Supporting Students’ in Maintaining their Mental and Physical Well-being and Leading Fulfilling Student Lives

The role of the Vice President for Student and General Affairs is to provide multifaceted support to help students lead fulfilling university lives. Within the university’s organizational structure, this position oversees both the Bureau of General Affairs and the Bureau of Student Affairs.

The Bureau of General Affairs manages a wide range of operations related to university administration, much like a general affairs department in a private company. The Bureau of Student Affairs, on the other hand, handles support for scholarships, the management and operation of student dormitories, and assistance with extracurricular activities. It also includes departments such as the Career Center, which provides job search support, and the Health and Wellbeing Center, which promotes students’ mental and physical well-being.

The Health and Wellbeing Center has full-time nurses on staff, as well as both internal medicine and psychiatric physicians. It also offers counseling services in Japanese, English, and Chinese, provided by multilingual counselors. I personally served as Deputy Director of the center for three years from its establishment in 2022, and I hope to bring that experience to my current role as Vice President for Student and General Affairs.

Promoting Diversity and Creating a Discrimination-Free Campus

One of the key initiatives I hope to focus on is diversity promotion. While creating a campus free of discrimination is a fundamental goal, promoting diversity comes with its own set of challenges. For example, explaining matters of sexuality to Muslim students whose faith prohibits homosexuality can be a delicate issue. Similarly, for evangelical Protestant students, the teachings of the Bible are central to their lives, and there may be values that are difficult for them to accept.

We fully respect each student’s freedom of thought and belief and have no intention of imposing a set of values upon them. At the same time, any form of discrimination is unacceptable and discriminatory behavior or the exclusion of others will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Our university is working toward creating a campus where people with diverse values can coexist, and we plan to release a “DEI&B (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging) Statement” soon. While these issues require careful consideration, we are committed to holding thoughtful, respectful discussions in pursuit of an approach that can garner widespread understand and support.

Supporting Students’ Mental Wellbeing and Promoting Reasonable Accommodation

In light of increasing suicide rates among young people, we are placing even greater emphasis on supporting students’ mental well-being. While finding ways to improve the situations that drive young people into emotional distress is extremely complex, we believe it is something the university must address with seriousness and commitment.

It is especially important for faculty and staff, who interact with students daily, to notice changes in their behavior at an early stage. To that end, we held a “Gatekeeper Training” session for faculty and staff in 2024 which was attended by more than 100 greatly interested participants.

Gatekeeper training is a common tool in suicide prevention as it teaches people what the warning signs for suicide may be, allowing us to help those around us that may be struggling. Since it is often friends who notice when something may be wrong, we are also considering offering gatekeeper training for students as well in the future. While we have no intention of placing an undue burden on students, our aim is to help them recognize signs of distress and connect their peers with appropriate support services.

Another important issue is responding to the mandate, introduced in all universities and similar institutions from the 2024 academic year, to provide reasonable accommodation for students with disabilities. We are actively considering how to support each student who requires such accommodations in concrete and individualized ways.

While being mindful of the needs of students with disabilities, we also want all members of our university community to feel that they are “living for and with others.” We hope that through their time at Sophia University, all students—regardless of ability—can feel they have grown, and we want to reflect together, as faculty, staff, and students, on what we can do to make that possible.

Not Just Accepting Differences, but Coming to Appreciate Them

Right now, our university has made “creating a safe and secure campus” one of its key goals. Personally, I believe that creating an environment where students can grow with vitality is just as important. I aim to support each student as they actively reflect on what they can do, and enjoy the process of growing through their own initiative.

At the Health and Wellbeing Center, one of our key goals is to “understand and respect each individual’s differences.” If students can go beyond simply accepting those differences and learn to appreciate them, they will be better able to take on new challenges with a more positive and open mindset.

At the same time, we must be mindful not to become overprotective. While providing the necessary support, we want to help students develop the ability to tackle problems on their own so that they can live independently and/or autonomously in the future. We also hope to strengthen the university-wide support system so that students are exposed to diverse values that can help them develop well-rounded, multifaceted perspectives.