I can also say that I only finished school and am where I am today (professional school) because of my father, who had knowledge and resources at his hands, and was able to take advantage of Family Medical Leave. He ended up having to move out to where I was studying for the rest of the year (halfway across the country for a few months) in order for me to finish the semester and not be forced out of school. I was certain that if I quit school then, I would never start again. Staying in school helped me to remain connected with reality, and finally find the right treatment for me.

When I share my story, people are always shocked. People don’t realize that this is the norm – in fact, being expelled is often the norm, and I really got off easy and was otherwise treated well by my school. I realize that schools must consider the other students, but kicking a troubled student out is so often not in their best interest.

While Paganism and tarot certainly have many roots with the the ancient Celts (and mainly European as you pointed out) the modern Pagan movement is far more eclectic than that. Many people find their way to Paganism via other channels, for instance, for me it was a combination of a friend’s family religion and my own Native American heritage which I had a chance to re-explore after my daughter’s birth. The Neo-Pagan movement has many intersections with Native American spirituality which was very welcoming to me. Now, there are places where there is some appropriation involved, but I am sure it works both ways, if you asked those holding to the more pure Ancient Ways. I am sure they are intended to be sold to non-Natives who just ZOMG adore “all that Native stuff” just as much as to people who use them b/c they feel connected to their Native ancestry, as I do.

Tarot cards work along the same lines. Were you to walk into an occult shop (or even your local Borders) looking to purchase a deck you would find shelves lined w/ the many varieties of tarot available from the traditional to decks w/ artwork specifically for LGBTQI. I have owned a Native American tarot deck myself. The description is specific and appropriate, as the cards would be different depending on the deck. You use them the same, but the artwork is different for the same cards.

I hope I didn’t step on your toes, Abby.

I also liked how you brought up the class privilege and what role it plays. I had never thought about that before.

The infantilization of young adults feeds this, too. Rather than letting young adults deal with whatever issues arise, and helping when necessary, there is a trend towards preventing them from having any adult issues/experiences. Universities may complain about “helicopter parents,” but by cowing to that group, they’re feeding the monster. Living in close quarters with someone who is in the throes of a crisis could be a difficult situation, but that can be dealt with in a number of ways, and in ways specific to the individuals involved. Who knows, maybe a roommate could end up with a keener sense of empathy rather than just be traumatized. And maybe sometimes, splitting up the roommates is the right answer. But not exclusion or expulsion.

I’m sure that my daughter, now 7, will go to school and live amongst strangers someday. And the thought that she might have a roommate who is in crisis is unsettling. But I’ve dealt with that myself- my dad completed suicide two years ago after numerous attempts and hospitalizations. Some of the attempts put the family in the path of direct, physical harm. Would I help my child find other housing if the situation were dire? Yes. But I would be appalled if the university’s “help” came in the form of these policies.

Only doctors, nurse practitioners, and (depending on the state) midwives are allowed to prescribe medications, including giving out samples. If this was a master’s student who was not also one of those things, then it would be illegal in the US just as it is in the UK. I suspect that probably what happened is that the psychiatrist at the counseling center wrote the actual prescription and got the samples out of the cupboard, and the master’s student was the one who handed them to the poster. However, it is of course bad practice to do so without having the psychiatrist him- or herself do an evaluation, and it sounds as though that did not happen. If the master’s student did just give out the samples of her own accord, she broke the law quite seriously.

I do not know about other universities, but at my university, the disability office handles a lot of non-academic accommodations. You have to request them, though, and a lot of people do not know that you can. Disability offices’ profiles are much too low for my liking. Sometimes I felt as though my entire TA-ing life was spent informing students about what they could get through the disability office, and they were always shocked.