Working against eating disorders

Eating disorders are always lurking under the surface at Princeton. The vast majority of students I've encountered will readily admit that it's a common problem many Princeton girls and, to a much smaller extent, Princeton guys, suffer from. Yet discourse on the subject stays at the surface. Around the dinner table, comments like, "Oh my god, so many girls here are anorexic," are perfectly socially acceptable; but beyond that, the topic is generally ignored. Rarely do students do more than acknowledge the problem.

There are two important roles that student body has in dealing with the prevalence of eating disorders. The first is a willingness to openly confront friends who they are concerned might be struggling with an eating disorder. Residential advisers and McCosh are often less useful than close friends who offer support and encouragement. The second role is to speak out against social environments or situations that can aggravate eating concerns. By doing so, students can help to alleviate the culture that breeds eating disorders in the first place.

Encouraging the student body to take on these important roles is a difficult task, but one which the administration should take very seriously. One important suggestion was brought up last week at a panel of students, peer health advisors and doctors about eating disorders on campus. Incoming freshmen spend orientation learning about diversity issues, the dangers of excessive drinking and even sex. They should certainly spend some time on eating disorders. Most of these students probably did not encounter eating disorders as often in high school as they will at Princeton and probably did not need to take upon themselves the roles discussed above. A meaningful orientation activity would be one both enjoyable for incoming freshmen and focus on encouraging freshmen not just to recognize eating disorders, but to take action.

The University's attitude in dealing with students suffering from very severe eating disorders needs to change dramatically. One of my best friends left Princeton to recover from anorexia this year. She spent about five weeks in school, with her low weight a real and present danger to her own life. When she was finally asked to leave, she got the sense that her physical state was merely a legal liability for the University. It is unacceptable that Princeton let her spend so many weeks as a student while her disease was life-threatening. This put an unnecessary emotional toll on the student, who was allowed to move in and begin all of her classes and then asked to leave and also sent a dangerous message: that going about daily life ignoring the disease is acceptable. Health services needs to make sure this sort of situation does not repeat itself.

On her leave of absence, the University administration was not responsive to the student's concerns, or to the recommendations of her doctors. One of her letters was simply left unanswered for months at a time. There is no plausible explanation for this either.

The University's attitudes need to change. Those who suffer from eating disorders deserve the administration's full consideration and attention. Eating disorders are consistently recognized as a huge issue on campus; as such, they deserve to be seriously addressed as part of university programming, specifically as part of the orientation program. Jessica Brondo '04, the Women's Issue Liaison for the Undergraduate Life Committee, has made several other good proposals as well. With students already taking initiative, the University should assume its proper role by giving its full support and funding to these proposals.

Karen Karniol-Tambour is a sophomore from Netanya, Israel. You can reach her at karenkt@princeton.edu.