by Eric Bosco, Michelle Liu, Dan Peltier, James Petroskey, Nathalie Sczublewski, and Veronica Stracqualursi
Despite a student veteran population that has grown ten-fold in four years and having a reputation as a “vet-friendly” campus, the state’s flagship university has limited space on campus dedicated to veterans, while basic services to treat and diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury are underutilized.
“The (veterans) office is very, very small and there’s a lot of us,” said Casey Tylek, a 27-year-old Army veteran and UMass student.
Space veterans can call their own has been an issue at UMass Amherst. For years, the Veteran Services drop-in center has operated out of a small, cramped and rectangular office. The office has included a welcome desk, two computers, one lounge chair, a small round table and little space to walk. A new drop-in facility is opening in January — space some vets say is long overdue and some question whether it will be enough.
And while UMass Amherst is the Commonwealth’s flagship university, it is home to a fairly small number of veterans in comparison to the UMass Lowell campus which has about 1,500 student veterans – about three times as many as Amherst — and a total student population of around 17,000 compared to a little over 28,000 for UMass.
While it’s unclear whether the current initiatives will be seen as “vet-friendly” and attract veterans to campus, Tylek says the new drop-in center is a step in the right direction.
“It has taken UMass a long time to address getting us a new space. It shouldn’t have taken up until now,” said Tylek. “Some of the veterans that are coming in aren’t transitioning so well or they need a space and they don’t feel the veterans center is a good enough space.”
Nationally, veterans are going back to school at a record pace: The Department of Veterans Affairs announced on Nov. 8 that 1 million veterans have used their Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits to enroll in college since 2009. At UMass Amherst the veteran population is growing rapidly — from about 50 in 2009 to about 500 in 2013. Meanwhile, by comparison, the smaller UMass Lowell campus caters to the needs of veterans by offering extensive career service and social programs that emphasize peer support.
Many veterans entering college do so while dealing with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or Traumatic Brain Injuries. Nationally, more than three out of four veterans have PTSD and roughly the same number struggle with major anxiety, according to a recent survey by the Wounded Warrior Project.
Even if a veteran is not diagnosed with PTSD or TBI, transitioning can still be a challenge.
“I remember the first semester I was here and I was taking a nap over at [Integrated Science Building] and someone dropped one of their books on the ground. And the slam sound sounded just like a mortar hitting far away or one of them being launched,” said Tylek, in a November interview. “I remember just snapping awake and breathing really hard.”
In January, the university plans to open a new Veterans Service drop-in center that will allow veterans more space to gather and socialize, while the current space will stay open and will handle academic, financial, and benefits certification needs for veterans.
“Some of the feedback that we’ve got from students is that there are some students who struggle from PTSD and TBI and this sort of space would allow them an area to connect with each other and decompress,” said Ed Blaguszewski, the executive director of the UMass Office of News and Media Relations.
The current space located in the Whitmore building is 425 square feet, fits about seven people and is staffed by four Veterans Affairs work study students and Veteran Services coordinator, Judy Gagnon.
The new veteran center will be in Dickinson Hall and will cover an estimated 512 square feet. Plans also call for two other rooms, totaling 295 square feet, to be renovated and used for veteran affairs. Once the rooms are completed, all veteran work will be consolidated at Dickinson, according to Blaguszewski.
There is hope the new space will attract a group that is not used to asking for help. David Vacchi, a doctoral student researching veterans in higher education, said the real benefit in the new space may be the opportunity for peer-to-peer mentoring in a safe space.
“They (veterans) don’t want to show their weakness. We’re supposed to be these strong military types,” said Vacchi. “We’re not necessarily comfortable with asking for help in that kind of way and so to ask other veterans it’s like asking a confidante.”
And, while medical staffs on campus are trained to deal with PTSD and TBI, Vacchi says that campus personnel should be making veterans aware of the free healthcare services at Veteran Affairs, which has a facility in Leeds, about a 20-minute drive from UMass.
“UMass is not a medical facility,” Vacchi said. “It’s always best to have that stuff done at the VA. Odds are they’re the only professionals.”
As of now the center can’t juggle being both an administrative office as well as a lounge for veterans to relax and deal with their unique stresses. The video games and cursing that came with the latter distinction proved to be counterproductive, according to Vacchi.
“If you allow veterans to think that replicating that barracks mentality on the campus is at all acceptable, you’re not helping veterans in their transition to civilian life.”
Like UMass Amherst, UMass Lowell is opening a new veterans facility in the fall of next year. The new facility will have a lounge with multiple couches, a social and study room, a widescreen TV, refrigerators and veterans will have 24/7 access to the area by swiping their ID cards into a scanner.
“When veterans have more social support, they’re more resilient,” said Janine Wert, Director of Veteran Services at UMass Lowell. “The transition to academic life can be a difficult process for those who have been in the military.
The Lowell campus also has a co-op program — Edge for Vets – that helps veterans assume leadership positions at Lowell- and Boston-based medical companies like Biogen Idec and Haemonetics. The university also offers a program called Boots to Business, which pairs business mentors with veterans.
Besides a Veteran Services center, UMass offers other programs and services to meet veteran needs. The veteran office receives $38,000 from the university for veterans-specific programming. The veteran’s office has a $101,000 budget for day-to-day functions, copying and ordering supplies.
The online bachelor degree program, University Without Walls (UWW), allows veterans to get academic credit for their military work and training. All veterans can claim three to four academic credits for completing basic training. On its website, it claims to have “the largest number of students who are veterans of any academic major at [UMass], and one of its faculty members is a veteran of the U.S. Navy.”
And, veterans don’t go unnoticed at graduation. About four years ago, UMass introduced its first ever veteran stole for graduating seniors to wear around their robes at graduation — receiving recognition for their service.
There are other ways for veterans to socialize on the UMass campus, however, as it is home to the co-ed veteran fraternity Omega Delta Sigma, which has the distinction of being the first chapter in New England.
“Our numbers aren’t as high as we want them to be,” said Shawn Vincent, a member of the fraternity. “We’re trying to actively recruit vets. But I think nothing but good can come from that. We’re all pretty motivated about helping the community.”
As for how the students on campus treat veterans, Tylek and Vincent say students react positively.
“I haven’t experienced anything unfriendly. No one has derided me or barraged me with hate speech,” said Vincent, who served in the Air Force from 2005 to 2010.
“There’s stuff against the war but not against the vets themselves. I think people understand just because you’re a veteran, you’re not responsible for the war.”
Eric Bosco, Michelle Liu, Dan Peltier, James Petroskey, Nathalie Sczublewski, and Veronica Stracqualursi are all members of Steve Fox’s Investigative Journalism Class
