Weekend, September 28-October 1, 2017 - The Daily Cardinal

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University of Wisconsin-Madison

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+OPINION page 6

Weekend, September 28-October 1, 2017

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Koenig and Hayes make the cut?

Students push for accessible menstrual products across the system

For the first time, campus convenience stores accept food stamps By Nina Bertelsen NEWS MANAGER

By Lawrence Andrea CAMPUS NEWS EDITOR

Last April, UW-Madison’s student government and administrators partnered to conduct a pilot program that would evaluate the cost and feasibility of permanently providing free menstrual products in campus restrooms. Now, the idea is spreading across the UW System UW-La Crosse Student Body President Jacob Schimmel spearheaded an effort to bring free menstrual products to their campus as well. After multiple meetings with school faculty, Schimmel plans to have the first menstrual product dispensers in both academic and nonacademic buildings throughout campus operating within the next two weeks. “Our administration was able to be pushed to do this because they are open-minded, and they went out of the way to understand what was going on for women,” Schimmel said. “Once the machines get here, probably in the next week or two, we will be putting those into the academic building bathrooms, as many as we can.” According to Schimmel, the push for free menstrual products on campus is gathering support at other UW System schools. He said groups from UW-Eau Claire and UW-Milwaukee have expressed interest in the program. “I think it has a good chance of spreading because our administration was willing to take on that fiscal cost alone, and I think that will help nudge other campuses toward doing something similar,” Schimmel said. UW-Madison’s Associated Students of Madison, the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration and Facilities Planning & Management are moving forward with their pilot program. According to Steven Wagner, the communications director for Facilities Planning & Management, ASM and UW-Madison faculty are working together to determine the effect

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+SPORTS page 8

CAMERON LANE- FLEHINGER/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Ken Adams is a senior at Horizon High School, a recovery school for teens with substance abuse. Nestled in a strip mall, the school acts a living, as well as learning space, for students.

New Horizons Recovery schools part of solution to end opioid epidemic By Lilly Price STATE NEWS EDITOR

Without Horizon High School, a recovery high school for teens with substance abuse, 17-year-old Ken Adams says he wouldn’t be alive. “It saved my life,” the high school senior said. Although Adams attends the school sculpted for teens recovering from drug and alcohol abuse, he’s never had an addiction problem. He does, however, struggle with major depression and anxiety and attempted suicide at age 15. “I hit my rock bottom and then I showed up here and fell in love with it,” Adams said. Horizon High School, which is currently the only recovery high school in all of Wisconsin, is a 10 minute drive from UW-Madison’s campus. It’s tucked away in the middle of a one-story strip mall of weathered Glass Nickel pizza stores, hot yoga studios and other businesses. But inside the small building,

the 15-student school changes lives. It’s equipped with all the staples of a regular high school: books, chalkboards, pens and paper strewn about. But it also acts as a living space where students lounge on couches, watch TV and enjoy each other’s company. For many students at Horizon, going to school feels like going home. While Horizon may be unique to Wisconsin, recovery high schools are not new to the nation. Schools emphasizing mental health and substance abuse recovery are cropping up around the country in an effort to combat the nation’s opioid crisis. There are around 40 recovery high schools across the country. Wisconsin is following the lead of other midwestern states that have successful schools for their residents. This year, the state Legislature passed legislation nearly unanimously to establish and fund a charter recovery school in Wisconsin. The location of the

school is currently in the works. The legislation calls for the Office of Educational Opportunity in the UW System to contract with a person to open and operate a new recovery school with no more than 15 students as a four-year pilot program. Those who have applied for the charter suggested co-locating the recovery school in an existing high school, using part of an existing mental health facility or leasing a space for the school. Taking a student out of a big school can mean they’re removed from their drug dealer or a friend group that uses and placed in a one-on-one environment. “We’re finding in the area of substance use disorders [recovery schools] are very effective relative to similar kids who have been through treatment and then went back to a regular school setting,” said Dr. Paul Moberg, a research professor at the UW Population Health Institute, who has studied implementation and effective-

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Gordon’s Flamingo Run began accepting food stamps this Monday — and they’ve already had their first transaction. Last spring, University Housing announced it would begin the process to make all dining halls and campus markets food stamp-accessible. While the Gordon’s convenience store is the first UW site, housing officials told The Daily Cardinal they plan to evaluate its success during the school year and hope to expand access across campus. For Garrett Pauli, a UW-Madison senior, food insecurity has affected his time on campus, as he often stretched loan money and relied on unhealthy — but free — options for food. This led him to apply for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, otherwise known as food stamps. “Food insecurity affects people in both subtle and dramatic ways,” Pauli said. “It can be as nuanced as not being able to eat when you are out with friends at a restaurant or going stretches of time without eating or only eating ramen.” On college campuses, students like Pauli aren’t alone — roughly 20 percent of students at four-year institutions have ”very low food security,” according to The National Campaign Against Student Hunger and Homelessness. Brooke Evans, a UW-Madison alumna, activist and a SNAP beneficiary herself, spearheaded the food stamp initiative on campus over the course of three years. After living as a homeless student at UW-La Crosse and UW-Madison, she wondered why she couldn’t use her SNAP benefits on campus. “I too want to eat next to my peers as a vital component of the campus experience and Wisconsin Experience,” Evans said last spring. She worked with faculty, staff, Union Council and others before

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“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”


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