – the same” category explained:

• “Since BLM, Groton has started having more community gatherings, Circle Talks, and workshops stressing inclusivity. However … we don’t see Groton pushing for any change beyond merely holding discussions on campus that die down quickly after they begin.”

However, there were responses falling into the 36.7% percent of students that believe Groton has truly become more inclusive since the resurgence of the BLM movement.

• “Granted, I wasn’t at Groton at the height of BLM, but I feel like there has been a lot of emphasis recently on inclusion on all fronts, from community gatherings to the guest speakers (especially Mr. Anthony Ray Hinton) to initiatives like removing gendered terms from the dress code. I think this is a positive trend and I hope Groton continues to do this in the future.”

On Community Gatherings:

Responses fit into one of three categories:

• Opinion that students, not the workshops, are to blame for the lack of productivity: 

“The timing is always very inconvenient and I think that leads to people already annoyed by them”

• Flaw in structure, not concept

“No but they could be. Just handout some sort of prompt and have small group discussions because those are the only useful parts. Giving a vague PowerPoint to a senior with lots of work and other stuff on their mind and telling them to explain something simple to their friends and then have forced, ingenuine group discussions doesn’t make anyone’s life better.”

1. Annoyed with concept entirely (as to be expected, quotes not very interesting or elaborate)

Is Groton pushing a political agenda? 

within the bar graph, the majority of students were concentrated in the 6-8 range (on a scale of “What agenda” to “Yes, very dogmatically”, though the responses reflected a relatively even distribution of opinions 

Not quite: 

“Obviously the school has a political bias, but I don’t think it’s too direct. Though our D&I workshops and community gatherings have a certain political message, I think the school is trying to stress inclusivity, cooperation, and understanding. Naturally, these values are more left-leaning, but the school doesn’t pursue them just because they align with the left.”

Yes: 

“Most teachers are quite left-leaning, and will teach that view point no matter which subject it is. Teachers will also silence conservative opinions and “correct” them to more liberal ones.”

ABORTION 

I believe zygote formation is the beginning of life. If a person consents to sex, then they consent to take care of the life to a reasonable extent. Since the government cannot know who had sex consensually vs who was raped, some abortion has to be legal. I arbitrarily draw the line at pain/consciousness.

Well, i think it would be wrong to kill the baby when it is already finished developing, but if in the first trimester a mother-to-be decides to opt out, that should be their decision.

I think women should have enough time to be able to know that they are even pregnant but I think there’s a point when a fetus is too developed to abort it

COVID

When asked to elaborate on their response to these questions, students wrote:

I think teachers, dorm heads, or students who may [be] immunocompromised and concerned for their own health should be able to ask their classes to stay masked.

We sit next to each other in the dining hall with no masks but can’t do it in class? 

We should be mask optional next fall as long as everyone is vaccinated and no new severe variant arises.

Mask optional in the Chapel? No way. Subvariants of Omicron are spreading that we are not immune to, and which could potentially lead to another school-wide outbreak or switch to remote learning.

As the number of cases are dwindling but not totally gone, it would be reasonable to start taking off masks for improved quality of social interactions

One student added about the topic of vaccines:

Boosters being mandatory for next year is excessive especially because every single person is already vaccinated and thus protected from the virus’ extreme effects, as we have seen when everyone got it and no one had extreme side effects.

(1 was “not strict enough,” 10 was “too strict”)

MENTAL HEALTH:

In an optional question asking “Which of the following factors have been the worst for your mental health within the past few years?,” the order of the most common responses were in the following order of popularity:

1. Workload
2. Social anxieties
3. Covid restrictions
4. Competitive environment AND personal issues outside of Groton (tied)
5. Athletic pressures
6. Lack of understanding from teachers
7. Pressure from parents
8. Stress with current events

When asked in an optional question “What COVID restrictions do you think have contributed most to your overall stress,” the most common responses were as follows:

1. Fewer off campus trips
2. No intervis/visiting between dorms AND stress from having been sent home (tied)
3. Fear of getting sent home
4. Masks
5. Fear of getting Covid
6. Pre-term quarantine
7. Testing

Here are some student responses to the question “How has Covid and Covid restrictions impacted your mental health?”:

Since coming to Groton, I feel like my self image has deteriorated rapidly. I had never been self conscious about my body until entering Groton. Over the past years I’ve found my self skipping meals because I have “too much work”, which is an accepted excuse considering how much work we have.

I am unable to go back home because Covid restrictions in my home country are very strict—they have made it impossible for students studying abroad to go back home without a series of laborious tests, and even then your ticket could be cancelled. I feel like international students and their relationship to their home country has definitely changed since the time of Covid.

In response to the question “Do you think there are any policy changes that Groton should make to improve mental health (Covid or otherwise)?” students said:

Allow interviz, bring back bagels, allow us to be mask optional in some places

Mental health days, and no protected periods.

I think Groton should talk more about the general “root” of mental health issues at Groton… I feel like the same general “wellness tips” being reiterated doesn’t really help much. Rather, I would appreciate more deep discussion about peer pressure, parental pressure, and even hookup culture, rather than these topics being left to clubs such as Groton Feminists.

Conclusion:

Groton students hold a wide range of opinions regarding each of these topics. The common thread among everyone, however, is the desire for more discussion and debate about these issues.