Issue date: 10/6/07 Section: News

Jill Manges suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. She believes this is the reason she is being forced to leave Eastern. Robbie Wroblewski/The Daily Eastern News

Jill Manges was raped at age 9.

At the age of 14, she was raped again and then trafficked for sex between the ages of 14 and 15.

She believes she is being forced to leave school because of it.

Manges developed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder because of her troubled past.

Manges said she has flashbacks - an episode where an individual sees an image or feels a sensation from what he or she felt in the past - from time to time because of the severity of what happened to her.

Jane Wilson, director of the counseling service for the Sexual Assault Counseling and Information Service, said flashbacks are a common symptom of PTSD. PTSD can develop when someone has experienced domestic violence, has been in a natural disaster or has been sexually assaulted.

"To meet criteria, the person has to have experienced some sort of life-threatening event or, possibly, one that was really intensely shameful," Wilson said.

The incident

Manges had a flashback Sept. 5 in a French history class.

"I felt triggered, and I knew that I was going to have a flashback, so I got up from my chair and tried to leave the room," Manges said. "I didn't make it in time."

Manges was officially diagnosed with PTSD in March 2004, but said she has had it since she was 9 years old.

Manges, a junior, said she remembers getting up from her seat in after being triggered. The next thing she remembers is being on a stretcher near an elevator in Coleman Hall.

David Smith, who teaches Manges' class, instructed students to alert the Emergency Medical Team of the incident.

From the stretcher, Manges told the EMTs she was fine and there was nothing physically wrong with her. She said she did not want to go to the hospital because of the expenses, and the EMTs eventually released her.

She said she has dealt with flashbacks before and knows how to handle herself.

On the same day as her flashback, a voicemail told Manges she had to meet with Judicial Affairs the next day and should meet with a counselor beforehand.

Manges met with a counselor, where they talked about what happened and about PTSD. She met with another counselor, who prepped her for 3 minutes for her meeting with Judicial Affairs.

During the meeting, she was told she needed to have her parents come down for a consultation meeting.

The consultation meeting occurred on Sept. 7 and a formal judicial hearing occurred on Sept. 13. Manges was notified of the outcome on Sept. 13 and the conclusion was she violated Standard I Violation D and Standard IV Violation A of the Student Conduct Code.

She was suspended for two semesters effective immediately and was offered a medical withdrawal form.

In order for her to receive tuition reimbursement and prevent a suspension from appearing on her transcript, she signed the form Sept. 20.

She is still forced from attending school for two semesters.

Manges said the university also knew of her condition because she detailed it in her housing contract because she was uncomfortable with the idea of using a communal bathroom.

Heather Webb, director of judicial affairs, said the office deals with students once they cross over into an area where it is a behavioral concern.

Manges believes she was forced out of school because she has a mental illness and the university is afraid an incident like the one that happened on Virginia Tech's campus in April could occur on Eastern's campus.

She said the university is ignorant of mental illnesses.

Standard I of the Student Conduct Code reads, "Eastern students observe the highest principle of academic integrity and support a campus environment conducive to scholarship."

Violation D of this standard reads, "Conduct which disrupts the academic environment; disruption in classes, faculty offices, academic buildings, or computer facilities."

Smith said Manges collapsed by the doorway and started crying and screaming. He added she was not responsive when he tried to talk to her. He said the students in the class appeared to be fine throughout the incident.

"The class sat quietly in their seats," Smith said. "It was not at all chaotic. It was much the opposite."

Nick Tippet, a senior history major, also was in the class.

"I would not say anyone was disturbed by this incident," Tippet said. "We were all just concerned about her, and those people who knew her tried to give us updates about how she was."

The university is not able to speak about specific cases due to the Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

The medical withdrawal

Webb said Judicial Affairs does not always offer, and is not required to offer, a student multiple options of resolution when meeting with them.

Other options beside a medical withdrawal or a formal hearing, is a behavioral contract, which is a written document where a student pledges to the office they are going to do what they need to do to take care of themselves.

If a student violates the contract, he or she may be subject to action through Judicial Affairs, Webb said.

Manges said she gained the impression a formal hearing was the only option of resolution for her until the medical withdrawal was offered to her after the decision from the hearing was final.

Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs, said a part of the university's responsibility is to help students develop a healthy lifestyle and skills that will help them in the future. He added a medical withdrawal allows for a student to take time off, utilize additional resources not available on campus and to be with family during a stressful time in life.

"I think helping students learn life skills that are going to last a lifetime would be much more important, and much more valuable, versus whether you graduate in the fall, the spring, or the summer," Nadler said.

Medical withdrawals are either handled by the Counseling Center or Health Service depending on if it is a psychological or physical issue.

"These are voluntary medical withdrawals for psychological reasons," said Sandra Cox, director of the Counseling Center.

Manges said she did not choose to withdraw.

"This was a decision made for me," Manges said. "Not to mention that I feel it is an unfair one."

Because the Counseling Center and not Judicial Affairs handles a medical withdrawal for psychological reasons, a person's right to appeal a judicial hearing is taken away.

Wilson, who has been a counselor for 13 years and has worked specifically in sexual assault for five years, said a medical withdrawal would not help the recovery of a sexual assault victim with PTSD who is getting by academically.

Wilson added the only exception is with a student who is not able to go to class because of depression or he or she has panic attacks because they cannot leave their room. If that is the case, then a medical withdrawal is a viable option.

"Part of what their treatment has involved is identifying things that will add meaning to their lives, and usually school is one of those things," Wilson said. "(School is) maybe one of the reasons why they keep working on their symptoms because getting the degree is really important to them."

Wilson added she has talked to plenty of students who said leaving school has made their life very difficult.

The Counseling Center and Judicial Affairs

Manges said the first counselor who saw her after the incident was skeptical.

"It seemed that the counselor doubted that I had PTSD," she said.

Cox said every one of her staff members is a licensed mental health professional. She added her staff has a very good knowledge base on behavioral disorders and mental illnesses.

She said most of her staff has been in the field for a minimum of 10 years. Cox has been in the field for 19 years.

There are seven professional counselors, four interns and one administrative assistant working at the center.

Cox said the Counseling Center does not hear many complaints from students.

"We can only keep doing what we are doing (so) people learn from experience versus from someone who might have their own personal agenda for speaking negatively about us," Cox said.

Manges said that during her Sept. 6 meeting with Judicial Affairs, she was repeatedly told how much of a disturbance she caused on Sept. 5.

"I was initially upset because she kept saying how traumatized the other students were who experienced this," Manges said. "I was offended by that."

She realizes what the students experienced was probably upsetting, but she felt comparing what they went through on Sept. 5 to what she experienced through her life was unreasonable, Manges said.

"I said something along the lines of 'Oh, poor them,'" Manges said. "That was actually used against me in the hearing."

The judicial affairs employee testified against Manges on Sept. 13.

Webb said students are aware of what they say while meeting with an employee can be used in hearing later on.

Manges said she does not remember being notified of that.

"Nothing was mentioned in any of my meetings with Judicial Affairs about them using what I said to them in a hearing," Manges said.

'I feel very betrayed by the school'

Manges planned to take independent study with Smith over the coming summer, but will not be able to because of the medical withdrawal.

She said she planned on going to graduate school and applying to graduate programs in fall 2008.

Manges added everything she planned for her life has been put on hold.

"I feel very betrayed by the school and very angry," she said. "It has given me doubts about my own sanity and ability to heal, despite knowing that I have no real reason to doubt it."

Manges said she is unsure if she will return to Eastern.

She added she also has student loans.

By being withdrawn from school for two semesters, Manges will start repaying her loans in March.

"Any student who seizes to be enrolled at least full-time for six months begins repayment on their loans," said Jone Zieren, Eastern's director of financial aid.

She added people are allowed a 6-month grace period on paying student loans after they graduate or leave school.

If Manges decides to go to a different school after her suspension is through, she will have to reapply for student loans, but that applies to any student who decides to transfer from schools, Zieren said.

Cox said the university has never forced any student to leave against their will.

"I have never known any staff member - whether it be the Counseling Center, Judicial Affairs, Health Service or anyone involved in this area - ever make a decision for any other basis besides trying to secure the well being of that student," Cox said.

Nadler said students who think they are being forced to leave school for having a mental illness or a behavioral disorder are incorrect.

"I can tell you that I'm not aware of one person in the past two years since I've been here who has been suspended or expelled for anything like that," Nadler said.

Nadler added students might have something negative to say out of frustration or personal disappointment because they are not attaining what they want to within the timeline they established for themselves.

"I have empathy for that," Nadler said. "But what is more important: graduating this semester or getting healthy and learning skills to really help manage your own life and your own destiny for the rest of your life? To me, it is pretty clear."

Wilson said taking away school from a sexual assault victim with PTSD is a detriment to that student.

"When that gets taken away, people usually struggle and get worse," Wilson said.

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