The University has joined 55 other colleges in participating in The Jed & Clinton Health Matters Campus Program, an initiative to reassess mental health policies on campus and make recommendations for potential changes.
Dr. Calvin Chin, director of Counseling and Psychological Services, saidthat the fact that the University is looking toward nonprofits for guidance regarding mental health is completely independent of any controversy regarding the University’s policies.
The program, which is mainly focused on substance abuse and suicide prevention, is a partnership between the Jed Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the emotional health of American college students, and the Clinton Foundation’s Clinton Health Matters Initiative, which focuses on improving health and well-being.
The University's mental health policies have been widely criticized this year. Most recently, an article in The Daily Princetonian on Monday documented how administrators assessed a student's medical records and eventually gave him an ultimatum: to voluntarily withdraw or else be forced to do so. A different student penned an opinion piece in the 'Prince' in April documenting going through a similar withdrawal process.
The controversy started in March when the same student fileda lawsuit against the Universityin federal court alleging, among other things, violation of confidentiality when his suicide attempt resulted in individuals at CPS sharing his medical information with school officials.Chin explained that the Jed Foundation approached the University for its involvement in the program.
The Campus Program aims to address topics such as campus health policy, identification of at-risk students, means of restriction and environmental safety. Specific guidelines within the framework include prioritizing emotional health as a campus-wide issue requiring the involvement of multiple campus departments.
The program also recommends that incoming first-year and transfer students "complete questions related to mental health and substance use history on medical history forms," and says that student leaders, such as residential college advisors and fraternity and sorority leaders, should be trained in identifying and referring friends who may be struggling with mental health issues.
Dr. Victor Schwartz, medical director of the Jed Foundation, explained that the Campus Program is a broad-ranging program broken down into more specific recommendations.
“It is important to understand the program is a membership program," he said. "So by participating, universities are saying they have accepted this model as a working model for how they should be thinking about providing these services on campus, and they are making a commitment to work toward improvement and progress in these areas.”
Schwartz noted that in the event of legal issues, the Jed Foundation does not get involved in adjudication on a case-by-case basis and its expectation is instead simply that universities abide by state and federal laws.
Chin explained that the timing of the partnership should not imply a link. He added that the current lawsuit should not be seen as a vast generalization regarding the University's mental health policies, noting that several students suffering from mental health issues do remain in school.
Chin noted that there is no statistical goal at the end of the University’s four-year partnership with the Campus Program aside from the general aim of improving the mental health program.
Schwartz said that continual growth of the program could be an eventual goal.
The University was awarded the JedCampus seal by the Jed Foundation last November in "recognition of a school’s commitment to the emotional well-being of its campus.”
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