Benedict plans to bring together a strategic planning group incorporating views from the Interfraternity Council, MIT administrators, and representatives from Boston and Cambridge. Broad counseling for stress Stress and mental health issues, longtime concerns of MIT students and parents, also will require Benedict's immediate attention. During the last year, three MIT students have committed suicide, including one suicide victim whose instablilty was widely recognized by her dormmates but not adequately addressed. Local and national media have questioned the necessity of the stress level at MIT and peer institutions. As supervisor of Hopkins's notoriously cutthroat premeds, Benedict has worked to improve identification and handling of mental health issues.
Counseling is a very broad concern.
To identify stressed students, Hopkins has implemented a network of undergraduate residential assistants trained in handling crises. Faculty at Hopkins work with counselors to identify problems and help students in need. Johns Hopkins boasts a group of peer counselors with a hotline similar to MIT's Nightline service. Benedict also faces pressure from graduate students to alleviate the housing crunch in Cambridge and Boston. At Johns Hopkins and USM, Benedict oversaw the purchase of buildings near campus and their subsequent conversion into affordable graduate housing, but added that a similar solution may be infeasible in Cambridge's pricier housing market.