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TUESDAY
april 21, 2015 high 57°, low 41°
t h e i n de p e n de n t s t u de n t n e w s pa p e r of s y r a c u s e , n e w yor k |
N • On the money
dailyorange.com
P • Fresh voice
Syracuse University has partnered with Benefunder, an organization that helps pair donors with professors working on research projects. Page 3
Local resident Josh Batstone reflects on his journey on NBC’s “The Voice,” and recounts the lessons he learned from the celebrity judges. Page 9
MENTAL HEALTH SERIES PART 1 OF 3
S • Showing off
Alex Kline, an SU student, organizes a yearly basketball charity showcase in his mother’s name that has featured SU players like Tyler Roberson. Page 20
ONE IN FOUR YOUNG ADULTS HAS A DIAGNOSABLE MENTAL ILLNESS. source: nami
Colleges see huge increase in demand for mental health services Editor’s note: This three-part series explores the role of mental health services on college campuses, both nationally and at Syracuse University.
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By Jessica Iannetta | staff writer
hen Kimi Skokin senses she’s about to zone out during class, her first reaction is an unusual one: she grabs a pencil. But not to take notes — to keep her hands occupied. “One of the big things is I’ll be like, ‘What are my hands doing right now?’” Skokin said. This hyper awareness is because of a disorder she first became aware of in middle school: trichotillomania, an impulse disorder that causes people to pull out their hair. The hair pulling is often brought on by stress but can also be an automatic reaction, something she does when she’s not really paying attention, said Skokin, a senior psychology and neuroscience major at Syracuse University. Being a college student with trichotillomania, commonly known as TTM, has been challenging, she said, especially since TTM also causes anxiety and depression. Skokin is one of millions of college students who arrive on campus every year with a mental illness or mental health concerns. In the last decade, these numbers have increased dramatically at colleges across the country. In the 2014 National Survey of College Counseling Centers, 94 percent of directors reported an increase in students with severe psychological problems on their campuses. The same trend is true for depression and anxiety, the two most common mental disorders nationally and at SU. In the 2014 American College Health Association report, nearly a third of students said they felt “so depressed it was difficult to function” and more than half said they felt “overwhelming anxiety” sometime in the past year. see mental
health page 8
Students appear in court Nu Alpha Phi brothers are facing charges in hazing incident By Jessica Iannetta staff writer
Two Nu Alpha Phi fraternity members appeared in city court Monday afternoon to face charges in a hazing incident that almost cost a pledge four fingers. Tae Kim, 19, and Jeffrey Yam, 21, have both been charged with hazing in the first degree, a misdemeanor. They pleaded not guilty in court last month. The court appearance on Monday was a pretrial hearing where Kim and Yam’s lawyers had a brief
MAY 28
The day Tae Kim and Jeffrey Yam are due back in court
preliminary discussion with the district attorney’s office. Nothing was decided and the case is still in the early stages, said James Hopkins, Kim’s lawyer. Hopkins declined to comment on Kim and Yam’s status at Syracuse University. The university has said the two students will be subject to the student code of conduct. Yam’s lawyer declined to comment on Monday. Kim and Yam were arrested on March 4 in connection with a hazing incident that police said happened at about midnight on March 1 in Lower Hookway Park on East Colvin Street. Police said three Nu Alpha Phi pledges were told to perform pushups and situps and roll in the snow for about 20 minutes for failing to correctly perform their daily duties. The pledges had no gloves on and after finishing the exercises were given hand warmers and told to walk back to the fraternity, which was about a mile and a half away, police said. see nu
alpha phi page 6