Hush Hush
Last year the Center for Eating Disorders (ROS) had 371
referrals. Many of them were people of university age. However,
only six of nine spaces available in an eating-disorder support
group arranged by the Student Mental-health Service (SPH)
were taken. No information on the support group had been publicized.
– Two-and-a-half per cent of the population has been or may
be diagnosed as having an eating disorder, says Turid Sætre,
project director at the ROS Center. Many have come seeking
help. The average age of students who contact ROS about this
problem is about 22 years old.
– We haven’t publicized the support group because we wouldn’t
have capacity for all of those who would want to attend, explains
the head psychologist at SPH, Frode Andreassen. He adds that
all those who seek help are offered short-term treatment.
– Many people deny that they have an eating disorder, and
when they finally open up to a doctor or psychologist, they
feel that they are not always understood, explains Ms. Sætre.
Student Center vs. Dentistry Building
The university Senate (Det Akedemiske Kollegium - DAK) has
decided to make the building of a new dental-school facility
a priority ahead of building a new student center.
– It’s obvious that many feel that the planning for a new
student center has come to the point where it was going forward.
However, experience in matters like this shows the opposite
is true, says Åshild Fløisand, student-representative at DAK.
– We’re not talking about either this one or that one, but
both, says Martha Knapskog Skauge, section director at the
UiB Division of Property Management.
Can’t go Home
None of the ten Palestinian students attending UoB will
be able to travel home this summer. Two of them will have
completed their studies this semester, which, according to
policy, would mean that their student visas would expire in
August.
– No Palestinian will be forced to return home as long as
the situation remains as it is, says caseworker at the Department
of Immigration (UID), Tone Hoffmann. UoB vice-president, Rune
Nilsen, has expressed his deep sympathy for the plight of
the Palestinian students in Bergen.
RUSSEL SHULER
17.04.02
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