The Tar Heel Thursday, August 19; 198531
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By JANICE RYAN
Discovering that one is pregnant
can be one of the most joyous or the
most devastating experiences in a
woman's life. A planned pregnancy
is often a time of celebration, while
an unplanned pregnancy can elicit
feelings of shame, guilt, self-doubt,
anxiety, and depression.
Last year, according to Student
Health Service statistics, approxi
mately 161 UNC students expe
rienced an unplanned pregnancy.
This number only accounts for those
students who came to the Health
Service for care. There may be many
more students who were seen by
private physicians.
Why do so many intelligent,
educated students find themselves in
this situation? There are many
hypotheses, including contraceptive
method failure, embarrassment
about obtaining contraception, lack
of assertiveness (women being pres
sured into unwanted sexual activity),
Students
By JANICE RYAN
The divorce or separation of one's
parents can be a traumatic experience
regardless of one's age. Much has
been written about the impact of
divorce on the young child when
issues of custody, visitation, and
financial support are of major con
cern. However, a parent's divorce can
also be a traumatic experience for the
college student, according to many
students seen both individually and
in a group at the Student Mental
Health Service.
Last fall, a six week long group
was held for students whose parents
had been divorced anywhere from
five mdnths to eleven years. For those
Blacks
than whites, since the 1970s were a
period of great increases in the
number of both black professors and
black students. Many of these people
weren't around long enough to get
tenure, and were the first to go with
the cutbacks."
The decreasing popularity of black
studies classes at many schools
such departments have been com
pletely phased out also has fueled
the exodus of black profs.
"There are many fewer of those
kinds of programs around now than
there were in the seventies, and those
were the main departments for black
professors on many campuses," she
says.
At the same time, the number of
black students who go on to graduate
schools has dropped steadily, Melen
dez notes, creating a shortage of
black students who would have
become professors, especially in more
popular disciplines like computer
science and engineering.
"We have seen a steady decline in
the number of blacks getting Ph.D.s,
which is where you get your new
profs from," she says. "That is
beginning to show itself in a shortage
of blacks to fill new faculty
openings." ..
Melendez blames much of the
black prof shortage on "the whole
mood of the countrry vis a vis
affirmative action, especially the
- messages coming out of Washington
and the Reagan Administration that
they will not enforce' affirmative
action standards."
Among other things, she says, the
or an unconscious wish to have a
child to prove one's masculinity
feminity or to . "have someone to
love." Perhaps the most common
reasons seen among the college
population are feeling invulnerable
("It will never happen to me.") and
denial of sexual activity. Despite the
plethora of sexually exzplicit mate
rial in books, television, and movies,
the attitudes of the average American
toward pre-marital sexual activity are
quite negative. Many UNC stuents
are raised in families which are
adamantly opposed to pre-marital
sexual activity. When the student
comes to dollege, however, he or she
is exposed to many new people, new
ideas, and new freedoms which may
influence their attitudes. A man of
woman may therefore convince
themselves that it is acceptable to be
sexually active if it is "on the spur
of the moment" or it they are "swept
away." By obtaining contraception
with divorced paremtsfimd help at SHS
who were just beginning the adjust
ment process, there were many
questions about how to spend vaca
tion, time, relating to parents who
were suddenly depressed or depend
ent on the student for emotional
support, changes in the family's
financial status due to the expense
of maintaining two homes, and how
to deal with one's own feelings of
anger at your father for leaving your
mother, or vice versa.
For those who had lived with a
divorce for many years, the issues
were somewhat different. One under
graduate woman resented splitting
her time equally between her parents
during vacations, when she really
from page 30
government is requiring less report
ing of race and gender statistics from
college personnel offices, "which
plays an important role in making
sure colleges know their responsibil
ities and obligations."
As a result, "many schools have
only one or two black faculty
members out of a total faculty of
hundreds or even thousands."
Indeed, of over 1300 fulltime
faculty at the University of Missouri
Columbia, only 29 percent are black,
and of Texas Tech University's nearly
1000 profs, only five are black, the
NCES reports. .
Such low black white faculty
ratios, though, may actually help the
nation's struggling black colleges by
infusing them with new students who
want black teachers and mentors,
Melendez speculates.
"Since the minority populations
are the only ones that are showing
increases in their college age brackets
among whites, the college age
popualation is predicted to continue
to decline through the end of the
decade this could mean a big
boom for black colleges and a real
problem for white schools with all
white faculties," she explains.
To find more black profs, Melen
dez says schools need to offer more
opportinities for blacks to complete
graduate studies, and re-invigorate
affirmative action programs. ,
"If institutions are really commit
ted to diversity, it will take a number
of physical and financial commit
ments," she says. ...
ahead of time, students may reason,
they are planning, to be sexually
active, andthis may make them feel
guilty or immoral.
The truth of the matter is that the
odds of unprotected intercourse
resulting in pregnancy are very high.
What if you find yourself preg
nant? Where can you go and who
can you talk to? Teh Student Health
Service has a nurse practitioner who
spends 50 of her time counseling
men andwomen who are struggling
with the many decisions involved
with the discovery of an unplanned
pregnancy. The staff of the Mental
Health Section are also availabll to
halp men and women evaluate theri
alternatives. In the experience of the
SHS staff, women who have had
counseling prior to making a decision
about a pregnancy show much better
long-term adjustment than those who
hve not had counseling.
After a pregnancy test is con
wanted to be with her father in her
hometown. Another felt abandoned
when her father, to whom she was
very close, remarried a woman with
several other children and suddenly
had little time for her. Still another
concern was a fear of getting involved
emotionally with a boyfriend or
girlfriend, and risk making the same
mistakes as their parents had made.
Some students felt that they would
never marry as they would not want
to put their children through the
trauma of a divorce.
Adjusting to a parent dating was
of particular difficulty to most
students. As one group member said,
"I always just thought of her as
More tarassmerts
Bloomington, IN (CPS) More
female students are admitting they Ve
been sexually harassed oncampus by
professors, co-workers, administra
tors or classmates, a rash of recent
studies suggests.
And while the studies show about
one of every three women who. go
to college has been harassed,
researchers think the number reflects
women's increased willingness to
level charges, not increased
harassment.
The newest study by Indiana
University's Office of Women's
Affairs concludes 20 to 30 percent
of all female students have been
sexually harassed on campus, but
only two or three percent report it,
says D'Ann Campbell, IU's dean of
women's affairs.
The statistics, gleaned from 310
colleges, confirm other recent studies
that suggest women are more willing
to report harassment when there is
an on-campus support sevice.
"More women are bringing it out
in the open," Campbell says. "There's
not more going on, but more and
more women are reporting it, and
that helps a great deal." .
Since last year when two Univer
sity of Cincinnati researchers Bilie
Dzeich and Linda Weiner released
"The Lecherous Professor," schools
have been examining the procedures
women have to report harassment.
"Now at least institutions will
admit they have a problem," Camp
bell says. "But fully one-third, mostly
private schools, will have no grie
vance procedure, and that's
firmed, the woman and her partner,
if he wishes to be involved, are
scheduled to meet with a counselor.
They meet for 1-3 visits and review
all available options single par
enthood, adoption, marriage, of
abortion. The advantages and disad
vantages of each option are tho
roughly explored to give the woman
an opportunity .to decide on the
options which will best suit the needs
of herself, her partner, her family,
and the unborn child. This is never
an easy decision, as there are clear
advantages and disadvantages to
every option. Financial, Emotional,
and moral factors all need to be
carefully considered. The counselor
is cariful to remain objective and not
impose his or her values on the
student. All information is held in
strict confidence, and medical
records never become a part of the
student's general academic file.
Once the student has made a
'Mom.' Now she is worrying about
her hair and her clothes just like I
do. It's nice to have something in
common, but I liked it better when
she was the mother and I was the
kid."
Another problem common to most
students with divorced parents is
"feeling caught in the middle." This
is particularly troublesome when the
parents aren't speaking to each other
and expect their child to commun
icate messages back and forth or
answer questions about the otehr
parent's private life.
Participation in the support group
allows students with divorced or
discouraging."
"We know it (harassment) exists,"
author Weiner agrees. "We acknowl
edge it. All these studies help bring
harassment out of the closet, show
women students how to identify it
and how to confront it."
But while Kentucky, Michigan,
California, Iowa State, Penn State,
Harvard and other schools this year
found harassment complaints similar
to Indiana's, Weiner thinks most
schools are just discovering the
problem, not solving it.
"At the University of Cincinnati,
we have started education and
awareness programs to raise con
sciousness," she explains. "Indiana
now has joined Michigan in an
educational film on harassment to be
shown to freshmen. Each institution
wants, a way to deal with the
problem."
"The statistics validate again and
again the level of incidents," Weiner
notes. "But that level isn't going down
yet." .
"These surveys are important,",
continues Roberta Hall of the project
on the Status and Education of
Women. "They show the institutions
are responsible, and are helpful in
combatting what used to be a hidden
issue."
Hall agrees the number off inci
dents seems stable, but "the campus
studies keep victims from blaming
themselves," so more cases are
reported.
"It has a name now," she adds. "It
can be identified and clarified at
many levels: it's verbal. It's leers. It's
decision, she is assisted in locating
appropriate resources such as acop
tion agencies, medical clinics, or
financial aid offices. She may also
discus whither or ont to tell family
members or friends. The counselor
then schedules follow-up visits as
needed to provide on-going support
to the student regardless of the
decision made.
For many UNC students an
unplanned pregnance is the biggest
crisis of their lives. They are faced
with decisions they hoped they would
never have to make. But with careful
decision making, support from a
counselor and friends, students can
survive this crisis having learned a
lot about their partners and them
selves. If you need information about
contraception, call CHEC at 966
2281, ext. 275 or Women's Health
at the Student Health Service. For
pregnancy testing or counseling, caqll
966-3650.
separated parents to meet others who
are experiencing similar feelings, and
to learn from one another. For those
whose parents had just separated, the
oportunity to learn strategies from
those with more experience was most
helpful. And those with more expe
rience could look back and remember
how they felt when they first heard
those words "Your father and I are
getting a divorce" and see how far
they had come.
A new group will be starting this
fall. Any students whose parents are
divorced or separated are invited to
participate. Call 966-3658 for
information.
report!
touching and rape."
"It's no longer a mysterious,
debilitating problem, , for women
students," Weiner claims.
"In the last few years many insti
tutions have drawn up guidelines and
policies to - incorporate grievance
procedures," Hall adds; "And others
are being sensitized to the more subtle
forms of harassment particularly
evident in student professor
relationships."
"The surveys are often opportun
ities for women to give narratives and
show the impact of their harassment
experiences," site notes.
While the researchers admit the
studies don't stop harassment, they
hope they'll encourage more women
to discuss it.
Talk, in turn, will pressure "the
small minority of people in the
education system who harass women
students to change their behavior,"
Hall believes. -
"It's an abusive relationship, like
child abuse," Weiner explains. "And
the whole society is beginning to look
and understand."
"The main purpose of the surveys
is to document a widespread prob
lem, to help institutions recognize the
problem and devise policies to deal
with it," Hall says. "An institute itself
must take steps to insure it doesn't
happen."
"A burden has been lifted with
these studies," she adds. "Eight or ten
years ago, no one asked female
students questions like 'Are you being
attacked on campus?' "
v