College freshmen offered chance to opt out of anti-stress program if they are too stressed: report

Florida State University's Student Resilience Project is designed to help incoming freshmen deal with college stress, but some students can opt out. (Florida State University)

A Florida university is allowing incoming freshmen to waive a required program that is aimed at lowering stress on campus if they are already too stressed, according to reports.

Florida State University’s Student Resilience Project, developed by the Institute for Family Violence Studies at the FSU College of Social Work, is a mandatory online program for over 6,000 incoming freshmen and transfer students to “help students adjust to campus, improve mental health, increase resilience and reduce stress”.

Opting out is possible if students are too stressed to complete it, Jim Clark, the dean of the College of Social Work, told Inside Higher Ed. “We’re not out to punish.”

The Florida University College of Social Work developed a mandatory anti-stress program for freshman that some students can opt out of. (Google maps)

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This goes into the category of “you cannot make this stuff up,” Turning Point USA founder, Charlie Kirk, told Fox News.

“This sort of nonsense would be most appropriately put into a Monty Python skit, where parody has become reality, and reality a parody of itself," he said.

“Students are becoming softer by the semester, where victimhood is being worn as a badge of honor and students are isolated away from adversity,” Kirk added. “This is dangerous for a country and a culture, and our colleges should be embarrassed with the type of students they are producing.”

Participants can watch “What I Wish I Knew” videos of current FSU students talking about their first-year struggles and how they overcame them. There are also videos that tell the incoming students they can get through “every type of problem” using resources already on campus.

The mandatory part of the programm will take between 25 to 30 minutes, according to The College Fix.

FSU Director of University News & Digital Communications, Dennis Schnittker, clarified exactly which students were allowed to forgo the anti-stress program.

“Students who have previously suffered or suffer from significant trauma (death of family or friends, violence, abuse, etc.) may opt out if they are already receiving treatment or counseling for managing stress,” Schnittker told Fox News.

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The project is in the “pilot phase” and is expected to change based on the feedback and needs of student participants, according to Karen Oehme, FSU’s director of the Institute Family Violence Studies.