We have an epidemic on this campus. It is not ignorance of the student body; it is a lack of mental health resources.
The Student Assembly-organized Town Hall on April 2 was advertised as an opportunity for the Administration to “check the pulse” of the student body on the issues of racism, (in)tolerance, free speech, mental health, and sexual assault. These issues are of the utmost importance, but, because they say they should write what you know, this article only deals with the conversations regarding mental health.
I was the first person to speak at our Town Hall. As soon as the floor was opened, I wanted to draw attention to the unfortunate ineffectiveness of the Counsel- ing Center and the general lack of mental healthcare on this campus. I was not fortunate enough to know Graham Burton ’19, but the open letter sent by Mr. and Mrs. Burton to the campus community cut me to my core, as I am sure it did for most of us. I was horrified and disgusted with the contents of the letter, but unfortunately not as shocked as I should have been. As a first year January admit last year, I went to the Counseling Center in early March (only a month and a half after my arrival on campus) to request weekly counseling sessions, which I had become reliant on during my senior year of high school. I was told that the first appointment was not available for two weeks and that the Counseling Center rarely does weekly meetings, only bi-weekly. Because I do not have clinical depression or anxiety, I had no leg to stand on to request any sort of immediate counseling. I left the Counseling Center feeling as though I was not mentally ill enough to use its resources.
The next week, I had a private meet- ing with President Wippman to discuss the mental health resources on campus and I went to my first Minds for Change meeting. In our meeting, Wippman assured me that through the external review and a JED Foundation review, things were going to change. He told me that the hiring of a new dean who was going to be responsible the Students of Concern team, which would alleviate pressure from the Counseling Center, allowing them to be more effective. At the Town Hall, the overwhelm- ing sentiment of the student body proved that these efforts have not led to effective change. My first-hand interactions with close friends struggling with mental illness and a wide array of students through Minds for Change has reinforced this idea.
In last week’s article “Making false statements out of ignorance is still ignorance”, the author, Gavin Meade ’20, voiced his disdain for students who “did not approach the Town Hall as a community coming together to find solutions, but as a space for them to voice outrage on what they perceived as failings of the Administration.”
I see an issue with positioning our outrage as counterproductive to finding solutions. In order to truly “check our pulse,” students should not take issue with that pulse being one of anger. Once outrage is voiced, real work can happen. The Town Hall was a rare opportunity for us as students to ensure that the Administration understands the passion we feel for this topic. If that comes with some outrage, so be it.
I absolutely walked into the Town Hall angry. I was angry that I have to fear for the lives of my close friends who struggle with mental illness. I was angry because I watched my peers mourn the deaths of Graham and Isaiah. I was angry because in a community discussion held by Dean Martinez following Isaiah’s death, we told the Administration what we needed and they turned their back on us. We do not need a whiteboard, we need more counselors.
Throughout my time on the hill, I have seen individual students and groups try to create institutional changes that would strengthen our mental health re- sources. Time and time again I have seen the Administration refuse our help, often churning out the notion that we do not understand the complexities of the situation. We who have watched our friends die, we who have hurt ourselves, we who are slowly killing ourselves in this culture of perfection. We do not understand the complexities.
The statement about getting through all the topics in two hours was warranted, seeing as the statement “We have to move on” from the moderators came immediately after the first mention of the letter from Graham’s parents. That warrants anger to me. We were told this would be our space to voice our feelings, but as soon as we got too passionate, the opportunity was taken away from us. That warrants anger to me. A child is dead and the Administration is failing to support the community he left behind in a way that will effectively and unequivocally help. That warrants anger to me.
That being said, there were also multiple moments throughout the night when students offered solutions, ideas, and projects, and supported one another to create a collective voice. The Town Hall was an opportunity for the student body to work as a unit in a space of community coming together to find solutions and as a space voice outrage.
“Mental health on this campus is a joke” was one of the quotations that last week’s article ridiculed. I resoundingly agree with that statement. Too often students are only offered counseling sessions with professional staff after 4 PM. This is utterly ridiculous. As someone who takes five classes, works ten-to-tweleve hours a week at the Career Center, and is on the E-Board of two organizations, my nine- four is dedicated to work and my studies. After 4:00 is the time I would actually be available to seek counseling and when my need for counseling is at its highest. Again, because of the culture perpetuated by the Counseling Center and the Administration, those of us who are not actively struggling with illness that can be perceived as critical are not mentally ill enough to use the only resources available after 4 PM. I am not in crisis; I just want to be able to talk through my week with a counselor.
Another sentiment from the Town Hall I strongly agree with is the anger felt towards Dean Martinez’s comments on leaves of absence. At the Student Assembly meeting on April 1, Dean Martinez stated: “I see leaves of absence as a really good thing for students.” When is it proper to glorify students having to leave because the mental health resources on campus are not sufficient for them to continue their learning? It is not that the Administration is actively asking students to leave, which was not the argument made by the student referred to in last week’s article. The student, who I believe was misquoted, did not argue that the Hamilton Administration “forces students off campus because they don’t want them to be a liability,” or that “they don’t want students on campus who have mental health concerns.” Rather, she voiced a fear that she and many students have that Hamilton is moving towards such an environment, which is indeed present at other peer schools.
The issue is in the fact that the Administration sees it as a good option to have students put their education on hold. I cannot speak from a place of immediate effect, but as someone who has had multiple close friends either take a leave of absence or seriously consider it, it is not something to be glorified. It is a nightmare to leave and should be treated as a last resort. Not to mention the fact that students who take a leave are often not refunded their tuition, making this an absolute non-option for students who cannot afford that financial burden.
The stigma of mental health on this campus is not perpetuated by students. I walked out of the Town Hall feeling that notion stronger than anything else. Through my work with Minds for Change, I can proudly and confidently say we live on a campus where students do not stigmatize mental health. On the contrary, we are the ones taking care of each other because those who are supposed to be doing it are not.
I cannot imagine the difficulty and the torment of being an administrator at such a rigorous institution as this. Losing students to suicide takes a toll on all members of the community, especially one as tight as ours. I am not here to support an anti-Administration agenda. I am here to support the incredible grassroots activism I saw occur at the Town Hall. I am here to give praise to the brave students who are giving voice to the feelings of so many of us. I am here to say that the Administration asked for our pulse and we resoundingly gave them one of anger and frustration as a call to action. Now they have our pulse, the question is what they will do with it.
