Part of C+’s investigation into student intermissions.
I developed anorexia in my second year at Oxford. I started third year, but by Christmas I was miserable and my tutor suggested I rusticate. She was very, very sensitive to my needs. I was also well supported by my college nurse and doctor.
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At the time of rustication, I felt well looked after, but I consider myself a bit of a special case. One of my friends, for instance, didn’t do a lot of work as a result of depression, and didn’t feel massively supported by her college – their response was more of a “you’re being lazy” kind.
In my case, it was physically very obvious I was unwell, and so my mental health problems were difficult to ignore. I was doing plenty of essays, but being physically frail transcended the attention they paid to my work. I don’t think the same kind of understanding is given to people who suffer from more internal problems, like depression, for instance.
At the end of Michaelmas 2013, my tutor explained that she was worried about me, and then in the tutor’s collection at the end of term, I was told, “You should rusticate, but it’s up to you.” Eventually, I decided the right thing to do was to leave.
I don’t know if I would’ve done it had my tutor not suggested it to me, and I’m very fortunate that she did. One of the things I noticed about the experience, however, was that whilst kind people were treating me well on an individual basis, problems lay in the fact that there was no centralised system.
Nobody really tells you anything about the process, which makes it more daunting.
After I told my tutor, she brought it up at a fortnightly meeting with all the head tutors and the Dean of Students. They basically ‘approve’ your intermission. I just had to send them a doctor’s letter to make it official and say what was wrong. I had no contact with the Dean of Students when they made their decision – I just received an email stating what the conditions of the rustication were. Luckily, I was allowed on college properties.
While I was away, though, I had next to no contact with College. The only emails came from the bursar, who needed to know if I was going to be moving into accommodation. It was all very compartmentalised. I didn’t really feel like College were looking out for me.
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I was also given library fines for books I had out from before Christmas. The Radcliffe Science Library waived their fines, but College sent me an email saying, “Because of your lack of payment, we’re going to have to give you some form of punishment.”
Coming back after my year away has been a bit complicated. Because I should have graduated in June, I have faced a lot of administrative issues, partly I think because of the decentralised nature of the college system.
My Student Self-Service wouldn’t let me book graduation for this year. I didn’t have a certificate of student status to show I was exempt from council tax.
My email account was shut down, my Bod card expired, my new Bod card not registered. One of my finals options in Psychology wasn’t being taught any more, and I had to figure this out and tell my department that they needed to write me a paper. It was as if they’d forgotten that I existed.
The list goes on and on. I’m now feeling good and I was happy to come back, but if I was a little shakier or didn’t have the level of support I have from family and friends, I think that it would have been really stressful. Since returning is a fairly sensitive period for a lot of people, and possibly sets the precedent for their remaining years at the University, I think that this should have been a lot smoother. There doesn’t really seem to be an official system for it, especially at Teddy Hall. Since a lot more people are intermitting now, I think this should change.
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