Faculty Senate Chair Lynne Curry approaches the senate with a democratic mentality in mind.

She said, as chair, she sees Faculty Senate as a forum for faculty to address issues of concern to them and the campus community.

She added Faculty Senate is an opportunity for faculty to hear what certain administrators and guests have to say about a topic, and the senate allows faculty to ask those guests questions about a topic.

Today’s meeting at 2 p.m. in Booth Library conference room 4440 will be no different.

“That is what I had in mind when I invited these three particular guests,” Curry said.

Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs, Sandy Cox, director of the counseling center, and Rob Miller, university council, will speak to the senate today about the university’s ability to meet students’ mental health needs.

“It’s a really important issue, obviously, and there is really a lot to think about,” Curry said.

Curry said more than anything she hopes faculty and students have the opportunity to hear about the university meeting students’ mental health needs.

She added, for faculty members, the meeting today could familiarize faculty with how to do deal with a student who has a mental illness.

“If you don’t have experience with this – you have no one in your family, no friend, no student you ever encountered who’s dealing with these issues – you simply don’t know what to do,” Curry said. “You really don’t understand what it is that you are seeing in your student.”

She said the three guests cannot discuss individual cases of Eastern students. This includes the cases of former Eastern students Jill Manges and Nichole D’Antonio.

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, who graduated in December, had been on a behavioral contract since Feb. 23, 2005, for an eating disorder 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 allegedly sexually assaulted on campus Aug. 24, 2003. D’Antonio said the contract prevented her from being honest about her disorder.

While Cox, Nadler and Miller will not be discussing these specific cases today, Curry said they will be talking about the larger issue at hand – student’s mental health needs at Eastern.

“That is what their there to address and, obviously misinformation and misperceptions as well,” Curry said. “I think it would be helpful in that regard.”

Curry, who has served as a member of the judicial board in the past, said based on what she read and heard there was misinformation going around campus about the board.

She added misinformation about what Judicial Affairs’ role is and what a judicial hearing really is were a few examples.

“I noticed there is a lot of misperception about (Judicial Affairs),” Curry said. “To a large extent, I understand it because Judicial Affairs seems kind of mysterious to a lot of people.”

She said the university and Nadler took this issue seriously and worked to improve upon it right away.

Changes in how Judicial Affairs, the Counseling Center and Student Affairs handle situations like Manges’ and D’Antonio’s are already being worked on, Curry added.

She said Miller’s role for the meeting would be to address the confidentiality issues with the university and the Counseling Center’s ability to speak about specific cases of students with mental health needs.

“He could be a very important resource to clarify things – kind of clear up misinformation, misperceptions that people have,” Curry said. “I think it would be very helpful for him to explain what the law requires, for example.”

Curry said she has also received positive feedback from faculty for taking on this issue, and she hopes people will attend.

Every faculty and student is allowed to attend Faculty Senate meetings.

“This issue is extremely important, and all of us as faculty need to be more aware and educated about these kinds of things,” she said.

Nadler, Cox and Miller were unable to be reached for comment.

Stephen Di Benedetto can be reached at 581-7945 or at sdibenedetto@eiu.edu.