Eleven Canadians commit suicide every single day. Of Canadians above the age of 15 who seek out mental health services, one third report that their needs are not met by the support provided to them.
U of T is currently developing a university-mandated leave of absence policy, which the university accredits as a mental health initiative. However, the current state of the policy remains inefficient and ambiguous, while overlooking the best interests of students struggling with mental health issues. If U of T moves forward with this policy, it should not claim that the policy is aiding mental health on campus.
The policy has received a lot of criticism, including a letter from the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Even in its current revised state, the proposed policy does not mandate that a medical professional play an active role in this process.
Section I, subsection c of the proposed policy lays out the threshold for which the Division Head of the student’s faculty may invoke the leave upon a student. Research has shown that patients suffering with mental illnesses often require collaboration between psychologists, psychiatrists, and family physicians in order to sustain the highest standard of living with their condition. A Division Head alone cannot truly understand the complexity of any student’s mental health condition, but this policy could be invoked without the Division Head ever consulting a medical professional.
Under section IV, subsection g of the policy, not only can the administration repeal the student’s access to campus health and wellness resources, but they can also prohibit the student’s participation in campus life, including “co-curricular and student life activities.”
Psychiatrist Victor Schwartz of the New York University School of Medicine says that students who remain enrolled in their university show lower suicide rates when compared to those who unenrolled and, subsequently, faced a decrease in socialization. Similarly, psychiatrist Paul Appelbaum of Columbia University advises that helping at-risk-students involves connecting them to an appropriate treatment, rather than isolating them from campus life. U of T’s policy grants the university the power to prohibit students from receiving proper care.
Mental illnesses can fluctuate in severity and grow exponentially. This policy is a bureaucratic process burdened by a punitive tone, which will not help a student in a mental health crisis. The policy’s elaborate implementation will increase the student’s stress from having to fight for their right to remain on campus. This stress will come from an increase in meetings, appointments, and paperwork, when the student’s limited time and dwindling energy should be channeled into recovering or stabilizing.
Furthermore, implementing this policy might evoke fear in more students and hinder their desire to reach out for support. The policy’s reprimanding components only feed into stigmas surrounding mental illnesses. U of T can justly reprimand students for not achieving their academic standards, but it should not remove a student drowning in a mental illness because of the restrictions their condition imposes.
This policy mistakes mental exhaustion with mental illness, but the two are not synonymous. Mental exhaustion might be remedied with a break, but mental illnesses require a multitude of resources that U of T already offers to its students and faculty. The university should focus on allocating these resources more appropriately.
Governing Council will consider the revised policy for final approval on June 27.
Katy Czajkowski is a fourth-year Book and Media Studies student at New College.
