Weekend, October 2-4, 2009 - The Daily Cardinal

Page 1

Solve two of your most intimate secrets with this week’s SEX COLUMN THE DIRTY BIRD

University of Wisconsin-Madison

l

PAGE 2

BADGERS HEAD WEST FOR BORDER BATTLE

UW looks to win the first-ever conference game played at TCF Bank Stadium SPORTS Complete campus coverage since 1892

l

dailycardinal.com

l

PAGE 8

Weekend, October 2-4, 2009

Concern about mental health confidentiality

Not to toot my own horn but...

The second in a series on mental health focusing on privacy issues.

By Ryan Hebel

illness, even when it came to telling her parents. Last year, approximately 10 per“There are a couple of times when cent of UW-Madison students visited I needed to go to the ER and didn’t UHS to treat at least one mental ill- because I knew it would appear on ness, but that’s just skimming the sur- my mom’s bill, and I knew how conface, according to UHS Director for troversial that would be and it wasn’t Clinical and Crisis Services, Dennis worth it to me.” Christoffersen. UHS has a strict policy of not “Some don’t come because they revealing any medical information worry it will make them seem weak or to parents without student permis... they’re too busy or they don’t know sion, but problems can still arise, as how somebody could help with their Michelle knows from helping a friend problems,” Christoffersen said. with an eating disorder recently. Active Minds, “She finally a national orgadecided to go nization raising for counseling at mental health UHS, and [after a awareness among couple of sessions] OUR AILING HEALTH CARE college students, wanted to see SYSTEM estimates 27 persomebody through cent of 18-24her dad’s HMO, A collaborative reporting project of All Together Now, Madison, WI • ATNMadison.org year-old adults but her parents are have “a diagnosvery much against able form of mental illness.” counseling and would be furious if One of those students is they found out ... this holds a lot of “Michelle,” a UW-Madison Senior people back from treatment.” introduced earlier in this series Spokesperson for the Wisconsin on mental health. Two years ago, Office for the Commissioner of Michelle was suffering from depres- Insurance, Jim Guidry, said insursion when she attempted suicide, ance companies dealing with group dropped out of an East Coast univer- employer plans are required by sity and transferred to UW, only to be Wisconsin law to send mental healthhospitalized again for depression and related information to the “recipient anxiety. She recovered and re-enrolled of the services.” This is little comfort in UW last year. if the information goes to student’s Like many students, Michelle, hometown address, but Guidry said who requested anonymity, is sensimental health page 3 tive to a stigma surrounding mental

THE DAILY CARDINAL

DANNY MARCHEWKA/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Corey Murphy plays the trombone while auditioning for “UW’s Got Talent” in the humanities building Thursday evening. He auditioned with his band, called The Tromboners.

SSFC denies Campus Women’s Center appeal By Andrew Kasper THE DAILY CARDINAL

The Student Services Finance Committee denied the Campus Women’s Center the right to an appeal Thursday by a margin of one vote. The CWC lobbied for an appeal citing “vagueness” in the SSFC’s first decision, in which they were denied funding, and a misinterpretation of their application materials. The CWC said their “Condom Crawl” activity was in fact a “direct and tailorable student service” and not an “event” as originally classified by the SSFC. A change in the Condom Crawl’s classification would have put the CWC agenda at the minimum percentage necessary of direct services to be eligible for General Student

Service Funds. Four SSFC members voted ‘yes’ on a resolution stating their committee had not violated any rules in the earlier denial of CWC, with three members voting ‘no’ and two voting ‘present’, essentially denying CWC’s appeal. Supporting Peers in Laid Back Listening presented their case for an appeal decision on Monday, claiming they were wrongly classified by the SSFC as “crisis management” counseling, but SPILL believes they are classified as “peer support” service. According to the SSFC, crisis management is a service already provided by University Health Services. SSFC guidelines state that groups ssfc page 3

REBECCA LI/THE DAILY CARDINAL

ASM Rep. Katy Ziebell takes notes at Thursday’s SSFC meeting, where decisions were made regarding funding for the CWC.

Panel declares H1N1 may be pandemic threat By Ariel Shapiro THE DAILY CARDINAL

Officials from across the UW System gathered Thursday for a panel to discuss preparation for an H1N1 outbreak, emphasizing the importance of technology and communication. Dr. John Shutske, program director of Agricultural and Natural Resources Extension and Outreach, said because H1N1 is a new disease, people are far more susceptible to it than they would be to a more common variety of influenza. According to Dr. Sarah Van Orman, executive director of University Health Services, up to 40 percent of students could be affected by H1N1, and only 5 to 15 percent of the population contracts common varieties of influenza. The panel provided a backup plan for universities to use should the virus affect a high proportion of students and instructors. Dr. Greg Lampe, UW provost and vice chancellor, said a web-based teaching “shell” is now available to professors to continue instruction online if necessary. “We provided all our faculty with training on setting up webbased course management systems so should students be ill, they can access courses through the web, preparation page 3

Madison

Rx

UW officials, MPD stress campus safety By Kelsey Gunderson THE DAILY CARDINAL

Officials from UW-Madison and the Madison Police Department are urging students to take extra safety precautions in the wake of several robberies in the Madison area. According to Joel DeSpain, MPD Public Information Officer, the recent string of Madison crimes is not patterned and has typically not targeted students. DeSpain said though these crimes have not been student-related and that Madison has been statistically safer compared to other U.S. cities of its size, students should still continue to take extra safety precautions. He added that many UW-Madison students should not consider everyone around them their peers. “Some students don’t realize that there are also some predators,” he said. He said the UW-Madison campus

in particular is a target for criminals because of the number of students walking around campus late at night, sometimes while intoxicated. “A lot of the criminals we see who are in the greater city area, specifically downtown, are really looking at crimes of opportunity, and so the best thing to do is to be defensive,” he said. According to DeSpain, many of the recent crimes have occurred late at night, and he said students should walk with friends and in well-lit areas to keep themselves safe. Dean of Students Lori Berquam said that though nighttime is the most important time to take these precautions, students should constantly be alert and aware of crime. “Personal safety isn’t something to only think about at nighttime or after leaving the library, but to make a part safety page 3

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


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.