Brown and White Vol. 117 no. 20

              Vol. 117 No. 20
Friday, November 13, 2009
‘All the Lehigh News First’
THE BROWN AND WHITE
Lehigh University’s Student Newspaper Founded in 1894
SPORTS
Men’s soccer heads
to semi-finals Page 16
ONLINE
Fulbright scholar applications rise
www.thebrownandwhite.com
Making sense
of the bar scene
Page 7
LIFESTYLE
More students seeking mental health help
By DANA GIALLONARDO
The number of college students seeking mental health services locally and nation­ally has noticeably increased this year and in recent years, according to a recent article published in The Philadelphia Inquirer. But has this increase affected the students at Lehigh?
Although the Lehigh Counseling and Psychological Services Center is not over­booked with appointments due to the center’s hours and capacity, the Center has experienced a definite increase in not only the number of students who choose to seek out its services, but also in the severity of the issues students are seeking help for, ac­cording to the director of the center, Dr. Ian Birky.
“We’re limited by the center’s restric­tions,” Birky said. “So the number of stu­dents we see overall has probably remained the same.”
But, according to Birky, the issues and frequency have changed.
Counseling Services, which will see 10 to 20 percent of all Lehigh students per year and over the course of four years, has not conducted research to statistically prove the increase, but they have started the process and should have conclusive evidence within the next five years, according to Birky.
“This time last year, six students were in crisis and sought out help in the month of October,” Birky said. “This year, over that same period of time, we saw 17 students.”
Dr. Susan Kitei, director of the Health and Wellness Center, said she believes the number of students seeking mental help from the Health Center has also risen over the years.
“This is likely because there are many more safe medications that primary care providers can prescribe,” she said. “Years ago, most prescriptions for these mental health issues were written by psychiatrists, but that is not currently the case.”
Kitei also believes that there is less of a stigma in seeing a physician, nurse practitio­ner or psychologist for a mental health issue than there may have been years ago. People, including college students, are more com­fortable going for psychological counseling and taking medications, she said.
“We think that we’ve seen more severe kinds of issues over the past couple of years,” Birky said.
Bipolar disorder and psychotic breaks, which include drug-induced psychosis or schizophrenic episodes, are some of the severe issues the center is seeing, according to Birky.
Drug-induced psychotic episodes can happen when students go out without sleep­ing for days and take drugs or alcohol. Mix­n
The number of students using counseling and psycho­logical services is increasing.
Class studying options for underused space
By IZZY BREIT
Students in this year’s In­tegrated Learning Experience class are working to build some­thing in the space between Mc­Clintock-Marshall and Drinker dormitories. This area is known as the pergola.
“The idea is to renovate that area in a way that will make it more useful for students and more aesthetically pleasing for the campus community,” said Professor Vincent Munley.
Integrated Learning Experi­ence 2009, also known as Ath­letic Complex Design, is aimed toward integrating students of different majors to work together on a semester-long project.
“Most classes at Lehigh are geared toward one specific major,” said John Collins, ’12, a marketing and finance major. “This class is more like real life. It is an interdisciplinary course. It’s almost like an internship.”
The team of 11 students cre­ated a survey to get students’ opinions about a good use of space in the pergola.
“Right now we are waiting to see what the feedback is from the student population,” Collins said.
Architect major, Nicole Page, ’10, said, “We are making a pro­posal for what the school needs and what the students want.”
The survey asks various ques­tions indicating that an amphi­theater and an athletic complex are both under consideration for plan proposals.
“The site is on a hill and could be converted to an out­door amphitheater,” Collins said. “There is also a flat area in the Pergola, which is a valuable piece of land on a campus this hilly.”
Collins is in charge of manag­ing the team of students, which is composed of students from many majors. The students in­clude civil engineers, architects and English majors.
“It’s definitely a diverse team. It’s kind of like a new hybrid group of friends,” Collins said.
Page also said the diversity of the team makes the class unique.
“The class is great,” she said. “It is interesting to work together and collaborate on the work de­sign scenario.”
Athletic Complex Design has had successful results in its past projects. Ulrich was the first design proposed by Athletic Complex Design students. The class was also responsible for designing the golf facility and the cross-country course.
“Students are involved only at the design and planning stage and not in the actual construc­tion of the project,” Munley said.
According to Munley, stu­dents were responsible for 98 percent of the planning that went into the other Athletic Complex Design projects.
“I manage most of what’s going on,” Collins said. “I help organize and delegate tasks and motivate people to get after what
Surprise ‘flash mob’ raises sexual violence awareness
By MELISSA COLLINS
Students performed a “flash mob” event Monday night in Lin­derman Library to raise aware­ness about sexual violence.
A flash mob is when a group of people carry out an unusual or surprising act that the public is not expecting.
“The point of a flash mob is to draw attention to yourself or to bring an issue into awareness,” said Steve Bialick, ’10.
Flash mobs usually last a few minutes. However, Monday night’s event only lasted 90 seconds.
“We chose that time because every 90 seconds a woman is sexually assaulted,” said Kristen Mason, ’10.
At exactly 8 p.m., the group collapsed to the ground all at the same time. The students who were studying in the library at the time were generally confused and surprised.
“I didn’t really know what was going on,” said Nicole Cilcco, ’13. “It definitely grabbed people’s attention.”
Kyle Nagarkar, ’12, was also caught off guard.
“I saw it all coming together as a demonstration of some sort, but it caught me by surprise,” Nagarkar said. “They handed out papers, and I couldn’t help but read it. There was a lot of stuff that I didn’t know.”
After watching the event take place, Brandon Feil, ’10, thought it was successful.
“It was a lot more in your face,” Feil said. “It’s good that they are bringing it to the atten­tion of the Lehigh community in a more public way.”
The flash mob event was organized as a requirement for the new Women’s Studies class “Sexual Violence,” that is taught by Michelle Issadore, the assistant director of the Women’s Center.
“I intended for the class to be a way to talk about sexual violence in an academic setting,”
See MOB Page 3
See STUDY Page 4
See HEALTH Page 3
B&W photo by CHRIS CHEW
Participants in the International Flag Parade marched through campus on Wednesday afternoon as part of the International Week festivities.
A worldly walk