It seems that top administrators have been soliciting student input more than normal in the past two weeks, and they’ve been utilizing a decidedly unconventional style to do so. Hard on the heels of Provost John Etchemendy’s colloquial missive last week (“Now don’t tell me you didn’t know you had a Provost”), Vice Provost Greg Boardman yesterday urged students to participate in a “timely and urgent” — as well as unorthodox — evaluation of the University’s mental health resources.

It’s a rare administration survey that presents participants with an image of a “stress tree” and urges them to fill in the “branches” and “roots” with manifestations and causes of anxiety, but that’s exactly what the Campus Climate Initiative (CCI) questionnaire does. From there, the study transitions to a “stress quilt,” where survey-takers are asked to rank campus mental health resources by placing effective programs at the center and less useful initiatives near the blanket’s “fraying edges.” Although the third page of the survey asks a more conventional series of twelve multiple choice and short answer questions, this part is brief enough so that it does not cross the line into tedium.

The design of the survey, with its cartoonish trees and bright, over-the-top colors, is both vaguely childish and surprisingly whimsical. We wouldn’t have expected the University to ask for our input in such an unassuming format, especially given the gravity of the topic, but it’s hard to fault them for trying to be creative. Filling in text boxes on the “stress tree” might bring back memories of third-grade worksheets, but it’s friendly and, dare we say it, kind of fun. It’s classic Boardman.

From the administration’s perspective, the issue may be serious, but the survey need not be. Students should take ten minutes to fill it out, not just for the innovative design aspects but because the issues it broaches are sensitive and timely. Kudos to the CCI for seeking our input on the critical subject of mental health, and our compliments to the graphic artist who designed the stress quilt.