Truman State put out a notice stating that students with complex mental-health issues should consider going somewhere with more resources, as they “may not find the expertise or availability of services they need at Truman or in the Kirksville community.” Melissa Bottorff-Arey, the mother of Alex Mullins, the first of the students to die by suicide, told me she read the notice to mean, “If you’re suicidal, basically don’t come to us-we can’t help.” In an eight-month period that started in August, 2016, three members of a fraternity and a young man who was close to some of its members killed themselves.
If you are having thoughts of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273- TALK (8255) or text TALK to 741741. “We all kind of just sat around and were, like, ‘Truman did this to us.’ ” Weiser eventually dropped out and left the state. “My entire friend group straight up became alcoholics,” she said. (The university said that it was not aware of such stories, and emphasized that its counsellors are held to the highest standards.) To cope, Weiser turned to heavy drinking. “It felt like they weren’t really trying to help so much as blame it on something else,” Weiser told me. One student told Copeland a Truman therapist had said that anxiety was “all in their head.” A student who spoke of possibly being trans was advised that “they were, perhaps, a ‘butch lesbian, like Ellen DeGeneres.’ ” Tristen Weiser, who was overwhelmed by her course load, says she was told that her real issue was an incident of abuse from her childhood. Four years ago, a sophomore named Max Copeland interviewed students and alumni about their experiences with school counsellors, and delivered an informal report on his findings to the administration. The university, which has about the same number of undergraduates as Princeton and an endowment that is more than five hundred times smaller, offers counselling services, but many students have found them inadequate. Whoever can say ‘Everything sucks’ more is the better Typical Truman Student.” “Truman students are high-achieving in high school, and they get to college and they can no longer compete with everyone here, and they get depressed.
“You’ve heard of the Typical Truman Student?” Alaina Borra, a recent graduate, asked me. Johanna Burns, a 2018 graduate, told me that the school “is the best for those who can’t afford the best.” Many students receive scholarships based on merit, but they must maintain high grades, and it often seems to recipients that they’re about to be thrown off a treadmill. Louis and Kansas City are each three hours away. Truman State is in Kirksville, a faded town with seventeen thousand residents. Other students feel stuck at a provincial grind school, and jealous of peers attending more glamorous universities. I love that I am challenged every day-even if it means losing some sleep or passing on an opportunity to hang out with friends. “I love that my professors actually care about me as a person and know my name. “I love the atmosphere here,” a student named Deanna commented on Unigo, a Web site that evaluates colleges.
News & World Report has ranked it as the top public university in the region. Truman State University, in northern Missouri, is sometimes called the Harvard of the Midwest. This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
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