I Went To Harvard. You Shouldn’t. Part III
On appearances, liability, and inadequate mental healthcare
[TW: this piece includes a discussion of mental health issues, including suicide]
Also, this is Part III of a series. Part I can be found here. Part II is here.
Harvard is a place where feeling seen can be impossible, where the more marginalized and less privileged students can get churned through the unstoppable gears of a machine that seems destined to serve those that don’t need it in the first place.
If you suffer from mental health issues, you have two options: seek help at University Health Services, which has a reputation for being woefully inadequate, or shut up about it and try to act normal.
Most opt for the latter.
You might think it’s students telegraphing this message to each other, but you’d only be partially right. It’s everyone who represents the university, too.
In the fall of my senior year, a student in my dorm jumped from his ninth story room.
As I returned from a morning appointment at Massachusetts General Hospital, I found caution tape and a crowd of first responders near the dorm, Leverett House (upperclass dorms at Harvard are called “Houses,” and house leadership used to…
