Members of Women Studies are speaking out.

They met with Eastern President Bill Perry and three vice presidents Oct. 31 to express their concern about how Eastern handled the situations of students Jill Manges and Nichole D’Antonio.

Prior to the meeting, Women’s Studies sent a letter to Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs, detailing what the program would like to see changed for the future. Blair Lord, provost and vice president for academic affairs, and Jill Nilsen, vice president for external relations, also attended the Oct. 31 meeting.

Seventeen members and two additional faculty members signed the letter.

About 15 of those faculty members attended the meeting expressing three ideas.

Suzanne Enck-Wanzer, communication studies professor and member of Women’s Studies, said the group members wanted any person on the judicial board who is involved with a sexual assault case to have at least 40 hours of training from the Sexual Assault Counseling and Information Service.

Another concern the group members expressed at the meeting was for off-campus counselors to not be required to turn over their counseling notes of a student who is placed on a behavioral contract to the Counseling Center, Enck-Wanzer said.

Finally, they insisted the university needs a counselor who specializes in eating disorders to work in the Counseling Center, she added.

“They acted like they really wanted to move forward and make this better,” Enck-Wanzer said of the administration’s response to the meeting. “They said they would take our recommendations under advisement and keep talking to other groups on campus about this.”

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

Manges was offered a medical withdrawal after a judicial hearing determined she had violated the Student Code of Conduct by disrupting class. She signed the withdrawal on Sept. 20.

D’Antonio has been on a behavioral contract since Feb. 23, 2005, for an eating disorder that she developed at age 14. She had been symptom-free for two years prior to her transfer to Eastern in fall 2003, but the disorder reappeared after she was sexually assaulted on campus Aug. 24, 2003. D’Antonio said the contract prevents her from being honest about her disorder.

Enck-Wanzer said she personally feels it is a scary time for sexual assault victims to be on campus.

“It has not been a transparent process, which I think is very unfair to rape victims who may fear they have a similar response,” she said. “If someone has PTSD or an eating disorder, this has to be a real scary time to be on this campus because they do not know if they are going to be kicked off it if something happens.”

Enck-Wanzer has been working with domestic violence shelters and sexual assault crisis clinics since 1991 and is currently on the board of directors for SACIS and HOPE, a domestic violence shelter in Charleston.

She said a transparent process needs to be in place for situations like Manges’ and D’Antonio’s.

“The students are really being forced to leave. The university might say we are not forcing them to leave, but it is not really clear. It’s not clear to students what their options are and, if it is not clear to students, then you have perceptions that they are being forced out,” Enck-Wanzer said. “Maybe those perceptions are unfounded – but then the system needs to be a whole lot clearer.”

The university needs to treat mental health problems the same way as physical health problems, she said.

“If you are going to kick every person out who has an eating disorder and passes out in class, then we better be kicking out the kids who have diabetes,” Enck-Wanzer said. “I don’t see that being a consistent stance across the board.”

She added that PTSD and eating disorders are not behavioral problems.

“They are not choosing to engage in behaviors that are problematic to the university,” Enck-Wanzer said. “These are medical reactions.”

She said when situations like Manges’ and D’Antonio’s arise, Judicial Affairs should not be involved with them. She said it needs to be handled by a medical board – not a judicial board.

Nadler said he was pleased to hear Women’s Studies’ concerns.

“I think any time you bring people together who want to share ideas or have suggestions, and you are able to pull that off and get a good turnout, to me, that is a pretty successful initiative,” he said.

The members who attended the Oct. 31 meeting asked if they could be involved in the hiring of a new counselor that is set to start this spring.

Nadler said he agreed to their wishes.

“In all searches that we do, we try to involve students, faculty and staff,” he said. “Again, I see it as a very positive thing.”

As far as the members hoping to have Judicial Board members complete 40 hours of training from SACIS, Nadler said training is already taking place and has happened in the past.

But he was open to their concerns.

“We are always looking for ways in which to get some additional training,” Nadler said.

He added that there would be continued dialogue with Women’s Studies in the future.

Janet Marquardt, art professor and member of Women’s Studies, also signed the letter. She has spent six years counseling sexual assault victims in Los Angeles.

She said the members are upset by the way the university handles mental illnesses like PTSD and eating disorders.

“The other thing that really bothers us is PTSD is a physical condition that you get,” Marquardt said. “It’s psychological, but it becomes a physical problem, and we don’t treat it like that.”

She said, to her knowledge, the way Eastern uses behavioral contracts is detrimental to the student.

“For us as a university, who says they want to support students and help them, to turn around and add to that stress is crazy,” Marquardt said.

Enck-Wanzer said she is cautiously optimistic about the future.

“I think, like all bureaucratic systems, it is going to take a while before they are actually able to move forward,” she said. “I think it was at least a response, which is necessary.”

Women’s Studies would keep pressure on the administration until they start handling these situations better, she said.

“I think the proof will be in what they do next,” Enck-Wanzer said.

Fact Box:

Women studies listed four questions in the letter to better understand the university’s policies and procedures regarding situations like Manges’ and D’Antonio’s. Those questions are:

1. By whom and according to what guidelines are students suffering emotional distress being sent to the Judicial Board? What is the role of the Counseling Center? Why are the students’ major department and/or other faculty who could speak to their ability to function successfully in the classroom excluded from this group?

2. Is EIU becoming too intolerant of students experiencing emotional distress, applying one-size-fits-all zero-tolerance policies to a broad range of behaviors, conditions and diagnoses due to an exaggerated fear of threat to the institution?

3. Is it reasonable or fair to offer the students in questions the options of: (a) judicial suspension with the consequence of no tuition/fees refund but the possibility for appeal or (b) “voluntary” medical withdrawal, with refund of tuition/fees but no chance to appeal. This seems intrinsically coercive in nature, and designed to remove the student rather than arrive at the fairest possible outcome.

4. Is EIU, rather than assisting students, contributing to the victimization of those who have already been assaulted and are struggling to rebuild their lives?