A student’s suicide this year at Yale University revealed the negative effects of medical leaves of absence on mental health. Luchang Wang posted on Facebook before her death, “I needed time to work things out … but I couldn’t do it in school, and I couldn’t bear the thought of having to leave for a full year, or of leaving and never being readmitted.”

According to the website for Northwestern’s Dean of Students Office, the purpose of medical leave is “to provide students time away from campus for treatment of a physical or mental health condition that impairs a student’s ability to function safely and successfully.”

NU students on medical leave apply for reinstatement — an application and interview process — instead of readmission, a policy that Yale used to practice.

While the University’s process seems less stressful than having to apply for readmission, it still presents some major barriers for students returning from medical leave. Students on medical leave “may not register for classes at NU until the student has been reinstated,” according to the Dean of Students Office’s website. Students on medical leave cannot register for classes necessary to graduate on time. Professors can’t hold seats and students are left praying to the academic deities that mandatory classes don’t close. The odds are stacked against them, especially for upperclassmen vying for a spot in a program with required classes.

For students on medical leave during Spring Quarter, August is the earliest that Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) or Health Services grant reinstatement interviews, by which time their peers are already registered for Fall Quarter classes. Students are left stressed and worried about whether they will be able to take the classes they need, endangering any progress they have made with their mental and physical health.

NU administrators, how hard is it to allow students on medical leave to register before the reinstatement decision is made? It is unfair for a student not to know the fate of their reinstatement for upward of three months. Low-income students may not be able to afford the airline, bus or train tickets if they are forced to purchase them at late notice. Students may not know whether to accept housing agreements. They may not be able to graduate on time, even if they were on track to graduate regardless of the medical leave.

All of these anxieties and lack of transparency that surround medical leave make it an unattractive choice for students who are struggling with mental or physical health issues. Medical leave fails to fulfill its objective of allowing students to improve their mental and physical health.

Katie Senter is a Weinberg junior who is currently on a medical leave of absence from Northwestern. She can be reached at [email protected]. Sei Unno is a Weinberg junior. She can be reached at [email protected]. If you would like to respond publicly to this column, send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected].