Vol. 107, Iss. 20 | Tuesday, October 24, 2017
STUDENT LIFE
The Flat Hat The Weekly Student Newspaper
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of The College of William and Mary
BUILDING A CASE FOR MENTAL HEALTH Law students describe insular, competitive community, allege Student Health Center mishandled screening data MEILAN SOLLY // FLAT HAT CHIEF STAFF WRITER
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uring her first year at the College of William and Mary’s Marshall-Wythe School of Law, Rachel* J.D. ’19 (* indicates name changed to protect privacy) had frequent panic attacks that left her lying on the floor of her room, paralyzed by anxiety. She coped by holding “cry confession” sessions with a fellow law student, as well as confiding in her parents and getting involved with a local church, but never sought professional counseling. Ryan Walkenhorst J.D. ’19 experienced mental health issues when she was prescribed an antibiotic with powerful side effects, including suicide ideation and depressive symptoms, earlier this year. The Student Health Center referred Walkenhorst to the Counseling Center, but after an initial consultation, she learned that her treatment needs fell outside of the center’s scope. The center offered to refer Walkenhorst to an outside provider, but because she was still on her parents’ insurance and did not want them to know she was seeking counseling, she declined. Carina Sudarsky-Gleiser, interim director of the Counseling Center, said in an email that the center’s mental health services coordinator can connect students in similar situations with therapists who offer a sliding fee scale or free community resources. Lucy* J.D. ’19 said she never struggled with mental health prior to law school. Earlier this semester, however, self-doubt and constant pressure exacerbated the depressive thoughts that had cropped up during her first year in law school. A professor advised Lucy to speak with a law school dean regarding her mental health, and the dean encouraged her to seek professional treatment. Lucy said she plans to visit the Counseling Center during the coming weeks. According to multiple students at the College, the Darwinian, anxiety-inducing law school of popular imagination isn’t far from the truth: several sources described a small, close-knit yet cutthroat community — just over 600 students attend the College’s law school — where one’s classmates are perceived as the competition and professional treatment seems less accessible than alcohol, drugs and similarly unhealthy coping mechanisms. Other students acknowledged the competitive nature of law school but said the College offers a welcoming, supportive environment. It’s no secret that law students face constant academic, career and social stress — coupled with a high incidence of substance abuse and mental health issues. In 2014, a nationwide survey of 15 top law schools found that roughly a quarter to one-third of respondents reported frequent binge drinking, misuse of drugs and/or mental health challenges. These issues are often compounded by unwillingness to seek professional support. Out of the 42 percent of survey respondents who indicated they had thought about finding help for mental health issues over the past year, only half had actually sought counseling. Discouraging factors included perceived threat to academic or job status, social stigma and potential impact on bar admission.
Two students at the College said these concerns are further intensified by the perception of law students as perennially stressed out individuals — a stereotype that both students claim led the Student Health Center to dismiss their symptoms of mental illness. During the 2016-17 academic year, Rachel and Lucy visited the center for reasons unrelated to mental health. Last December, while Rachel was waiting for a prescription, she filled out the PHQ-2, a two-question screening tool that identifies individuals who may be at risk for depression. The center asks all patients to fill out the PHQ-2, but students are free to decline. Respondents rate their interest/pleasure in doing things and feelings of depression or hopelessness over the past two weeks on a scale of zero (not at all) to three (nearly every day). A score of two or higher is considered “abnormal” and may warrant further treatment. Rachel said she filled out the PHQ-2 honestly, reporting strong feelings of depression and hopelessness. When the nurse saw the high score, she allegedly asked Rachel what graduate program she was in. “I was like, ‘Oh, I’m a law student,’” Rachel said. “And then she just took [the test] and ripped it off and said, ‘We don’t accept your data. We don’t accept your questionnaires because you skew our data, because you all put that.’” Lucy had a similar encounter with the Student Health Center this March. She was about to depart for spring break and needed to pick up medication to treat a fever. Like Rachel, Lucy filled out the PHQ-2 and received a high score. According to Lucy, when she identified herself as a law student, the nurse chuckled and said the center usually didn’t pay much attention to law students’ screenings. The nurse also told Lucy that the center didn’t keep these screenings because they skewed the data — the overall message, Lucy said, was that law students are and always will be stressed out due to the intrinsic pressures of law school. Student Health Center Director Virginia D. Wells denied the allegations, saying, “[They are] categorically not true.” Wells said the center does not keep an aggregate data pool similar to the one referenced in the allegations. She said that clinicians instead personally address abnormal test results with patients, perhaps by referring them to the Counseling Center or identifying responses as everyday stress rather than a diagnosable mental illness, before filing screenings in individual medical records. All PHQ-2 results, however, are recorded for quality improvement purposes. Wells periodically reviews a list of results, which are coded as normal or abnormal, to ensure that every case has been properly addressed. If she sees an abnormal screening without a recorded follow-up, she intercedes. PHQ-2 results are not grouped beyond See LAW page 3
MEILAN SOLLY / THE FLAT HAT
CRIME
Police make arrest, charge Stephen Powers with terrorism for Thursday’s explosion
Gloucester resident arrested for improvised explosive device that detonated near Berret’s Seafood Oct. 19 at 5 p.m.
Police arrested Stephen Powers, a 30-year old resident of Gloucester County, Oct. 20 and charged him with setting off an improvised explosive device in the parking lot adjacent to Berret’s Seafood. The IED detonated Thursday, Oct. 19 at approximately 5 p.m. The Williamsburg Police Department got a call then about a vehicle fire near the corner of South Boundary and Francis streets. After investigating, the WPD determined that the detonation was the result of an improvised explosive device. Once police arrived on-scene, they also confirmed that no one was hurt by the explosion. On Friday, Powers was arrested at his home in Gloucester and was charged with possessing and using an explosive device and committing an act of terrorism, according to Williamsburg Police. The investigation was the joint work of the WPD, the Williamsburg Fire Department, Colonial Williamsburg Public Safety, the Newport News Police Department, Virginia State
Police, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. “I would personally like to thank all the local, state and federal law enforcement partners who worked around the clock to quickly apprehend a potentially dangerous member of the community,” Williamsburg Police Chief Sean Dunn said in a pres statement.
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I would personally like to thank all the local, state and federal law enforcement partners who worked around the clock to quickly apprehend a potentially dangerous member of the community. Williamsburg Police Chief Sean Dunn
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SARAH SMITH FLAT HAT NEWS EDITOR
On Friday morning, College of William and Mary Police Department Chief Deb Cheesebro sent out a campus-wide email explaining the high police presence in the area and reassuring students that there was no ongoing threat.
“Last night, there was an explosive device discovered off-campus in a Colonial Williamsburg parking lot at Francis and [South] Boundary Streets,” Cheesebro said in the email. “The report was made to Williamsburg Police around 5 p.m. No injuries have been reported … William & Mary Police were on-scene last night and we continue to follow this closely but again, see no ongoing threat to campus.” The section of Francis Street between South Boundary Street and South Henry Street remained closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic on Friday, and other schools in the City of Williamsburg were placed on alert following Thursday’s explosion. The streets surrounding the explosion were reopened 6 p.m. Friday. Matthew Whaley Elementary School went into a soft lockdown Friday morning when a passerby reported a possible explosive device in a vehicle near the school, according to WPD Major Greg Riley. The soft lockdown began at 10:15 a.m. and ended at 11:25 a.m. During this time, no staff or students were allowed to leave the building and the doors were locked. When police concluded their investigation, they determined there was
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The failings of emergency notification
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no threat and that the reported device was three propane tanks for cooking. Cheesebro sent emails alerting students to the incident at Matthew Whaley, and also sent out an email when the Williamsburg Police Department announced the arrest of Powers, Oct. 20 at 10:43 p.m. Cheesebro’s first email came almost 17 hours after the reported explosion, but an emergency notification at the time of the detonation was not mandated by the Clery Act, the consumer protection law that requires colleges to report and log information about crime. For offcampus crimes that occur close to on-campus property, campus officials must evaluate if there is a serious or ongoing threat to determine if a timely warning needs to be issued. Thursday night’s explosion, which is a crime covered by the Clery Act, occurred off-campus but on property adjacent to campus, falls into this category of crime. According to Cheesebro’s email sent at 9:23 a.m. Oct. 20, campus officials determined that the explosion did not pose an ongoing threat to campus.
Kate Donati ’20 discusses the faults of the William and Mary emergency notification system in communicating threats to students, whether on or off of campus. page 5
William and Mary falls 46-14 to Dukes William and Mary lost to CAA foe James Madison during its homecoming matchup, scoring both of its touchdowns in the fourth quarter. page 10