Senior Jason Plush, the executive president of the Student Government Association (SGA), is stepping down from his post, citing struggles with his mental health as the motivating factor. Executive Vice President Jack Bartholet will replace Plush, effective Friday, Oct. 23 at noon.
“I’ve been battling with serious and consistent bouts of mental instability and after much deliberation and many conversations with my family, friends, and colleagues, I’ve decided that retaining my position on SGA is simply unhealthy and untenable for me,” Plush wrote in an email to the student body this morning.
In the announcement, he reflected on the SGA’s accomplishments so far this year and placed his confidence in the rest of the executive board, which in addition to Bartholet includes Executive Treasurer Matthew Bee and Executive Secretary John Stanton.
“The government continues to work at its highest efficiency to benefit all students, and it will not be impeded during this transition process,” Plush wrote.
Per the SGA constitution and bylaws, Bartholet, a senior, will succeed Plush, and the vacancy in the vice presidency will be filled from within the SGA. Bartholet will appoint three current SGA members, and then the Senate will choose among the candidates.
The vote will take place at the next SGA meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 27, and Bartholet emphasized that the executive board will be working together to nominate the best candidates.
Plush’s decision was made after considerable discussion with the executive board members, and he has since spoken frankly about his difficulties with mental health and with managing the demands of leading the SGA and student body.
“Recently, I’ve been suffering from some mental breakdowns,” he said. “I haven’t been sleeping enough. I haven’t been taking care of myself, and I’ve been struggling trying to deal with a bunch of conflicting emotions that I’ve been feeling. I’ve been feeling bouts of depression from time to time. It’s been eating away at me, and it’s been causing me to not perform to the best of my abilities in my current position.”
Plush explained that he wanted to do not only what was best for himself, but also what was best for the University.
“I can’t stress enough how difficult, time-consuming and tough and unforgiving this decision has been,” he said. “I don’t think it’s very fair to the SGA itself as an organization, to the entire undergraduate population at the University and to myself to continue on in this role if I feel mentally unfit to continue to perform the duties. I don’t want to be the person who is responsible for holding back the productivity, the efficiency and the overall fluidity of the organization.”
He elaborated on why the decision was difficult for him to make, citing his distraction from academics.
“We all attend this University to be students first, and one of the things that I have realized through this self-reflection process is that I haven't been prioritizing my academics,” he said. ”I feel as though I’m falling behind in a lot of my classes. I feel like I’m not able to take my classes seriously because of how much emotional stress I have been dealing with, from SGA and from other sources as well.”
Bartholet praised Plush’s decision to recognize his own struggle as a role model for other students to follow.
“Plush’s decision is really an admirable one,” Bartholet said. “It’s someone looking at their own mental health and saying, ‘I need to take some steps to make myself feel better.’ I hope that all students take that lead.”
The two discussed the broader issue of mental health at Hopkins and the stigma that can prevent someone from seeking help. The most common problem of students who visit the Counseling Center is generalized anxiety and worry, but there are likely many more who do not seek help.
“A lot of people don't like admitting to themselves that they’re not okay. What I’ve realized through a lot of this self-reflection is that it’s okay to not be okay all the time,” Plush said. “I think it would be abnormal if somebody is completely happy and incredibly positive all the time. I feel as though people need to be able to feel as though they’re able to voice their concerns to themselves, their peers or their friends openly and not feel as though they’ll be judged as weak or fragile.”
“I think changing the dynamic and perception of mental health on campus is huge,” Bartholet said. “I also know that Plush isn’t trying to be the poster boy for mental health, either. If anything good can come from this, it’s at least education and making people more self-reflective.”
SGA plans to address mental health in the near future, beginning with a dinner Thursday with University President Ronald J. Daniels, Provost Robert C. Lieberman and other administrative officials.
“We’ve developed a strong agenda, and the number one thing we’re tackling is mental health and mental illness,” Plush said. “Jack and I and numerous senators are really passionate about figuring out this issue because it’s astounding to me how many people I’ve personally talked with who are coming out saying that they’re battling depression or they’re seeing someone regularly... It’s becoming more and more of a known problem on campus.”
They feel that the administration needs to approach mental illness from a different perspective, focusing on the underlying factors that can lead to an overly stressful or unhealthy environment at Hopkins.
“What we've requested is a holistic approach,” Bartholet said. “We want them to look at tuition, at academics, at scheduling rather than band-aid solutions of throwing more resources at mental health. Rather than looking at the symptoms like binge drinking during Orientation, let’s talk about mental health, the root of these symptoms.”
Plush discussed one of the problems with the traditional way of studying mental health that relies on statistics and data.
“The main reason we’re bringing it to the president is that we feel that a lot of administrators are stressing for quantitative data about how people are feeling. And quite honestly, I think that's very ridiculous,” Plush said. “I think that as soon as students come out and say, ‘I’ve been battling depression, I’ve been battling anxiety,’ I don't think you need a quantitative measure.”
“What’s prompted a lot of this is students opening up,” Bartholet said, “and I’m delighted to see that there’s finally a conversation around mental health that’s frank and open. It’s caused us to ring some alarm bells with the administration, and we’ve alerted Dean [of Student Life Terry] Martinez and the vice provosts and the provost.”
Beyond administrative efforts, both Bartholet and Plush addressed the need for a culture change on campus.
“We need to respect people who say, ‘Look, I’m going through something, and it’s inside me, it’s not an external malady. I don’t have pneumonia, but I’m still just as sick and I need as much help, maybe more,’” Bartholet said, referencing a recent opinions piece in The News-Letter by sophomore Simon Barnett.
Other student groups are working as well to combat the misconception that mental illness is rare or shameful. Active Minds raises awareness of mental health issues through open dialogue, and A Place to Talk provides peer listening services for students.
“The more dialogue we can have on this campus, the more aware and informed that people are going to be,” Plush said. “I think that’s also very important to process that. The change is going to be difficult for the way that not only students discuss mental health on campus, but also the way that SGA and the administration are going to approach the issue.”
“It’s going to be a long and arduous task, but it’s one that we’re committed as an SGA to tackling and that I know a lot of students on campus are passionate about.”
Bartholet’s assumption of the presidency will likely be a point of contention for some students after his controversial election last spring.
His challenger for the vice presidency, Sophomore Class Senator Sarah Zappone, who ran on a ticket with the other three members of the current executive board, was disqualified for campaign violations. The ruling by the Committee on Student Elections (CSE) declaring Bartholet the victor was opposed by many students.
“I understand that frustration, I do,” Bartholet said. “I really have bought into Plush’s vision, and as president, I hope to just continue that. That’s why I’ve been working with the CSE chair and revise the election code to make it more responsive to the actual needs of the community and less arbitrarily draconian.”
He hopes that building up the legitimacy of SGA will help it become more of a community, and he plans to bring up the issue at the dinner with Daniels.
“I understand the concerns,” Bartholet said, “but this is the situation we’ve got, and I think that as a school we need to come together and prop SGA up as an important tool for students.”
Plush reiterated his support for Bartholet and said that they have overcome any initial challenges.
“Last year was a difficult year. We as an executive board moved past that a long time ago because we know that to make the overall student experience at this University the best it possibly can be, we are going to have to work together,” he said.
“I have full confidence that Jack will do a great job when he steps up for me as I work through a lot of these issues that I’m currently handling.”
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