Nichole D’Antonio thought she could trust Eastern.

D’Antonio lost that trust in January 2005, while she was seeing a counselor from Eastern’s Counseling Center.

D’Antonio had been coping with an eating disorder, which she developed at age 14 because of a family situation.

On Feb. 23, 2005, Judicial Affairs offered D’Antonio a behavioral contract for her eating disorder.

“I was told if I didn’t sign it then I would have to leave,” D’Antonio said. “Of course, I signed it.”

The university administers about 10 behavioral contracts each year, said Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs. Behavioral contracts are an informal resolution, so they have no formal tracking.

Her disorder had been dormant for two years prior to her transfer to Eastern in Fall 2003.

It slowly intensified throughout the Fall 2003 semester after she was assaulted at Eastern on Aug. 24, 2003 – her second night on campus.

Prior to seeing the counselor in January 2005, D’Antonio missed the entire Fall 2004 semester because she was placed on a medical withdrawal by the Counseling Center for her eating disorder.

She saw the counselor three times after returning to school in January 2005.

On the second visit, D’Antonio informed the counselor of a relapse in her recovery.

“It was around the time of my mom’s birthday, so I was getting pretty down,” D’Antonio said.

Her mom was an alcoholic, which she died from a year prior to D’Antonio’s transfer to Eastern.

On the third visit, the counselor told D’Antonio she had to leave campus.

“They told me I wasn’t getting better fast enough, and that the medical withdrawal was for me to leave and come back healthy,” D’Antonio said.

She said the Counseling Center wanted her to leave because D’Antonio was “beyond their help.”

D’Antonio added someone in the Counseling Center told her she was a liability. The center told her she had to leave Eastern again because she told her counselor that she relapsed, D’Antonio said.

On Feb. 16, one of D’Antonio’s professors met with Sandy Cox, director for the Counseling Center.

The professor helped D’Antonio from the time of the assault to when she was reinstated from the medical withdrawal.

The professor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, met with Cox to try to convince the center to let D’Antonio stay at Eastern, the professor said.

The professor told Cox at the meeting that D’Antonio was not a threat to herself or others, and Eastern was her only support system.

Seven days later, Judicial Affairs gave her an ultimatum: sign a behavioral contract or leave Eastern.

D’Antonio has been on a contract since Spring 2005. She graduates in December.

D’Antonio said she felt empowered to tell her story after she read how Judicial Affairs handled the Jill Manges case.

Manges had a flashback, a symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, while trying to leave her classroom in Coleman Hall on Sept. 5.

Manges, who was diagnosed with PTSD in 2004, was suspended by Judicial Affairs for two semesters after a Sept. 13 hearing. Judicial Affairs said she violated two parts of the student conduct code. Both violations pertain to disruption of the classroom environment and university functions.

Manges was offered a medical withdrawal after the hearing, which she signed on Sept. 20.

Before the Fall 2004 semester was about to begin, D’Antonio met with the Counseling Center.

“They told me (Judicial Affairs) dropped my classes, and that I had to leave,” D’Antonio said.

She said she was then offered a voluntary medical withdrawal, which she signed.

“I didn’t think it was voluntary at all,” D’Antonio said. “They may call it that, but I never thought that.”

After withdrawing, D’Antonio lived in her Charleston apartment from the middle of August to the end of September.

She had difficulties finding a counselor while on withdrawal because her only insurance was through the university.

“I finally got two weeks of help, and it was like pulling teeth to get my dad to pay for that,” she said. “He wasn’t exactly the most helpful parent with that.”

Her dad lives in California and they occasionally speak, but the relationship is strained.

She said she only had two weeks of counseling because insurance could only pay for that amount.

After the two weeks of treatment in Chicago, she went back to her Charleston apartment and stayed there the rest of the summer. She did not receive additional counseling after returning from Chicago.

D’Antonio said the university made her leave once but reinstated her for the Spring 2005 semester.

She was seeing a counselor from the Counseling Center from the time of the assault to the time she signed the withdrawal.

‘I feel that all the contract did was silence me’

D’Antonio said the university had lofty expectations for her and her recovery when they offered her the behavioral contract on Feb. 23, 2005.

“I was expected to be symptom-free from that day on,” she said. “I feel that all the contract did was silence me. I knew after signing it that I could not be honest about my recovery because it was not perfect.”

Heather Webb, director of Judicial Affairs, said behavioral contracts are designed to give a student structure and support if the student is struggling with the college atmosphere.

Situations that warrant a behavioral contract are reported to Judicial Affairs, she said. The office then investigates the situation to see if a behavioral contract is applicable.

D’Antonio said she never met with anyone from Judicial Affairs prior to the contract being offered.

The Feb. 23 meeting was brief, she said.

“All they did was read my contract, and I had to sign it,” she said. “I was in there for about five minutes.”

Webb, however, took over as Director of Judicial Affairs at the start of the Fall 2006 semester.

Keith Kohanzo was director for 27 years, prior to Webb. Kohanzo declined to comment.

Webb said the procedure of implementing behavioral contracts has not significantly changed since she took over as director.

“There have been some minor things that we’ve changed in terms of communication with the Counseling Center to sort of streamline the process to be a little more efficient,” she said.

Nadler said the overall procedure of implementing behavioral contracts have been in place since Kohanzo was director of Judicial Affairs.

He added behavioral contracts are designed to help support and provide students resources they need to be successful academically, professionally and personally. Behavioral contracts are a reinforcement of behaviors that should already be taking place, he said.

“It is very sensitive, and I think the staff does an incredible job of trying to balance, and show the compassion toward the individual in the context of the larger community,” he said.

Many students have been pleased with the behavioral contract process, and the contracts helped steer them to a successful recovery, he said.

Nadler was not with Eastern during the time D’Antonio signed a behavioral contract. He began his position at Eastern on Aug. 1, 2005.

Nadler and Webb said they could not comment on D’Antonio’s situation because of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

‘This is not considered disciplinary action’

There are nine provisions to D’Antonio’s behavioral contract.

One provision reads, “You must refrain from all intentionally self-injurious behavior.”

Another provision reads, “You must refrain from behaviors that contribute to disordered eating patterns (such as purging, laxatives, restriction, etc.).”

Webb said Judicial Affairs makes an important distinction with students who are placed on a behavioral contract.

“This is not considered disciplinary action,” Webb said. “This is considered to be an intervention in lieu of disciplinary action.”

She added the office wants students to understand behavioral contracts are intended to help them.

“We never say to a student ‘you are not allowed to have feelings; you are not allowed to feel sad,'” Webb said. “We encourage students to have those feelings, but along with that is the encouragement that you deal with them appropriately.”

Webb said the office informs a student, who is placed on a behavioral contract, of the possible consequences if they violate the contract.

“If a student chooses to not observe their behavioral contract, I make sure students are very, very clear on (the consequences) before they leave my office,” she said.

If Judicial Affairs finds a student has violated his or her contract, the violation can be handled in a few ways.

“If there is a misunderstanding, we clarify that and try to move on with the student,” Webb said. “We talk about how we can make sure this doesn’t happen again in the future.”

Webb added if it were obvious the student is not trying to follow his or her contract, the student would then be subject to the disciplinary process.

Depending on who handles the case, a person within Judicial Affairs writes behavioral contracts.

“I think our area is extremely well equipped to handle this,” Webb said. “We’ve been doing this for a while.”

Each contract has a general outline, but contracts are specifically written to the individual situation, Webb said. Other institutions have contacted her wanting to know how Eastern uses behavioral contracts because Eastern has a good reputation with using contracts, she said.

Nadler said contracts are not typically used for some of the traditional behaviors the public would think about in regard to student discipline.

“If someone gets intoxicated and throws a brick through a window, they will, probably, not be under a behavioral contract,” Nadler said.

If it is clear the student is struggling, the university will use contracts to provide that student additional structure and assistance to help them become successful, he said.

Webb said a student is not placed on a behavioral contract because they have a mental illness or because they have an eating disorder.

“They are placed on contract because there is a behavior that they have exhibited that has been disruptive to our community,” she said. “Sometimes that behavior is related to a mental illness or an eating disorder, but they are not under contract because of the illness.”

She added there are no exceptions to why Judicial Affairs would place a student with a mental illness or eating disorder on a behavioral contract.

“That is a fact,” Webb said.

‘They had no evidence that I was disrupting the community whatsoever’

D’Antonio said she believes she was not a disruption to the university.

“The only reason I (was placed on) a behavioral contract was from what I had shared with my counselor,” she said.

The professor who met with Cox told her how well D’Antonio was doing and that she was not a threat to herself or others, D’Antonio added.

“They had no evidence that I was disrupting the community whatsoever,” she said.

D’Antonio added she never had an incident in class and was not living in the residence halls.

She said she could not even speak openly about her feelings because “you are punished for it.”

She added the contract made her feel like she was being punished for having an eating disorder.

She lost her structure when she was placed on a behavioral contract because she was seeing a counselor before signing the contract, D’Antonio said.

“It didn’t do anything but take away my support,” she said. “It made me scared to be honest. That is all the contract did.”

Another provision in her contract prohibits her from seeing a counselor from the Counseling Center.

“I was in the process of getting help,” D’Antonio said. “They just wanted a perfect recovery. I couldn’t give that to them, and I think anyone with an eating disorder or any sort of addiction can’t give a perfect recovery.”

In that provision, D’Antonio has to see a counselor from an off-campus source.

She sees a counselor from the Coles County Mental Health Center as often as her expenses allow. Her school insurance is her only coverage and it doesn’t cover an off-campus counselor.

As a part of that provision, the off-campus counselor has to send his or her office notes from the meetings with D’Antonio once a month to the Counseling Center for review, D’Antonio said.

She added the contract did not have a therapeutic value to it, and that it caused more stress and anxiety because she had to pretend everything with her eating disorder was fine.

She was doing everything she had to do to recover before she was placed on a contract, she said.

“They don’t want to deal with it because, as I was told several times, I am a liability,” D’Antonio said.

She said the contract itself is ridiculous.

“If they must have it, they should get a doctor to write it because you can’t stop an (disorder),” D’Antonio said. “(The contract) made me learn I can’t tell the truth, and it took away my support.”

‘. There is no therapeutic alliance between a large body and an individual.’

Georgette Hein is a Clinical Psychologist and has been practicing for 11 years. She is currently employed at the Gurnee Counseling Center in Gurnee and specializes in clients who suffer from chronic physical ailments, those dealing with grief and with survivors of sexual abuse.

Hein is familiar with behavioral contracts for therapeutic purposes and has used them before. Hein has never treated D’Antonio but looked at the contract D’Antonio signed as a mental health professional.

She said the contract looked more like a legal document than a document that was therapeutic in nature.

“There is a body of people (instead of a therapist) and an individual involved, so it’s not therapeutic in nature, but in the very beginning, when you’re talking about behavior being in violation of the student code of conduct, that in itself sounds like it’s going to be in a legal stance rather than a therapeutic stance,” she said.

Hein said a behavioral contract is not unusual in cases like D’Antonio’s; however, the conditions under which it was written do not seem therapeutic.

Hein said in a therapeutic relationship between a therapist and a client, this kind of a behavior contract is often used when a client might be suicidal or having difficulties which might lead to injuring himself, herself or another person.

“When we do the behavioral contracts between therapist and client, it’s based on an already established therapeutic alliance and that relationship is built on trust and the understanding from a client that the therapist’s primary purpose is to keep the client safe and moving toward help,” Hein said.

After looking at D’Antonio’s contract, Hein said she was not confident it had a clear therapeutic primary purpose.

“Based on the fact that it’s between a larger body and the individual, I don’t know how that would work, because there is no therapeutic alliance between a large body and an individual,” she said.

Fact Box

Behavorial Contracts

The issue: Nichole D’Antonio said she was asked to sign a behavioral contract after exhibiting symptoms of an eating disorder.

The terms: There were nine conditions D’Antonio had to meet to stay at Eastern. Among them, she was asked to avoid “personally injurious behavior,” “behaviors that contribute to disordered eating patterns,” and to avoid harming herself or commenting about it, whether it be in “jokes, joking references and sarcastic or flippant remarks.”

The punishments: In the contract, it stated that failing to meet conditions would “likely result” in the following: parental notification, revocation of housing contract and expulsion from campus housing, “suspension from the university and involuntary withdrawal from the school for behavioral and/or psychological reasons.”

Nichole D’Antonio was asked to leave Eastern campus while trying to recover from an eating disorder after seeking help from the counseling center. The Counseling Center informed D’Antonio that she was beyond their help and was asked to take a medical with

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