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Thursday, March 14, 2019
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The Color of Drinking: Alcohol reveals racism By Aylin Merve Arikan SENIOR STAFF WRITER
After a 2018 survey demonstrated alcohol amplifies racial tensions for students of color, Associated Students of Madison’s Student Council met with the study’s authors to learn more about their findings Wednesday night. The Color of Drinking survey was conducted by University Health Services and focuses on the social, academic and physical implications of the drinking culture in UW-Madison — emphasizing the experiences of students of color. UHS representatives Jenny Damask, Reonda Washington and Valerie Donovan gave a presentation about the severity of the issue while inviting council members to work with UHS to create a more inclusive and safe campus for all students. In the past, UHS has aimed to decrease the drinking culture at UW-Madison through programs that focus on impacting both individual and group behaviors. Now, UHS has shifted its focus to changing the environment students are immersed in. “When we create a program
we are looking at one person, but when we change the environment and look at systems we can change, policies we can change we have a greater reach,” said Damask, UHS’ Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Program Coordinator. The survey is the first of its kind in the UW System due to its mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. It provides both numerical data and personal anecdotes to answer questions like whether or not alcohol consumption has impacted students’ sense of belonging at UW-Madison. Students of color expressed alcohol causes them to feel unsafe while white students expressed alcohol gave them a sense of belonging, according to Washington, the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs prevention coordinator. When asked if they had experienced microaggressions, nearly 62 percent of students of color answered yes. Seventy-nine percent of AfricanAmerican students who participated in the survey said they have experienced microaggressions on campus, making them the largest ethnic group
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UW-Madison freshman attacked UW police at Witte early Sunday.
Witte resident faces felony By Jenna Walters CAMPUS NEWS EDITOR
The UW-Madison student who assaulted a university police officer in Witte Residence Hall earlier this week now faces two felony charges. UW-Madison freshman Logan Mitchell could be charged with battery to an officer after he struck a UW-Madison Police Department officer in the face during an altercation early Sunday morning, causing him significant bodily harm. Mitchell also faces a misdemeanor for resisting an officer. Despite the charges, Mitchell is still enrolled at the university, UW-Madison Director of News and Media Relations Meredith McGlone said. He is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing on April 2. Mitchell attacked the officers
after they responded to a report that he was urinating in a Witte hallway around 1:15 a.m. When UWPD arrived, Mitchell became physically aggressive before he was eventually arrested and forcibly removed from the residence hall. Injured officers was treated at an area hospital following the incident, UWPD Communications Director Marc Lovicott said. A video of the altercation was posted to the “Badgerbarstool” Instagram page, where it was viewed by more than 5,000 people. McGlone said under federal privacy laws, the university is not able to speak on specific studentinvolved incidents. She emphasized UW-Madison is “dedicated to promoting the safety of the campus community while also providing due process for accused students.”
KAITLYN VETO/THE DAILY CARDINAL
Advocacy and legislative groups in Wisconsin hope to expand programs to reduce suicide rates.
Suicide increase related to lack of health services By Benita Mathew SENIOR STAFF WRITER
As Wisconsin experiences a shortage in mental health services, the number of suicides has spiked, influencing advocates and leaders to raise their voices together in hopes of reducing the rate and improving access to care. Suicides have increased by 25.8 percent since 1999, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2017, 926 people died by suicide, increasing from 855 suicides in 2016. Suicide is the second leading cause of death, just behind car accidents, for people 15 to 34 years old in Wisconsin, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The implications of mental health in Wisconsin According to Mental Health America, Wisconsin ranked 48th nationally for the prevalence of mental illness, and severe disparities exist across the state in terms of access to resources and expertise in the field. Wisconsin currently faces a significant psychiatrist shortage in 55 of its 72 counties. According to a report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum, 20 counties had no practicing psychiatrists in 2018, and 10 others had only one. Limited access to treatment especially affects vulnerable children. Wisconsin ranks 42nd out of the 50 states and Washington D.C. in access to mental health care for children with major depression — 66.4 percent of whom do not receive treatment — according to
Mental Health America. Gov. Tony Evers aims to support youth mental health services by including $22 million for more school mental health specialists and social workers in his state budget proposal. These mental health crisis initiatives would provide funding to specific counties in need. Expanding mental health funding is essential, according to Sen. Patty Schachtner, D-Somerset, because most people struggling to pay for treatment qualify for Medicaid. However, health care options are not the only concern. Access to lethal weapons plays a role in the rising number of suicides in the state, with 72 percent of total deaths involving a firearm were suicides, a study by the Wisconsin Medical Society found. “It really is about educating people who don’t have mental health diagnoses about why it’s so important to secure guns especially if you know someone has access to your home,” said Schachtner, a former medical examiner. “They are more likely to use someone else’s gun than their own if they are in crisis.” Advocating for change State leaders and advocacy groups have geared up to increase support for vulnerable groups. Majority Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, announced a new bipartisan suicide prevention task force that will make policy recommendations based on presentations from experts, people impacted by suicide loss and advocates March 6. “We want to make sure youth has resources and understand
where to reach out for help whether suicide hotline or HopeLine or in individual school districts,” said Rep. Joan Ballweg, R-Markesan, chair of the task force. She believes part of the problem is the stigma that can stop people from reaching out. She hopes to create programs to train youth to support their peers by learning crucial warning signs. “We want to make a bigger push to show that behavioral health issues can be helped through treatment,” Ballweg said. “We need to reduce the stigma to move toward being able to help young people that have these suicidal inclinations.” The creation of the task force came a day before volunteers from the AFSP came to the Capitol for Wisconsin’s first-ever State Capitol Day. AFSP chapters across the nation met with their local leaders to share their personal stories and promote suicide prevention policies. Volunteers held almost 100 meetings with lawmakers to push for better suicide prevention policies. Advocates spoke to legislators in support of a new mental health parity bill to ensure insurance companies were held accountable to covering financial costs of mental health treatments as they do for physical services. “We want to get as many advocates in front of leaders to try to ensure that we are all sending the same message in a safe way,” said Gena Orlando, AFSP’s Wisconsin chapter chair. “Mental illness and suicide are topics that people tend to shy away from.”
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”