My name is Jackie Williams, and this is my story.

The Northeastern University WeCare office is described as "a support system that aids students when significant issues arise that impede their success."  As a new student, I felt incredibly lucky to attend a university that would support me through any hardships that I may endure. However, each of my visits to WeCare for help left me feeling inadequate. When I suffered a concussion and was told by my drc specialist that the disability resource center would not provide me additional accommodations because I already have accommodations for ADHD, I sought help at WeCare. The WeCare staff asked me personal, invasive questions about my experience. I opened up to them about my circumstances and how my struggles with mental and physical health were affecting me academically, requesting an advocate to speak to my professors who were declining to provide my accommodations requested in medical documentation. I was encouraged to try convincing my professors by revealing what happened and told that WeCare couldn't advocate for me yet because I hadn't tried hard enough, and that maybe there is a reason that these bad things kept happening to me.

Over and over, I was sent back and forth between WeCare, UHCS and the DRC. Eventually WeCare finally contacted my professors who were declining to provide my accommodations, and I soon found that no matter the severity of the situation or extent of documentation, the WeCare office, the DRC, and UHCS have none of the authority or intercommunication they would need to help students who are suffering academically due to extenuating and unpredictable circumstances. I was appalled, especially considering how students have been impacted by the global pandemic. Even the DRC supported my professors' choices not to accommodate me, and they too told me a medical leave was my only option because it is completely up to professors whether they choose to follow professionally recommended accommodations for students in crisis. None of them could enforce the accommodations I needed despite extensive documentation.  Not once was I offered a resource that could have helped, supported, or encouraged me; I was, however, encouraged to take a medical leave of absence, leaving me with a destroyed trust for several professors, the systems set to support students, and even myself.

Despite the lack of support I received at WeCare and the DRC, I do believe the majority of the staff in these departments are well-meaning. In reflecting on my experiences, I realized why WeCare staff implied that what happened to me was my fault and shamed me for my struggles; My professors were the only ones who had the authority to implement my medically advised accommodations, and WeCare did not have the resources they needed to help me. Northeastern's policies, and the understaffing and underfunding of WeCare, UHCS, and the DRC has tied the hands of these departments with a lack of authority and collaboration between their departments. These issues have resulted in long term damage to students struggling with extenuating circumstances and their academic careers, and will continue to do so until reforms are made. 

I know that I am not the only one who has experienced this problem with Northeastern. I hope this petition can provide a voice to all of the students who have, and I highly encourage those students to share their stories too.

I am so grateful to everyone for reading, signing, and sharing my petition. I truly hope this can shed light on these injustices to northeastern students.

To students who have had a similar experience to me, please share what you can in the section "why am I signing". You do not stand alone. Together, we can make a difference. Together, we are stronger.