Student body president candidates' wellness plans a bit lofty, experts say

Student body president candidates aim to bring student wellness to the campus conversation, including ideas about sexual assault prevention and mental health.

“I think if we don’t talk about a problem, if we don’t bring it up, if we don’t recognize that certain students on campus are privileged in ways that others are not ... then stigma just grows and grows,” candidate Houston Summers said.

Summers and candidate David Marsh want to advocate for change at Counseling and Psychological Services.

CAPS director Dr. Allen O’Barr said he would welcome conversation with the student body president, but rapid changes would be difficult.

“Sometimes mental health changes or changes in perspectives around mental health can be things that really need much longer than a year to be in effect,” he said.

Summers' platform includes the goal of raising more money for CAPS to provide more resources for students. Marsh is aiming for unlimited resources at CAPS, beginning with an increase in the time a student can spend in therapy.

O’Barr said the eight-week time cap for therapy sessions was lifted three years ago, and students can now continue to see therapists unless they require long-term therapy.

“If that’s not clear to the student body, then we still have an issue of communication,” he said.

O’Barr said establishing long-term therapy, which Marsh and Summers support, would require CAPS to at least double its staff.

“Increasing funds of course would help, but part of that might go toward finding space because right now we really are packed to the brim and could use more people,” he said.

Candidate Kathryn Walker said it is the student body president’s job to make sure every student feels safe on campus, which means working to prevent sexual assault.

“We’re afraid to talk about it. We’re afraid to look the problem in the face and handle it. That’s ridiculous,” Walker said.

Marsh wants to increase funding for the Carolina Women’s Center in order to hire a second gender violence services coordinator and a team of counselors.

The center’s gender violence services coordinator is a confidential resource for students on campus.

Summers proposed trained party monitors, which he said would be a preventative measure against sexual assault.

“I want to be very clear that this is not a tattletale program that the University will put in place so the administration knows what’s going on,” Summers said.

Marsh and Walker said they see benefits of required online trainings, but Walker wants to integrate trainings into the Lifetime Fitness courses that all students are already required to take.

“By incorporating sexual assault training, mental awareness training, body image things into LFIT classes — which have really just become a joke at Carolina — we can address these issues and have part of our curriculum that our students have to learn about these things head on,” Walker said.

Becca Battaglini, director of the lifetime fitness and physical activity programs, said while the student body president can make changes to LFIT courses, reforms must be examined carefully.

“LFIT has only one credit hour, so the more that is trying to be added on to what is offered in LFIT, it’s kind of losing the whole fitness focus and getting into a health class,” she said.

university@dailytarheel.com

CORRECTION: Due to a reporting error, a previous version of this story mischaracterized Houston Summers' platform ideas about CAPS resources. Summers plans to prioritize fundraising for CAPS in order to improve resources for students. The story has been updated to reflect this change. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.