Referendum on mental health policy to be a part of USG elections

A referendum to gain student support for greater transparency in mental health withdrawal and readmission policies will be on the ballot for the upcoming Undergraduate Student Government elections.

A referendum is a vote sent out to the student body to gauge its support for a particular USG project. Whether or not the referendum passes has no formal effect on University policy.

U-Councilor and chair of the Mental Health Initiative Board Zhan Okuda-Lim ’15, who proposed the referendum, said that he approached the Mental Health Initiative Board about drafting the referendumin the wake of an ongoing lawsuitfiled last spring against the University for its handling of one case of attempted suicide on campus.

The Mental Health Initiative Board is part of the USG senate.

“A lot of kids have been coming to the senate concerned about the lack of transparency in mental health withdrawal and readmission policies,” Okuda-Lim said. “Who makes the decision about making kids take time off for mental health policies? What exactly is that process like? These are questions we want to help answer.”

After the senate held conversations with students last spring, Okuda-Lim said that he decided to approach the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students to work with it on providing that transparency.

ODUS later published a Frequently Asked Questions page on the University’s Counseling and Psychological Services website answering questions, but Okuda-Lim said that although the FAQ was helpful and a step forward, it did not go far enough.

“The FAQ is not the authoritative document,” he said. “We’d like the administration to publish their guidelines over mental health withdrawal and readmission [policies].”

Okuda-Lim added that there were still questions about paperwork and other procedures that were not addressed in the FAQ. He said that the ultimate goal is to have more guidelines provided to the student body, and that these guidelines will be published in the Undergraduate Announcement, where a majority of University policies can be found.

The referendum, he said, is intended to show that students support greater transparency in mental health cases and to push the administration forward.

“Current policies and procedures in the Undergraduate Announcement are vague,” Okuda-Lim said. “This is a really important issue that has been heightened by campus conversations. We want to remove perceptions that if you to go to CPS, you will be removed from the school.”

Dean of Undergraduate Students Kathleen Deignan deferred comment to University spokesperson MartinMbugua.

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Mbugua said that the referendum affirms what is already in place.

“Our policy in the Undergraduate Announcement is clear, and the practices associated with the implementation of that policy are clearly explained in the Frequently Asked Questions that are available online,” Mbugua said.

Okuda-Lim said that USG is aware that students are concerned over mental health issues and noted that, although he hopes the referendum passes, the senate plans to move forward with its mental health initiatives no matter which way the results end up.

“We want to discuss with the Office of the Dean of the College how they formulated the existing language [in the Undergraduate Announcement] and how it could be more clear,” he said.

Class of 2017 senator Kishan Bhatt said that, after conversations with other students, he agrees with Okuda-Lim that it is important to publish mental health withdrawal policies to promote greater transparency.He noted that the administration already makes public its policies for other involuntary withdrawals, such as academic and disciplinary withdrawals.

“I do hope students vote in favor of the referendum. It affects the entire campus community,” Okuda-Lim said.