UHS Seeks Increased Attendance at Programs

Facing a two-thirds drop in attendance at first-year peer counseling outreach programs, student co-directors of five University Health Services groups banded together last Friday to convince Dean of Freshman Elizabeth S. Nathans that first-years need more exposure to their services.

Last year, each first-year entryway was required to attend at least four roughly hour-long sessions on issues ranging from eating disorders to sexual orientation, depending on entryway preference.

But this academic year, a new system was implemented which removed the "mandatory" label surrounding these peer counseling out-reaches, resulting in a significant drop in attendance.

"Only 38 [outreaches were] done this past fall semester while 114 were done the fall semester before that," said Tobias B. Kasper '97, one of the co-directors for Peer Contraceptive Counseling.

Jeremy M. Vander Weele '96, co-director for Room 13, says the drop in outreaches is particularly important because he thinks some entryways have had several out-reaches while others have had none at all.

The system is currently structured so that each entryway has at least one peer representative who is responsible for coordinating with peer counseling groups on outreach dates and proctor group attendance.

According to Vander Weele, this ultimately means that entryways with dedicated peer representatives are receiving all of the outreaches.

Kasper said the group "wants the outreaches to be called 'attendance expected,"' which "would ensure that those people who aren't coming to hear one of these because they want to watch 90210" will attend.

According to Kasper, the group of co-directors is also pushing for time at a mandatory meeting during freshman week.

The Undergraduate Council agrees, and it passed a resolution last month that reaffirmed the group's plan.

Weld Hall peer representative Shannon E. Delage '99 said she thinks the College should introduce the students to the peer counseling available on campus during freshman week.

"My feeling is that the people who need help are often times the people who don't go," Delage said.

But, Josh M. Robbins '99 said, he is against any outreach that would be mandatory.

"It just feels like you are being preached to," Robbins said.

Lisa M. Kelly, a proctor in Canaday B entry, said that peer outreaches were important and have been well-done by counseling groups this year.

"I do think proctors should take a role in encouraging freshman to go to outreaches," Kelly said.

Assistant Dean of Freshmen Eleanor Sparagana said in a previous interview that last year when proctors dealt with peer counseling groups there were numerous scheduling problems.

She added that these problems had resulted in a division within the first-year community. She also said that this division prompted the change to the current policy.

According to Kasper, Dean Nathans has thus far objected to changing the current system.

"She thinks the system had some kinks this year, but give it a couple of years and it will work itself out," he added.