Upon visiting Dartmouth for the first time, I was overwhelmed by how active the student body seemed. At first, I attributed this phenomenon to Hanover’s location. Our campus is surrounded by mountains, so the school naturally attracts outdoorsy students. After a year of attending Dartmouth, however, I realized that underneath Dartmouth students’ obsession with exercise and healthy eating lurked something much darker. What I hadn’t realized on my first visit is that Dartmouth students’ abnormal athleticism is a result of their skewed views on health and fitness.
The prevalence of these views is not that surprising at a college like Dartmouth. If you combine overachieving young adults, a small campus and academic stress, what will you get? Dartmouth is basically a Petri dish for eating disorders. It’s not surprising, then, that Kari Jo Grant, our health education programs coordinator, told The Dartmouth in 2010 that “most people engage in some form of disordered eating.” While many students call Hanover a bubble, it may be more accurate to call it a pressure cooker regarding attitudes about appearance.
In addition, college students in general are already especially susceptible to disordered tendencies. When we arrive and first observe the existing fitness culture here, Dartmouth students are even more vulnerable to develop unhealthy relationships with fitness and food. A 2007 study found that most eating disorders begin between ages 18 and 21. Perhaps this situation would not be as dangerous if the school had a serious support network set up to catch students as soon as they faltered. Unfortunately, Dartmouth’s current resources cannot compete with the existing stigmas surrounding our community’s eating disorders.
Rather than being discussed in open conversation, the topic of eating and exercise disorders is relegated to the corners of campus discourse and is only spoken of in hushed voices. In this environment, Dartmouth students who suffer from eating disorders are less likely to seek help or even admit that they need it. Resources like the Eating Disorder Peer Advisors, a program that could provide real support, are then highly underutilized by those who need them most.
To make existing support systems such as the EDPA system and the College’s nutritionists more effective, we as a student body must make changes ourselves in the way we talk about eating disorders on this campus. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in every five women suffers from disordered eating. Applying this percentage to the Dartmouth student body would dictate that at least 445 students — not counting Dartmouth’s male students who may suffer — would benefit from talking to an advisor. Yet EDPAs often only advise five to seven students each year.
The Dartmouth’s Summer Editorial Board called upon students to “create an atmosphere of safety within” the College. In the past two terms, however, I have seen little change. If the student body is to be the driving force behind the creation of an atmosphere of safety, the school would benefit from a formalized educational session addressing eating disorders, perhaps during pre-orientation. Like the programs that educate freshmen about alcohol and sexual assault, this session would set up a safety net for incoming students. In raising awareness, students across this campus could have productive and effective conversations about eating disorders. The unfortunate reality is that many students do not know how to discuss these issues, and attempts to help friends or loved ones are often counterproductive.
Until Dartmouth institutes these programs, though, we owe it to each other to take individual action on this issue. Take the time to learn how to address a friend’s disordered eating, and try to foster an environment in which your friends will not be too afraid to approach you in the first place. Acting as a support system can have a huge impact on those around you. It is our responsibility to stop perpetuating the Dartmouth culture that stands by while many of its members suffer in order to appear “healthy” and “fit.”
