central part of Active Minds,
a
nonprofit
organization
dedicated to destigmatizing
and
encouraging
an
open
dialogue about mental health.
The exhibit, though it has
been
to
the
University’s
campus years prior, is just one
of many events organized by
the University’s LSA Student
Government as a part of its first
mental health week, which
LSA SG plans to hold yearly.
LSA junior Bekah Cone, who
helped organize the event, said
she believes the visual element
has a large impact.
“I think it’s cool to see the
actual number, because it is
one thing to have it in your
head, but to see the number
of
backpacks
of
students
each year — I think it is a
noninvasive way of bringing
awareness to mental health
and suicide,” she said.
Send Silence Packing was
modeled
after
the
AIDS
Memorial Quilt, a 54-ton quilt
made to memorialize those
who have died in the AIDS
epidemic.
Individual
quilt
panels are roughly the size
of an average grave, and are
stitched by the deceased’s love
ones. Similarly, many of the
backpacks in the Send Silence
Packing
exhibition
were
donated by families who lost a
college student to suicide.
Many of the backpacks have
personal stories of the deceased
attached to them, written by
their family members and
friends. Powerful signs and
phrases like, “Stigma is shame.
Shame causes silence. Silence
hurts us all” are scattered
among the backpacks.
Send Silence Packing goes on
two tours every year, traveling
to 12 schools this time around.
Active Minds is scheduled to
visit Ohio State University and
Iowa State University later this
month.
The campaign visited the
University previously in 2015.
That year, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
recorded the highest rate of
suicide among females ages 15
to 19, more than double the rate
in 2007. In that same time, the
suicide rate among males ages
15 to 19 rose from 10.8 to 14.2
per 100,000 people.
However,
new
statistics
show the suicide rate in the
state of Michigan is slightly
higher
than
the
national
average. While, as a state, it
statistically ranks toward the
middle of the pack —sitting at
34 of 50 — the suicide rate has
risen drastically every year in
Michigan since 2000.
Looking at young people
specifically,
Michigan
also
ranks
toward
the
middle
when comparing state suicide
rates of 15- to 24-year-olds.
However, in 2016, Washtenaw
County saw 17 suicides among
15-
to
24-year-olds,
the
highest amount of suicides
ever recorded from the age
group in the country, which
has
been
documented
by
medical
examiners
since
2004.
These
numbers
do
not include the many who
attempt suicide, which the
American
Foundation
for
Suicide Prevention estimates
to be 25 attempts for every one
completed.
The
severity
of
mental
illness is especially prevalent
on campus. The University
of
Michigan
Counseling
and
Psychological
Services
reports that 35 percent of
students have thought about
or considered suicide. This
number
is
continuously
increasing, as CAPS sees 130
to 140 new students a week,
according to CAPS director
Todd Sevig. Additionally, a
survey commissioned by a task
force organized by former CSG
President David Schafer found
that over 91 percent of students
and 75 percent of faculty
members had dealt with some
mental health concern.
In response, the University
has developed new programs
to
address
mental
health
and suicide. The University’s
Depression Center and its
Transforming Research into
Action to Improve the Lives
of
Students
program
has
trained staff at 24 schools
in 10 Michigan counties on
ways to help students handle
and cope with stress through
cognitive behavioral therapy.
The program recently received
a grant, allowing them to begin
expanding their program to 150
mental health care providers
in Michigan. In addition, the
University has increased the
budget for CAPS by 66 percent
over the past 10 years.
However,
many
students
think the University could do
more to help students with
mental illness and promote
awareness. LSA senior Lauren
Quinlan, who participated in
the mental health monologues
last spring, said she believes
that
while
the
University
needs to be more active, this
responsibility lies with the
students too.
“For many of those who
suffer from mental illness, it
is an all day, every day affair,”
she said. “I think all people,
not just big institutions, need
to be more cognizant of the
effects and tolls mental health
takes on those who struggle
with
it.
Awareness
and
unbiased education can start
with the University, but we
as individuals need to carry it
forth with us every day.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, October 11, 2017 — 3A
HALEY MCLAUGHLIN/Daily
LSA Freshman Meenakshi Seetharaman reads the letters on backpacks at the Send Silence Packing display on Diag Tuesday.
RE FLECT
have grown up with birth control
coverage being the norm. She
said the concept of a lack of the
drug seems to be shocking many
students.
“I do think we are really lucky
to go to a public university that
makes birth control accessible,”
Harmon said. “But now people are
realizing that if they didn’t have
their parents’ insurance or didn’t
go to a liberal public university that
they might have their birth control
lose coverage.”
Regardless of the safety of
University
employees,
Bailey
stressed the larger issue at hand
isn’t the repealing of coverage, but
the fact that coverage is determined
by employers in the first place. She
said the idea employers have stake
in an individual’s personal lives is
an antiquated idea that stems from
World War II, and is very different
from other countries’ methods.
“The fact that employers have
that power over us is just sort of
bizarre,” Bailey said. “I believe
that access to reproductive health
care,
including
contraception,
should be an individual’s choice,
not something that should be
dictated by one’s employer or the
government or by anyone but the
individual.”
Harmon said she agreed women’s
health care is in the wrong hands.
Apart from insurance being in the
hands of employers, she said health
care as a whole is being defined
from a male perspective that can
leave women without the specified
coverage they need.
“What is healthy and necessary
is determined by and for men, and
women fall through the cracks a
lot. As we see now, men deemed
birth control unnecessary to be
healthy even though so many
women use it for reasons other
than contraception,” Harmon said.
“There’s just not an understanding
of what women’s health care is,
and this administration seems to
be trying to apply male health care
needs onto women.”
Contraceptives are often used for
medical reasons, such as hormonal
imbalances
and
acne,
besides
preventing pregnancy, but in the
provisions these reasons are subject
to moral rejection as well. Ruth
Lednicer,
Planned
Parenthood
of Michigan’s director of media
and communications, reiterated
the bizarre nature of having an
employer’s opinions come before
those of an individual’s doctor.
“They will no longer have access
to what their doctor prescribed or
what they think is best for them.
There’s been arguments that low-
income women will still have the
ability to get birth control in other
ways but this isn’t about low-income
women,” Lednicer said. “This is
really about working women who
have insurance that’s part of their
benefits and now their employer can
decide parts of their personal lives.”
Moving forward, Lednicer said
Planned Parenthood has had to
make some changes based on the
administration’s priorities. Still, she
said advocacy and the well-being of
the individual is their main focus
right now, not the well-being of
their institution.
“They are making it very clear
that they don’t think women
can make health care decisions
for themselves. We do expect
more attempts like this from the
administration,”
Lednicer
said.
“But, it’s less about how it affects
Planned Parenthood and more
about how it affects the individual
women.”
The ACLU, the Washington
Attorney General and the National
Women’s Law Center have already
prepared
lawsuits
against
the
administration. According to a
statement released by Washington
state’s
Attorney
General,
Bob
Ferguson, the mandate violates
the first amendment by “requiring
individuals to bear the burdens
of religions to which they do not
belong.” Additionally, some lawsuits
called the mandate’s discrimination
against women a violation of
the Civil Rights Act. Still, many
members of the administration
stand by the constitutionality of the
provisions.
“No American should be forced
to violate his or her own conscience
in order to abide by the laws and
regulations governing our health
care
system,”
Caitlin
Oakley,
Department of Health and Human
Services’
press
secretary,
said
in a statement. “Today’s actions
affirm the Trump administration’s
commitment to upholding the
freedoms afforded all Americans
under our Constitution.”
BIRTH CONTROL
From Page 1A
Within the same statement, Dean
of Students Laura Blake Jones noted
administration
members
worked
deliberately with students and faculty
to ensure the log is sensitive to the
needs of those who have been affected
by bias incidents.
“We
worked
carefully
with
students
and
professional
staff
to create a bias incident log that
shares information publicly while
maintaining privacy for the affected
students and other members of our
community,” Blake Jones said.
Blake Jones further explained
the details of the log — ranging from
the date of the bias incident to a full
summary of responsive action taken
— will be updated weekly. However,
as bias incidents are oftentimes
reported in a general manner to
preserve the privacy of the victim,
limited information may be available
in certain cases.
The launch of this log comes
in the wake of many acts of hate
towards communities of color and
other marginalized groups over the
past year. Most recently, racist flyers
encouraging
students
to
“Make
America White Again” were found
outside Stockwell Residence Hall last
week.
Despite administrative response,
Black students and their allies continue
to express their disappointment with
the administration for not being
more aggressive in dealing with bias
incidents.
In an earlier interview with The
Daily, LSA sophomore Kaitlyn Brown
said she thinks the University needs
to emphasize strict consequences for
perpetrators of such incidents.
“They need to be more proactive,”
she said. “Just sending an email
doesn’t give the people who do this
consequences, so I feel like there
needs to be a form of consequence and
some kind of way that the University
comes out and strictly says, ‘We do not
condone this and if you do this then
there will be consequences.’ ”
University
President
Mark
Schlissel,
in
a
previous
Daily
interview, expressed hope this log
will aid students in understanding the
multitude of actions the University
takes to combat bias incidents, from
both a personal and campus-wide
perspective. He emphasized the
University is not trying to hide such
incidents when they occur, as it
would not be productive.
“I think one thing we are doing is
trying to be more rapidly transparent
about episodes that occur, so that
everyone in the community knows
where to look when they hear a
rumor about something,” he said.
“We’re putting up a website that
gives basically a running summary
of the events that happened, and
the results of any investigations and
practical things. I think that will at
least help people know what’s going
on.”
LOG
From Page 1A
BACKPACK
From Page 1A
rate in Michigan among those
under 65 (those not covered by
Medicare) was 14.6 percent.
Part of this drop was due to
the expansion of Medicaid –– the
government’s health insurance
program for some of the nation’s
poorest, targeted mainly at
children and parents –– to make
more people eligible to enroll.
The ACA initially required
every state complete its own
Medicaid expansion, but when
that was ruled unconstitutional
by the Supreme Court, each
state had to decide for itself.
Michigan was one of a handful
of
completely
Republican-
controlled states that opted in.
Public
Health
professor
Peter Jacobson explained the
expansion of Medicaid was
economically efficient because
it
reduces
the
number
of
emergency medical procedures
necessary.
“The
goal
of
expanding
Medicaid to a population with a
higher percentage of income for
eligibility was because these are
the people who are getting their
care at emergency departments,
which is the most expensive
way to provide health care,” he
said. “By expanding Medicaid
to more people, it reduces
the overall cost of providing
health care, first, and second,
it provides insurance so that
people can get the health care
they need.”
Another
major
part
of
the statistical drop in the
uninsured
was
driven
by
the
ACA’s
regulation
and
facilitation
of
enrollment
in the individual insurance
marketplace for people not
on
Medicare,
Medicaid
or
employer-provided insurance.
The ACA increased incentives
for enrollment by prohibiting
insurers from denying coverage
for
pre-existing
conditions
and
requiring
every
plan
cover certain “essential health
benefits,” and also increased
disincentives
for
non-
enrollment via the individual
mandate, which places a tax on
eligible individuals who do not
enroll.
Individual
Marketplace
Enrollment
One of the most significant
actions
the
Trump
administration is taking to roll
back Obama-era enrollment in
the individual marketplace is
slashing funding to navigator
groups –– nonprofits that assist
individuals
in
finding
and
enrolling in individual market
plans. Enroll Michigan, one
of the largest such groups in
the state, just saw its funding
cut 90 percent for 2018. In an
interview with The Daily Beast,
Enroll
Michigan
Director
Dizzy Warren said she wasn’t
certain what the organization’s
capabilities would now be.
“It’s
a
true
and
major
disservice
to
Michigan
consumers,” Warren said. “To
the best of our ability, we will
be there. With that kind of
reduction, there’s no way I can
say we will definitely be there.”
Any resulting reduction in
enrollment could be dangerous
for the stability of the market,
Jacobson said, as it could upset
the balance of healthy and sick
people enrolled.
“Basically the idea behind
the
insurance
exchange
is
you have a mix of healthy and
sicker patients. Ideally, you
would have a lot of millennials
signing up –– you’re basically
healthy, you don’t use a lot of
health care and those premiums
can offset the costs of older,
sicker patients,” he said. “When
you have fewer young people
enrolling, it destabilizes the
market because insurers now
have to raise premiums on
people who are sicker. That’s
the
so-called
death
spiral,
because the insurers have left
the market filled with a bunch
of sick people, and you can’t
raise rates high enough.”
According to Megan Foster
Friedman, a health care policy
analyst for the University-based
Center for Healthcare Research
and Transformation, young and
healthy people are exactly who
will be affected most by the
reduction in navigator funding.
“Health
insurance
is
complicated,” she said. “And I
think folks who are relatively
healthy, folks that are young
and haven’t had a whole lot
of experience signing up for
coverage, they need that extra
bit
of
assistance
to
really
understand
why
they
need
health insurance, and what’s
out there for them.”
Additionally,
Foster
Friedman said the effect of
a much shorter enrollment
period, which many people
are not aware of, could be
devastating.
OBAMACARE
From Page 1A
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
said.
Korobkin explored the discourse
surrounding the hate speech versus
free speech debate. He related
the faulty “sticks and stones”
ideology and the assumption that
hate speech cannot cause any real
harm. According to Korobkin,
individuals have used hate speech
to harm communities, and have
done so because it has the power to
harm individuals and belittle them.
While a variety of opinions and
ideas are important, Korobkin
asserted
some
ideas
can
be
dangerous and have detrimental
effects on society, especially if
society allows the government to
determine what is hate speech;
individuals will abuse this power
for their own political agendas.
Nevertheless,
Korobkin
explained the importance of being
an ally to minority groups and
demanding the University create
inclusive public spaces and forums
to introduce more previously
ignored voices.
“The University doesn’t have to
be neutral on these issues,” he said.
“It can and should be an activist
itself.”
Panelist
Austin
McCoy,
a
postdoctoral fellow and historian,
shared his thoughts on protesting
and free speech largely as an
activist himself. He emphasized
the need to prepare strategies
ahead of time to effectively combat
dangerous political figures and
ideas.
McCoy reaffirmed the harm
that racist posters can have on
students around campus, citing
the
recent
incident
outside
Stockwell Residence Hall and
previous incidents that struck him
as especially dangerous because
they
encouraged
reporting
undocumented immigrants. He
encouraged students to tear down
or report these posters, but not
report about them online, because
this opens an opportunity for
online ‘trolls’ to comment and have
a platform to continue sharing
racist ideas.
According to McCoy, mass
action is vital for demanding
response from the University to
denounce racist acts. He also said
while one cannot filter what others
can say, in a joint effort people can
make it difficult for individuals
to express hateful and dangerous
opinions.
Law
School
student
Leah
Duncan attended the panel to
work to process recent events on
campus.
“I had a general interest in free
speech and how you balance that
with protecting students and the
community in general, from hate
speech and the harms that it causes
psychologically and opportunities
for education in that nature,” she
said.
Law School student Sarvjeet
Singh
came
with
fellow
international
students
because
they were all interested in learning
more about the laws surrounding
free speech in the United States.
“Whatever has been happening
around the campus and in the
country after the election has
made it very interesting. Especially
coming from our countries and
hearing
about
the
American
First Amendment and what is a
protected part of it, I think the
notion of the fact that racist speech
can be protected is what brought us
here to understand that,” he said.
PANEL
From Page 1A