Connecticut, USA

Yale University has been accused of being insensitive to the students suffering from mental health issues after a 21-year-old girl opened up about her suicide attempt and subsequent episodes of the trauma she suffered due to the University's stringent reinstatement rules.

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The student, known only as S., told The Washington Post that when the University was informed about her suicide attempt in June 2021, she was told to take a "medical withdrawal" from college. 

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“They make you feel like you’re the best of the best, like this bright and shiny thing. But as soon as something’s wrong, they want nothing to do with you," she said. 

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Of the 14,500 students enrolled at Yale, roughly 34 per cent or 5,000 students sought mental health counselling in 2021, a 90 per cent increase since 2015, the report said. 

Yale's reinstatement policy

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According to Yale University's reinstatement policy, students who have either attempted suicide or are deemed suicidal, are not allowed on campus. To return, they must reapply, by writing a personal statement and sending in Letters of Recommendation.

Up until April 2022, they were required to take two courses at another four-year university to prove their academic worth. 

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"Yale has policies that facilitate a medical withdrawal followed by a return to campus life. Medical withdrawals allow students to take time away from Yale to focus on their well-being. The vast majority of students who take medical withdrawals are reinstated and return to complete their degrees successfully," a Yale University spokesperson was quoted as saying by Daily Mail.

On July 8 this year, S. was reinstated at Yale. She was 19-year-old when she last sat in a Yale classroom and was 21 when reinstated.

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