Sophie was born 25 years ago today on a beautiful sunny morning in Johannesburg, South Africa. After growing up overseas, she made Ithaca her adopted hometown after she arrived to study at Cornell in 2010. Here she is at a favorite eatery in the Commons.
We miss you every day, Sophie.
The Sophie Fund released a proposal August 21 aimed at supporting students taking leaves of absence for mental health reasons from Cornell University, Ithaca College, and Tompkins Cortland Community College.
The proposal calls for an Ithaca community-based program featuring a “leave of absence coach,” a community outreach worker providing practical guidance and moral support for students in transition. It also proposes a website hosting useful information about college leave policies, strategies for fruitful time off from school, local housing options, and employment opportunities.
Scott MacLeod, a donor advisor of The Sophie Fund at the Community Foundation of Tompkins County, said he discovered wide agreement about the need for a program among college administrators, community healthcare services, student organizations, and individual students facing mental health challenges.
“Young people facing mental health issues often suddenly find themselves on leave from school without the campus support networks they relied on as enrolled students,” said MacLeod. “This can become a period of uncertainty and even isolation for many students. With growing numbers of students taking leaves to focus on their mental health issues, we think it is vital that the community find ways to provide support. The goal of the students as well as their institutions should be to chart positive trajectories for their return to school and success in life. We hope administrators at Cornell University, Ithaca College, and Tompkins Cortland Community College will support the idea.”
MacLeod said The Sophie Fund distributed the proposal to key stakeholders in the community, and hopes it will generate serious discussion about development and funding and lead to the implementation of an effective program by early next year. The proposal estimates as many as 400 students a year may be taking leaves from area colleges.
The proposal seeks to ensure that students on leaves have access to information on the full range of challenges they will confront during their leave period—about housing, jobs, educational opportunities, volunteer opportunities, healthcare services, etc. It seeks to provide substitutes for the campus support systems that become unavailable to students during their leaves.
According to the proposal, today’s generation of college students is experiencing a mental health crisis in line with the increasing rates of mental health disorders in the general population. College counseling centers are reporting rising numbers of students seeking support for serious depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and other mental illnesses.
“Leaves of absence entail an often unexpected, abrupt, and painful loss of a structured environment that includes a support network of friends, professors, university staff, roommates and other fellow students, campus organizations, cultural and athletic facilities, and school medical providers,” the proposal says. “Testimonies from students on mental health leaves of absence relate how it can be a confidence-crushing experience that induces shame and guilt.”
The Sophie Fund was established in April 2016 in memory of Sophie Hack MacLeod, a Cornell University art student who succumbed to her battle with depression in Ithaca on March 26, 2016. The focus for the fund’s work is supporting mental health initiatives aiding young people.
Click here to download a copy of the proposal.
For more information about The Sophie Fund, go to www.thesophiefund.org
Please consider making a donation today to advance The Sophie Fund’s work on mental health initiatives for young people in the Ithaca–Tompkins County community.
We are working with state, county, and city officials, local mental health agencies, student groups, and college administrators to help our young people with mental disorders live safe and fulfilling lives.
Among our projects so far:
100% of donated monies go directly to local
non-profit organizations supporting mental health
Thank You!
Music star Taylor Swift is victorious in her effort to hold a prominent Denver radio personality accountable for sexually assaulting her during a publicity event prior to a concert at the Pepsi Center in 2013.
After a jury ruled in her favor on Monday, Swift described her effort as a fight for “anyone who feels silenced by a sexual assault.” Acknowledging that not every victim can afford the “enormous cost” of taking a case to court, she announced that she would donate funds to multiple organizations that provide legal assistance to sexual assault victims. “My hope is to help those whose voices should also be heard,” Swift said.
Swift attorney Douglas Baldridge said the singer is “taking a stand for all women—she’s trying to tell people out there that you can say no when someone grabs you, no matter who they are. I think it’s a new day, because someone with the guts and the courage to stand up with absolutely no upside in doing so—that being Taylor Swift—has told everyone, ‘This is it, the line’s drawn.’ It means ‘no means no,’ and it tells every woman that they will determine what is tolerable to their body.”
The Denver Post quoted Abbey Shaw, a 16-year-old fan who was on hand for the verdict, saying: “She is putting out a message for women like us: Stick up for yourselves.”
The case began when KYGO radio host David Mueller groped Swift, who was 23 at the time, under her skirt during a backstage meet-and-greet photo session. At the trial, she described the incident: “He stayed attached to my bare ass-cheek as I lurched away from him. It was a definite grab. A very long grab.”
Swift chose not to report the incident to police, but her manager informed station executives about the incident. Mueller sued Swift’s team for $3 million for making false allegations and getting him fired. Swift countersued for $1 in symbolic damages to hold Mueller accountable and serve as an example to other women. The jury in the civil case brought in U.S. District Court was apparently swayed by the testimony of eight witnesses supporting Swift’s allegations as well as by a photograph depicting the incident. In civil cases, jurors must reach a verdict based on a preponderance of evidence not proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” as in criminal trials.
Swift wept during the trial, and during her testimony described the shock of having been assaulted: “A light switched off in my personality.” She said she “just looked at the floor. I couldn’t look at either of them [Mueller or his girlfriend], and I just said in monotone, ‘Thanks for coming.’”
Attorney Baldridge said the $1 awarded to Swift represented something of immeasurable value because typically “victims are prone to blink rather than relive the shame and humiliation of what took place. It takes people like Taylor, wonderful people like Taylor, who we all know, to stand up and draw these lines.”
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