Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Monday, April 16, 2018
Emma Chang
Joel Danilewitz
Samantha Goldstein
Elena Hubbell
Emily Huhman
Tara Jayaram
Jeremy Kaplan
Sarah Khan
Lucas Maiman
Magdalena Mihaylova
Ellery Rosenzweig
Jason Rowland
Anu Roy-Chaudhury
Alex Satola
Ali Safawi
Ashley Zhang
Sam Weinberger
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EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Dear Me
LUCAS DEAN | COLUMN
JULIA COHN | COLUMN
C
oming
to
college,
everyone
echoed
a
similar
mantra:
“Cherish every moment, you
only have one freshman year.”
In the weeks before I finally left
for Ann Arbor, I was wrought
with anxiety and apprehension
by the thought of going to
college and leaving everything
I knew behind. After unpacking
my dorm room and hugging my
parents goodbye, I knew, very
rationally, that I was turning a
new page in my life. Adulting,
growing up, maturing, however
you want to frame it. I was
heading down a new path in my
life.
With two weeks of the
school year remaining, I get
a little choked up every time
I think about leaving the
University of Michigan, a place
that has truly become my new
home. Looking back at my
first few weeks to my last, the
contrast is humorous. I want to
pay homage to the parts of my
freshman year at the University
that made it so special.
My first few weeks of class, I
had to use the Google Maps app
to get from building to building.
Being
both
directionally
challenged and in a whole new
environment is quite possibly
the worst combination. Sadly,
Maps wasn’t able to lead me
to shortcuts, no matter how
advanced the newest update
may appear.
First
semester,
I
had
to walk from South Quad
Resident Hall to the School
of Public Health three times
a week. For those of you who
are geographically savvy, this
is typically a 15-minute walk,
but for the first three weeks
of classes, it took me almost
exactly 20 minutes to get to
class. Maps was like my baby
blanket, and I was too scared
to go in any other direction
other than where Siri directed
me. Eventually, when heading
to class with a friend one
day, she looked at me wildly
when I told her I had never
cut through the Diag. Like,
literally, I had never walked
through the Diag to get to
class. Finally being able to
understand the intersecting
paths around the emblematic
‘M’ on the Diag was a life-
changing experience.
One fundamental part of the
University’s character is the
people that you meet here. I
know, not everyone is great; it’s
not a perfect place. But coming
to this school, I never could
have fathomed what it was like
to be surrounded by so many
smart, passionate and engaging
students. There’s a competitive
spirit to the University that
challenges each student to
become the best they can be.
And believe me, there were,
are and will be so many times
when I will sigh in frustration
believing that I am the dumbest
person on campus. But having
the opportunity to learn in
an
academically
rigorous
environment surrounded by
peers who foster ambition and
achievement is an unparalleled
experience. No matter how
hard the classes may seem,
your
classmates,
professors
and the campus environment
are teaching students to grow
and achieve more than they
have believed.
Another fundamental part
is the school spirit and our
glorious game days. To be
completely transparent, I am
not a football person, but I love
U-M game days with all of my
heart. There is something so
incredible
about
thousands
of students, dressed in maize
and blue, singing “Hail to the
Victors” and willing a win
out of our team. Win or lose,
there is always unprecedented
pride toward our team and our
school. The student body feels
as one unit, united by the spirit
of the University of Michigan.
To the future Wolverines:
Don’t take your freshman year
for granted. Of course, it will
be hard, and the University
won’t feel like home with the
snap of your fingers. But hold
tight to the little moments,
cut through the Diag and
sing “Hail to the Victors” like
it’s the last game day of your
senior year.
G
raduating
high
school, I thought
college would be a
simple continuation of what I
had been doing, but, you know,
different. That wasn’t right
at all; well, for the most part,
anyways. My first semester was
through the Summer Bridge
Scholars Program and in a way
it was like high school. We had
predetermined classes at set
times and we all got to know
each other pretty well. Classes
started at 8:30 every morning
and there were two lunch
periods. We were all done by
4:30 p.m. and after classes
we would meet up to play
basketball, bet on video games
or maybe watch a movie. Kind
of like high school but, you
know, different.
As I conclude my second year
at the University of Michigan, I
would like to reflect back on my
time here, what has led me up to
this point and what I wish I had
done differently (thanks for the
idea, Writing 350). If I could write
a letter to my high school self,
reminiscing on how I screwed
up or the times I didn’t know
any better, it would probably
start with something along the
lines of “Dear Me, you have no
clue what you’re getting into,” or
maybe more like “Dear Dumbass,
please try harder,” or possibly
even “Dear Idiot, if you don’t put
110 percent effort into the coming
months you are absolutely going
to regret it.” After that first
summer, I was overconfident,
unprepared and just straight-up
not ready for college.
Flash
forward
to
fall
semester freshman year and
I actually had to pick my own
classes (which I had never done
before) and basically decide
what I wanted to do with the
rest of my life. Or so I thought.
Ambitious as ever, I signed
up for the earliest class times
and, as a hopeful Engineering
transfer, thought it would be a
splendid idea to take all the core
classes at once (Engineering
100, Chemistry and Calculus).
To top it off, I also took the
LSA language requirement as
I was still an LSA student and
had not yet been accepted into
the College of Engineering. I
scheduled my classes back-to-
back-to-back-to-back, figuring
I would just get them all out
of the way, do homework for a
little bit afterward and hang
out for the rest of the day.
Spoiler alert: that is not how
college works.
I
wish
someone
would
have given me a reality check
about what college was really
like. Being a first-generation
student, I wasn’t able to consult
my parents in regard to how I
was supposed to go about the
whole college thing. I didn’t
have many friends in college
either, and I was afraid to ask
those who were. In high school,
I never thought very highly
of those who dropped out of
college, but I wish I had taken
the time to ask why they did.
After that fall semester I was
seriously considering taking
some time off myself. After that,
I was a little more sympathetic
to those who did decide to take
a break from school. College
sucked, man.
I have now been able to
settle into college and I feel
much more confident in my
ability to manage the work
involved, but if it hadn’t been
for the high expectations of
my family and friends, I might
be flipping burgers for a living
right now. I thought I was
alone in my situation, but I later
found out that this was not the
case. In fact, according to the
First Generation Foundation,
“Nationally,
89
percent
of
low-income
first-generation
students leave college within
six years without a degree”
and, “More than a quarter leave
after their first year.” Feeling
unable to finish college has
become a pretty significant
problem facing first-generation
students and, for me personally,
it was due to the lack of
preparation for college. I guess
it would seem I managed to
dodge a pretty large bullet.
If I could write a letter to
myself, knowing what I know
now, it would probably look
something like this:
Dear idiot, dumbass me,
First and foremost, you are
done with high school. It’s over.
Please don’t go out partying
if you have homework to do.
Yes, even if it’s the weekend
and all your friends are going.
Stop procrastinating and do
not prioritize a social life
over school because you are
really going to kill my GPA,
dude.
Second,
please
take
a
more
manageable
course
load, especially in your first
semester, because you will
have me considering dropping
out, for goodness sake. And
last, but definitely not least,
sit down and take some time
to think about your future.
Plan out what classes you
need to take and how you are
going to go about taking them.
Talk to an advisor if you need
to (just do it, man) — they are
way smarter than you. Oh, and
that calendar/schedule thing
that you thought you were too
good for? Well use it, idiot: it’s
so much more helpful than you
know.
Sincerely,
You, on a come up.
Lucas Dean can be reached at
lbdean@umich.edu.
An homage to freshman year
ALI SAFAWI | COLUMN
An open letter to CSG
D
ear
Central
Student
Government leaders,
As you take your new
seats as representatives of our
campus community, I would first
like to congratulate you on your
election and to wish you the best.
I hope that you are able to meet
the numerous challenges, both
old and new, with practicality
and grace. I am sure the new CSG
administration
and
assembly
will make positive change. With
that being said, allow me to offer
my suggestions as to how CSG
can address the growing mental
health crisis on our campus.
All of you ran with parties
whose platforms and campaigns
dedicated significant time to
mental
health.
For
instance,
MVision,
whose
candidates
won the presidency and vice
presidency, as well as a plurality
of assembly seats, ran a campaign
focused
on
recognizing
the
concerns of students with mental
health conditions as well as
other “invisible identities.” Both
MVision and the runner-up party
MomentUM also endorsed a goal
of reducing the student to mental
health professional ratio from
1,200 -to-1 to 1,000-to-1. I am
assured that you all believe that it
is a serious issue. Yet, realizing an
issue’s seriousness is only the first
step in taking concrete actions.
There are three interrelated
issues I would like to see CSG take
on: One, access to mental health
care; two, substance abuse; and
three, sources of chronic stress.
While hiring more mental
health providers and opening a
Counseling
and
Psychological
Services center on North Campus
are both worthy goals, more needs
to be done to ensure equitable
access to care on our campus.
First,
the
current
mental
health system, focused on CAPS
and the University Health Service,
requires students to travel to
receive care. This may not seem
like a significant issue for routine
care, such as biweekly counseling
sessions, but forcing students to
travel to seek care at the Union
or UHS could cause issues in
situations of trauma and crisis.
Let’s take a hypothetical but all
too probable situation of a student
in a dorm — say, Couzens —who
is in the middle of an emotional
crisis. Yes, residence advisers
are given basic training in crisis
management, but that may not be
enough. Now imagine having the
student in crisis, who could really
benefit from a face-to-face session
with a psychologist or social
worker, walk to CAPS. Add to that
the potential for bad weather or
the fact that emotional crises do
not solely occur during the open
hours of CAPS and you end up
with a detrimental situation for
the student already in a bad place.
I would ask CSG to work with
the Residence Halls Association,
University Housing and CAPS to
assign mental health professionals
to each dorm to make it easier
for students on campus to access
care. While many students live off
campus, the University has more
power to implement initiatives in
the dorms. We already have the
staff for this change, we just need
to put them in new offices. I realize
that the logistics of such a policy are
more complex than I have laid out,
but I believe such a change, which
would decentralize the mental
health system on campus, is both
achievable and worth the effort.
Second, CSG can play an
important role in addressing
substance
abuse
on
campus,
especially related to prescription
drugs. I have noticed almost all
of the substance abuse education
we get as University students is on
alcohol. While attention to alcohol
abuse is merited — 20 percent of
college students suffer from it —
there are other forms of substance
abuse on campus that pose a
danger to students.
Since the release of Netflix
documentary “Take Your Pills,”
there has been a new focus on the
nonprescription use of central
nervous
system
stimulants
such as Adderall and Ritalin by
college students. A survey by
The Michigan Daily found 24
percent of University students
use Adderall, whereas only 8.95
percent have a prescription for it.
Ignoring for now the academic
consequences of nonprescription
Adderall use, there is a real mental
health danger to students. For
instance, there are documented
cases of Adderall abuse driving
students to suicide.
Another prescription drug,
Xanax, also causes me concern.
According to the most recent
data from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, Xanax
is the fourth leading cause of
drug overdose deaths in the
U.S. Per an investigation by the
CUIndependent, students at the
University of Colorado Boulder,
a
similarly
prestigious
state
university, use Xanax often in
combination with alcohol to deal
with anxiety and panic attacks,
even without a prescription. While
I am not aware of any studies on
the prevalence of nonprescription
Xanax use on campus, I suspect it
would be comparable to Adderall.
While prescription drugs like
oxycodone carry a stigma and sense
of danger owing to the opioid crisis,
I feel the same cannot be said about
Adderall and Xanax. I encourage
CSG to work with the University on
a public health education campaign
about the dangers of using these
drugs
without
a
clinician’s
supervision and about campus
resources for those looking to break
their addiction.
Third, the University must
enter a culture shift to reduce the
dog-eat-dog academic environment
that breeds so much stress in
students. Academic stress is one
reason why students turn to
Adderall and Xanax. I remember
nearly pulling my hair out with
worry over my first organic
chemistry exam. This should not be
happening. While a culture shift
will take longer than one CSG
term, it is critical that we begin
a dialogue on how our academic
environment is directly affecting
mental health in negative ways.
Another stressor that needs
attention is the recurrent racist
incidents on campus. It is not
enough to declare racism or other
prejudice has no place on this
campus. Last year, students of color
found strong allies in former CSG
President Anushka Sarkar and
Vice President Nadine Jawad. I
hope current CSG President Daniel
Greene and Vice President Izzy
Baer will continue in that mold.
Let’s prevent mental health
problems from developing in the
first place.
Granted,
there
are
many
serious issues on our campus,
however, mental health is one
that touches the lives of all
students one way or another. I will
continue to advocate for better
mental health services on campus
and look forward to having allies
in CSG.
Warmest regards,
Ali Safawi
Julia Cohn can be reached at
julcohn@umich.edu.
Ali Safawi can be reached at
asafawi@umich.edu.
Spoiler alert: that
is not how college
works.
I get a little
choked up every
time I think about
leaving.
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Yet, realizing an
issue’s seriousness
is only the first
step.