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The Daily Northwestern DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM
Monday, November 4, 2013
Find us online @thedailynu
In Focus
Finding a foothold
In wake of student deaths, NU prioritizes mental health indicates students are becoming more comfortable addressing their mental health problems. daily senior staffer “It suggests that students are more willing to ask for @sophiabollag help,” Dunkle said. “There’s hopefully a lessening of the stigma.” Emily Fagan is not shy talking Dunkle said the jump from 2011 is likely due about mental health. Last year, stuin part to the three student deaths NU saw dents began coming to her almost last year. weekly to discuss their struggles Weinberg junior Alyssa Weaver comwith mental illness. mitted suicide last November while “They all said, ‘I feel so alone. I studying abroad in London, and feel like no one understands. I feel McCormick sophomore Dmitri Teplov like no one else is going through committed suicide in May in Pancoe this,’” the Bienen junior said. Hall. McCormick sophomore Harsha Fagan, who has bipolar disorMaddula was found dead in Wilmette der, generalized anxiety disorder Harbor last September. His death was and attention deficit hyperactivity ruled accidental, but it sent shockdisorder, assured the students they waves across campus. weren’t alone. In addition to prompting more After hearing from many who students to seek services, however, felt isolated coping with their psyDunkle said the tragedies also spurred chological problems, she decided to students to get involved. start a support group through the “One of the things that came out of National Alliance on Mental Illness last year was that a lot of students got at Northwestern. activated in a good way, really trying to Fagan is not the only student takthink of ways that we can address suicide ing steps to improve mental health prevention and mental health services,” resources on campus. After three he said. student deaths shocked the NU comDespite what Dunkle sees as improvemunity last academic year, students ments, he and many mental health advoand administrators began advocating cates on campus say more can be done for better mental health resources on to make people feel comfortable about campus. From increased staffing at coming forward with psychological Counseling and Psychological SerEliminating stigma problems. vices to the creation of a new mental “When you have a mental illness, health Essential NU during Wildcat The number of students requesting help from CAPS that isolation is a huge problem,” has steadily risen over the past five years. CAPS has seen a Fagan said. “You just either want to 20 percent increase in students seeking its services since be by yourself or you feel like you can’t 2008 and a 12 percent increase from 2011 to 2012, tell others, so having a place where NU according to internal records. all of these people can come together Listens CAPS executive director and find support from one another is John Dunkle said the trend a really vital thing for campus.” By working to start a chapter of NU Active NAMI at NU, Fagan hopes to create Minds a place where students can talk to others facing similar problems. CAPS Naina Desai, co-president of NU By sophia bollag
Welcome, pressure to enhance mental health programming last academic year has already produced tangible results. However, CAPS struggles with budgetary constraints and remains understaffed. Many students still do not think the organization meets the needs of those with mental illnesses. The student group NU Listens continues to seek University approval and funding for a dedicated adviser, and organizations all over campus are looking to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness. Both NU Listens and NAMI have also run into liability issues with the University that could prevent them from making progress at all. By facilitating conversation about mental illness, administrators are concerned the groups could be held responsible if students in the groups harm themselves, NAMI co-president Supriya Bharati said. “We want to let each other know that we’re not alone and ... there is always hope,” the Weinberg junior said. “But for some reason that comes across as a lot of liability.” Although activists have lofty goals for psychological services on campus, the community has a significant amount of work to do before mental health at NU looks the way they envision it.
Photo by Brian Lee/Daily Senior Staffer; Photo illustration by Kelsey Ott/Daily Senior Staffer
‘No definite date’ set for Starbucks’ alcohol service
Although Evanston aldermen have approved a liquor license for the downtown Starbucks, a manager said Sunday there is “no definite date” for when the coffee shop will start serving alcohol. City Council agreed Oct. 28 to allow Starbucks, 1734 Sherman Ave., to offer a small selection of beer and wine after 4 p.m. as part of the “Starbucks Evenings” pilot program. The location will become the eighth Starbucks in the Chicago area to participate in the initiative, which aims to create an evening atmosphere at the coffee shop once the workday ends. “We’re definitely going to be getting a different feel at night,” said Joel Recinto, manager of the Starbucks in downtown Evanston. “At night it’s usually just studying and coffee, but now it’s going to be studying, coffee and there’s going to be drinks as well.” Recinto said the program was supposed to launch in October, but the restaurant is still waiting for the city to
finalize the license. He said he has no estimate for when to expect the program to begin. Nonetheless, the coffee shop has already undergone preparations to transition into Starbucks Evenings, including training all employees on how to distribute alcohol and ensuring all Evenings servers are 21 years or older. Recinto said Evenings servers will wait on and bring items directly to tables, rather than the order-at-thecounter system used during the day. The coffee shop will also serve small, “classy” food items with its alcohol selections, he said. “All our preparations are there,” Recinto said. “We’re ready for it. We’re just waiting for it to launch.” Recinto said he is also certain the program will appeal to Northwestern students. “I just think it’s perfect if students are wanting to get a pick-me-up or wanting to get a little bit of energy or somewhere calm to pregame right before heading to the bar,” Recinto said. “There’s a bunch of ways you can look at it. Alcohol brings a whole new perception to the table.”
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
— Kelly Gonsalves
» See IN FOCUS, page 6
What a drag
Brian Lee/Daily Senior Staffer
heartbreak Senior Kain Colter gets dragged down by a Nebraska defender Saturday. The quarterback ran for 124 yards and threw for 45 more in the Wildcats’ crushing last-second defeat in Lincoln.
Sand Creek Massacre
NU to form second committee By joseph diebold
daily senior staffer @josephdiebold
On the heels of an open forum on the role of Northwestern founder John Evans in the Sand Creek Massacre, the University announced Friday it is fasttracking the creation of a second committee on the issue. The first John Evans Study Committee is expected to deliver a report by June on Evans’ complicity in the 1864 slaying of more than 100 Cheyenne and Arapaho people — and whether NU profited financially from the massacre during its nascent years. The second committee was intended to form after and make a recommendation to the University based on the initial findings, but University President Morton Schapiro and Provost Dan Linzer said no matter what Evans’ role is ultimately determined to be, a second committee can assist in improving the current campus climate for Native Americans.
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With Sand Creek, the University is directly tied to the event.
Adam Mendel, former president of the Native American and Indigeneous Student Alliance
“Regardless of the findings of the committee, however, we believe that there are things that Northwestern University can do now to make the University a more welcoming place for Native Americans,” Schapiro and Linzer said in a statement. Students, led by the Native American and Indigenous Student Alliance, began pushing the administration on the issue of Evans’ role in the massacre last academic year. “A lot of times with historical events, people tend to try to put them in the past and say it’s not important,” Adam Mendel, then NAISA co-president, told The Daily at the time. “But with Sand Creek, the University is directly tied to that event.” The initial committee held an open forum Oct. 23 to share its work and get public feedback. Committee members praised the public response but said the historical record is still unclear on Evans’ involvement in Sand Creek. NU is soliciting recommendations immediately for “persons with expertise or interest” in the issues to sit on the new committee. “The group will be asked to make recommendations for ways that Northwestern can define more clearly the University’s relationships with Native Americans in the areas of academic programs, admissions, support services, and civic engagement and partnerships, as well as respond to the recommendations of the study committee,” Schapiro and Linzer said. josephdiebold2015@u.northwestern.edu
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