T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f D e l a w a re ’s i n d e p e n d e n t s t u d e n t n e w s p a p e r s i n c e 1 8 8 2 @udreview
CLIMATE CHANGE
NEWS Page 4
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4 2018
VOLUME 145, ISSUE 13
udreview.com
KIDZ BOP
GRITTYWATCH
MOSAIC Page 10
SPORTS Page 15
“‘What are people going to think?’” The struggles and successes of students with mental illness KATHERINE NAILS Managing News Editor
L
iving each day with mental illness for senior Stephen Pihl can be like trying to escape from a lethal, aphotic labyrinth. “Everyone’s day is like a maze,” he said. “Some days, the maze is easier than others, but you always get out. For me that maze is 10 times bigger, 10 times more complicated, and when it’s really really bad, it’s like that maze is pitch black and there’s someone in that maze trying to kill me. And sometimes I don’t make it out of that maze and so I’m stuck, I’m stuck and so I can’t live a certain day because I’m stuck in yesterday’s maze or last week’s maze, still trying to figure it out.” Pihl lives with Bipolar II disorder, and said that he hopes others understand that the increased difficulty of this metaphorical maze is the only difference between himself and “neurotypical” individuals. Pihl’s experience is not unheard of. According to a study by the Healthy Minds Network, about 36 percent of
college students have been diagnosed with a mental illness at one point in their lives. A World Health Organization (WHO) study corroborates this, stating that about one third of college freshmen worldwide “report symptoms consistent with a diagnosable mental health disorder.” While such statistics hint at the scope of the problem, the day-to-day reality of college students with mental illness is more complicated. Pihl’s problems started in middle school — he was bullied badly and attempted suicide. When he graduated from high school as a four-sport, varsity athlete with a 3.8 GPA who was voted funniest in his class, things, at least on paper, were great. Turmoil, however, was hidden underneath his polished surface. He was depressed, but he also heard sounds that nobody else did. He would have periods of overconfidence and impulsivity — he once thought he could climb Mount Everest in shorts and t-shirt, and he would get speeding tickets and take unnecessary risks. Pihl was finally diagnosed in his senior year of high school with bipolar disorder.
SAM FORD/THE REVIEW He arrived at the university shortly after spending time at an inpatient psychiatric unit. While he was not seeing a therapist, he had been put on high doses of medication, which made it difficult
Another semester gone by, no action on graduate college ALEXIS CAREL Senior Reporter
U
niversity President Dennis Assanis proposed the idea back in March 2017 to add an eighth college to the university: a graduate college, meant to help solve health- and climate-related issues on the basis of interdisciplinary efforts, also packaged with the wish to double the university’s graduate student population over the next ten years. Yesterday, the Faculty Senate met, originally scheduled to vote on the graduate college draft bylaws, but the vote was rescheduled for February, with the committee responsible for the bylaws claiming that the original deadline of Jan. 1 would be impossible to meet. To refresh your memory as the college’s future continues to hang in the air, we recount its troubled history so far. The total number of graduate students enrolled is currently 3,794; the possibility of doubling that number had raised concerns in the past due to the assumed increase in faculty and undergraduate numbers as well. During his inaugural address in December 2016, Assanis referred to the concept of a “graduate city.” In the May 2017 Faculty Senate meeting, Assanis provided more specifics. He was seeking to increase doctoral students by 1,000 and master’s students by 2,000, giving a possible enrollment of 7,000 graduate students in 10 years — a 75 percent increase rather than his initial hint at 100 percent. In spring 2016, former Senior Vice Provost of graduate and professional education Ann Ardis also stated that Assanis had plans to add 250 new faculty members and noted that undergraduate tuition does not go towards
graduate students; the actual revenue coming instead from federal grants and endowments, or gifts to the university. In fall 2017, it was announced that the college would be formally named the Stuart M. and Suzanne B. Grant Graduate College as the result of a $10 million donation from the family. At the time, Stuart M. Grant was serving as a member of the university’s Board of Trustees and had been reappointed for another term by Gov. John Carney, but was serving on an expired term as his nomination awaited state senate approval. Then things took a turn. The next day, The Review reported that Grant was involved in a lawsuit in which he accused a former director, Reuben Guttman, of his firm Grant & Eisenhofer, of stealing clients during his departure in 2015. Guttman’s defense alleged that Grant had sexually harassed female associates at Grant & Eisenhofer. Following reporting on the matter by The Review and The News Journal, Grant, citing backlash from the university community, withdrew his nomination after serving as a trustee for seven years. There was general unrest at a town hall meeting held by Provost Robin Morgan back in April — meant to quell concerns and answer questions, a few faculty members had questioned if the rush to form the college had been due to the Grants’ endowment. Morgan stated the matter was urgent because the creation of a graduate college was needed. Morgan continued to say that the need for the graduate college could be pinned down to visibility: a “necessity to improving the education and lives of graduate students at the university.” However, in June, the university then announced it was no longer accepting the donation
from the Grants, leaving open the question of exactly how the graduate college would be funded. “The University is actively seeking new donations to support the graduate college as we have decided not to name the college after the Grants,” university spokesperson Andrea Boyle Tippett stated in an email in June. Discussion of the draft bylaws are still in progress, headed by Faculty Senate member Martha Buell. Although there were talks at yesterday’s meeting of postponing the vote as late as March, the draft bylaws will hit the Senate floor at the Feb. 11 meeting after classes resume for the spring semester.
to concentrate. Sometimes he couldn’t remember how to spell his name or who he was talking to. Pihl, a neuroscience and biology double major, began
failing all of his classes. He also said he was good at hiding his problems and “overcompensated” by frequently partying. This only provided a brief reprieve. “I would just go for long walks CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
Faculty Senate delays graduate college vote ALEXIS CAREL Senior Reporter
T
he Faculty Senate gathered for its final general meeting of the fall semester on Monday, Dec. 3. The meeting began with a few remarks from Faculty Senate President Chris Williams concerning business from the November meeting. Provost Robin Morgan then spoke on behalf of Vice President of Student Life, José Luis-Riera, regarding student mental health. In the wake of the death of student on Nov. 21, Morgan reminded those in attendance of the university’s resources for student safety, including the Center for Counseling & Student Development, the 24/7 Crisis Line, Sexual Offense Support (S.O.S.) and the Student Behavioral Consultation Team. The Student Government Association brought forth their “Student Death Notification & Assistance Act” in response to the death. It was introduced as new business and is expected to be voted on during the next Faculty Senate general meeting in February. The proposition included that the entire student body would be notified by the president’s office within one week of any student’s passing in the future (dependent on familial wishes), and that professors who the student had would be mandated to have counseling professionals present the class period immediately following the announcement. This discussion on mental health prompted a question from Chantelle Batson, the Academic Program Manager for the Associate in Arts Program (AAP), who expressed concern over a perceived lack of mental health support for AAP students. Students enrolled in the AAP program do not pay the student health fee, which covers services via the counseling center. Luis-Riera clarified that this was an issue currently being worked on with the faculty director and assistant dean of the AAP. The Faculty Senate requested to extend the deadline for establishing the graduate college, as the draft version of the bylaws was meant to be voted on this meeting to ensure the college’s establishment on or before Jan. 1, 2019, as originally promised. The reasoning behind this delay was that “the organizational structure and
bylaws are still being reviewed by the Faculty Senate Committee structure and January 1, 2019 will not be possible to assure a comprehensive document.” The new date for voting on the graduate college’s establishment was met with concern from some senate members, who wanted to extend the deadline to the March Faculty Senate general meeting so as to ensure the drafted bylaws were completely finished. “If we had to vote [on the graduate college] today, the senate would vote it down. I don’t see how we can have another open hearing and have it done by the February hearing,” Deni Galileo, a senate member representing biological sciences, said in support of a March deadline in lieu of the February one. “The choices would be to extend it again and if it hasn’t gone through the process, the senators will just vote it down.” Regardless of expressed concerns, the new deadline remains for Feb. 11, 2019. These announcements were followed by a series of votes on university policy, including the deactivation of the honors psychology bachelor’s in science (a formality due to the regular bachelor’s in science degree having been deactivated last year), and approvals of edits to sections in the faculty handbook. The Faculty Senate voted for a revision to transfer credit policy, which would allow departments to grant credit for the College-Level Examination Program (CLEP), a program that allows its participants to demonstrate mastery of college-level material for college credit, regardless of where the material was learned. Taking into account the amount of student veterans enrolled, there was an effort made by the Faculty Senate to make the CLEP policy more lenient. This leniency will now extend to courses taken during students’ time serving in the military that may not have been approved by an accreditation board and CLEP itself, which is frequently used by veterans as well. Three votes were taken on issues concerning policies of promotion and tenure, including discussion of workload and departmental standards policies, deleting and adding a section regarding mentoring and the external review process in promotional dossiers.