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Engl 1301
RAE Essay
In response to your request about whether publishing or not publishing the article,
“There’s a loneliness crisis on college campuses” in The Shorthorn, will be presented in this
email. The article is based on what’s affecting college students as it has caused for questions to
rise. Being able to see the problem and recognizing, can bring students some ease that they aren’t
being ignored, even more important when it’s about mental health. Considering how it’s a topic
that most people brush off, it would give awareness for faculty and staff about their students. For
UTA students, this article would be interesting and compelling because it’s a topic that they can
relate to on a more personal level. Students want the focus on other things besides school, work,
homework, money, etc. Especially when there is a higher percentage of students who are
enrolled part-time because they have other responsibilities. Soni’s article should be published in
The Shorthorn because it will bring awareness to staff, faculty, or even other students about what
is happening to its students and peers through the use of research and examples of what’s
affecting young adults.
Soni’s central claim is that colleges and universities should provide mental health care for
their students. In the article, Soni gives three reasons to support their claim such as the loneliest
generation in the US is young adults between 18 and 22 years old, secondly, students are
creative, courageous, engaged, empathetic, diverse and inclusive, and finally, they are
unprecedented stressors. With these reasons, this article should be published in The Shorthorn
because of the connection it can have with the students about something personal.
College students tend to struggle with being able to express their feelings about their
problems which leads to them feeling lonely. Soni’s first reason is that according to a survey
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done by Cigna, “the loneliest generation in the United States today is not the oldest Americans
but the youngest, specifically young adults between 18 and 22 years old”. This evidence
demonstrates that most people would think that the loneliest generation would be the older
because they can’t do much at their age but that’s not the case. Soni’s point is that students are
lonely rather than making friends that would help them grow academically and personally. With
this piece of research from a global health service, we can see that there are professionals out
there that are aware of how this generation feels. This can resonate with UTA students because it
will show them that they aren’t the only ones aware of what’s going on. It's important to point
out that the research only mentions age and not race, ethnicity, religion or anything in specific.
This allows for that example to resonate with young adults between those ages. Soni states as
well that “students may have thousands of friends online, but few in real life; they may be
experts at talking with their thumbs, but not so much with their tongues”. This evidence does
help point out that this generation is more connected through technology than face-to-face. The
evidence supports Soni’s claim because this can demonstrate to colleges and universities that this
is a serious problem going on with their students. In sum, college students want to make sure
colleges and universities are aware and will be able to find a way to provide help.
Potential is something all students have but is being limited based on what is going on in
their lives. Soni’s second reason to support their claim is that “today’s students are also creative
and courageous, engaged and empathetic, diverse and inclusive. They are hardworking and goaloriented”. This evidence demonstrates that they are aware of all the great things the students can
achieve. That’s exactly what students want to see- faculty and staff being aware and be able to
find ways to expand that. Soni stated as well that “it needs to be the job of colleges and
universities to help students develop resources that enable them to thrive and flourish mentally,
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emotionally, and spiritually, so that they may fulfill their academic aspirations and achieve their
professional goals”. This evidence supports Soni’s claim because there are things that students
can’t control and if colleges and universities are able to provide help, it can bring that potential
out of students. This can resonate with UTA students because once again they will see awareness
being brought to colleges and universities that they aren’t doing a great job in helping them
achieve their greatest potential. That’s what students go to school for, to be able to use their full
potential in something they enjoy doing but won’t be able to if colleges and universities decide to
not help.
This generation of students has had to deal with other things besides just school that
aren’t being taken seriously. Soni’s third reason in supporting his claim is that students are
experiencing unexpected stressors. He states that “they are entering a world in which many of the
career paths of their parents’ generation no longer exist or have changed drastically”. As well
mentions increasing tuition costs and about frequent active shooter trainings. This evidence
demonstrates that students from this generation are experiencing stressors that older generations
didn’t, which has led them to have a completely different education experience. Although this is
great evidence, Soni could have added how colleges and universities can help to prevent these
kinds of stressors. UTA readers will read this part of the article and argue about how colleges
and universities are constantly overlooking this, and it will never be important enough to talk
about. It continues to happen, and no change is being made because the older generation will not
be able to know the full first-hand experience of these stressors. Not to mention as well that this
will not resonate with all UTA readers because by being a diverse school, every person has had a
unique experience that it would be difficult to help the students equally. With being a diverse
school, these stressors would be something normal for several students as it has happened
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throughout all their education journey. While for others this could be something new and could
affect them to a more severe level which could lead to more problems for this generation. As for
increasing tuition costs, for international, first generation and low-income students, this can be a
main problem that will need to be their focus and could lead to them not getting an education
because they would have to prioritize helping their family instead of their education.
Soni’s article is credible enough to be on The Shorthorn but because Soni states that he
has been at USC “as dean of religious life”, it can demonstrate that he would be biased towards
religion being a way to help and several students would not find things credible enough.
Considering how in the article Soni states that “according to the Pew Research Center’s Forum
on Religion and Public Life, more than one-third of young adults are now disaffiliated with
religion, making a dramatic generational shift away from religion and from the comfort and
community that it can provide”. This can demonstrate that since many students don’t affiliate
with religion, and his perspective as a dean of religious life wouldn’t be credible for several
college students. The Shorthorn readers will find several things credible because they are being
supported by studies and research but there will be other things that they won’t. This is because
The Shorthorn readers want to be able to have someone who has personally experienced what
they are currently going through to give that point of view that is lacking.
Soni appeals to the readers’ emotions by bringing up early in the article about how
students are asking “Why should I live?” and how “they grapple with hopelessness and
meaningless”. Demonstrating that students are starting to lose interest in life which shouldn’t be
happening. Considering how this article is about college students, The Shorthorn readers will
understand this emotion because they could be dealing with something similar or simply can be
empathic about how people are feeling. Students will relate to that feeling because there could
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have been a time that they experienced this and have successfully overcome that point in their
life. They know that feeling and how difficult it can be to ask for help which is what many
students struggle with. This could have happened because of problems at home, school, work,
and friends, which are the most common problems. Being able to demonstrate that appeal of
emotions to the readers can help with it being taken more seriously by colleges and universities.
In this article, Soni does not address a naysayer that would disagree with the publication
of the article. Although he doesn’t mention one, there are people who would disagree with the
article such as staff, administration, and older generations, that would argue that students should
be able to find a solution to their own problem. That it’s not up to the school to provide resources
for them because they come to school to learn to complete their career or degree. In response to
the naysayer, Soni can mention how at USC they are creating programs to help students with
their mental health. These programs are dedicated to mindfulness, a freshman course where they
focus on emotional intelligence and self-care, friendship courses, coloring sessions, sleep classes,
etc. Soni mentions throughout the article the problems college students are going through and
provides a list of programs that his university is doing. With this, UTA readers will be able to see
that there is at least one school that is wanting to make a change for their students. With it
reaching the UTA community, it could start a change here and could start for other universities
as well. This could be a great way for Soni to demonstrate that he recognizes the naysayer and is
able to provide evidence to demonstrate that students’ mental health is important.
In conclusion, Soni was able to address the appeal of logic, appeal of emotions and the
counterargument, I can continue to say that this article should be published in The Shorthorn for
UTA readers. Although there is a lack of credibility, this article is important because its about
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bringing awareness about mental health to faculty and staff who can see the reality of the life of a
college student.