Private Religious University, Public Religious Trauma, Part IV: Mental Health Expulsion
These are the experiences of former students and staff of William Jessup University, a private Christian college in Rocklin, CA.
“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved
With the highly anticipated 2020 election just days away, we wanted to take the opportunity to address the political and racial climate of William Jessup University (WJU, or Jessup), which has concerned Alumni and former faculty and staff for years.
While the current president of WJU, Dr. John Jackson, has recently stirred up controversy several times with his polarizing tweets, we know that the broader culture of Jessup also reflects the same sentiments. That if you’re not the picture perfect Christian, you do not belong. His recent bold claim that you can’t call yourself evangelical and vote for Joe Biden only further widens the gap between those that fit this mold, and those who fail.
Former students and staff have come together to share their experiences at this “Christian” University to highlight how these narrow views have left so many hurt and alienated in its wake. If other students have their own stories to share, please submit at liberatedjessupians@gmail.com and we will continue to publish and bring awareness.
You can read Part I- III of our Private Religious University, Public Religious Trauma series which includes personal stories by Alumni on the Sexism, toxic Purity Culture, Racism, Homophobia and discrimination that they experienced on campus:
You can read Part 1 of our Christian Corruption and Controversy series which addresses the university president’s controversial social media posts implying those who vote for Biden cannot be evangelical Christians, posting an inaccurate criminal record for George Floyd following his on-tape murder by police, and questioning “Do All Black Lives Matter?’:
What I Lived: Mental Health Expulsion and Discrimination
One former student has reached out and given consent for us to share their story of lack of mental health support and expulsion, which is shared below as the third segment of this article. While other current or former students have not contacted us consenting for us to share their full names, we encourage you to look at the following stories shared anonymously in more recent years on the instagram of Jessup Stories, an unaffiliated group of current students and alumni sharing their stories of harm and discrimination at William Jessup University:
Policies and Fear of Seeking Help: Mental Health Expulsion and Discrimination
by Christine Fredrickson
While WJU’s written policies are brief on mental health. They indicate that they will determine if a student should be required to no longer live on campus or be expelled entirely following a psychiatric episode in their Campus Policies section. In their Student Standards of Conduct, they indicate under the category of Physical Harm that “Any conduct that threatens or endangers the health, physical or emotional well-being of another person (including oneself), will not be tolerated.”
Additionally the Student Standards of Conduct indicate: “Students struggling with difficult issues in their personal lives are encouraged to seek out a Student Life staff member for help at any time. Except in situations where the University is required by law to take appropriate disciplinary action (e.g., harassment, sexual assault, etc.), students who come to a student life professional staff member for help related to lifestyle behaviors (e.g., alcohol, drug use, tobacco dependency, sexual issues, pregnancy, etc.), prior to staff becoming aware of a violation of University policy, will be offered support and help outside of the regular student conduct process. If continued offenses occur beyond or outside of these conversations, it may become necessary to address related or hidden violations through the conduct process.”
Are mental health concerns “offenses” needing to be addressed “through the conduct process”, or simply not addressed at all in the student handbook?
Though not in the handbook itself, there is a link under Student Life called “Student Care.” This sparse page directs to another link allows students to report other students “who may be struggling spiritually, academically, or emotionally or who are exhibiting any concerning behavior that may differ from the their normal conduct.” Student Care, however, does not provide any resources for someone who may themselves want support without making a formal written report.
Jessup is not alone in policies that lead some students to not seek help out of fear of being expelled, but that does not mean it’s acceptable. Other universities have made national news and lost class action lawsuits over mental health policies that prioritized leaves or expulsions.
In 2018, Stanford made national news when students filed a class action lawsuit about their mental health policies to pressure to students to leave the school instead of providing mental health supports, and in 2019 the university made changes as part of the settlement.
In some cases mental health crises can make worldwide news, in the case of a 11 suicides in 18 months at a Bristol University in the UK.
In 2015 a student committed suicide at Yale, and per the article: “Yale’s policies regarding withdrawal and readmission prevented Wang from seeking appropriate and necessary treatment... explaining that if we reported her she would be kicked out of Yale and have no reason left not to kill herself.’” Though Yale made some changes in response to this, Yale’s Campus Press continues to urge for changes to Mental Health policies, with a new article published on the topic November 4th, 2020.
Brigham Young University, Utah made national news in October 2020 when nearby student housing evicted a student for voicing suicidal thoughts.
While making changes may sound insurmountable at first glance, there are many resources that give clear recommendations based on evidence in what policy changes would be helpful.
The question is just if William Jessup University will act soon for the good of their students, or wait for the bad publicity of lawsuits or suicides to affect their public image and bottom line.
What I Lived: Mental Health Expulsion and Discrimination
by Josiah Yarbrough
I went to WJU back in 2004 when it first opened in Rocklin. To start off, I had to do a few interviews to even get accepted. I was 18 and broken, but I loved Jesus with all my heart and wanted to go somewhere where I would find love and acceptance. I was a born-again Christian who did not grow up in a Christian home. I was just out of foster care. I had survived sexual, physical and emotional abuse. I had always been an outcast everywhere I went.
I thought WJU would be a place where I would fit in because I loved Jesus just as much as everyone else, maybe even more.
Because of the trauma I had experienced in life, I had problems. I had PTSD, depression, trust issues, self-esteem and self-worth issues, identity issues and self-harm issues. Also, people were not aware of this at the time, but I struggled with my gender identity. At that time, I identified as female, because that was how I was raised, but it never felt natural to me. Today, I know that I am intersexed and though my parents raised me as female, I am actually male and live as such. If I only knew then what I know now. To top it all off, I was goth.
When I applied to the school, I also had to submit a written testimony. Based on that, it seemed like the school was not too eager to accept me. But two staff members at the time met with me, and talked with me, and they got me in the door. The woman’s name was Jocelyn Day and unfortunately, I do not remember the man’s name. I do know that within the first month of school starting, that man was let go. He was bipolar. Of course, no one talked about it, but I know that is why he was let go. Shortly after that, Jocelyn also left the school. Those two understood my story and went out of their way to communicate with me.
Now here I was a Christian goth with a lot of negative life experience in a school where the majority of students appeared to be cookie-cutter Christians from loving homes with no idea about how the world really is. Oh, what a little Christian bubble that was, and I was on the outside looking in.
Right away I knew that I did not exactly fit in. There were many students who bluntly avoided me. I think I represented a reality that they didn’t want to know about. They didn’t know what a bad day was. I can’t say much about the student body at WJU. In 2004, I think where were only a couple hundred students there and I was so used to not belonging anywhere that I didn’t actively seek out friends. However, I did become friends with some of the no-so-typical Christians at the school.
I think I only made it two months at WJU when I was forced to leave.
As I mentioned, I carried a lot of painful, emotional baggage. I had nightmares and severe PTSD and yes, I was a cutter so I hurt myself sometimes too. I did not want to die, I just needed to cope. The R.D. of my dorm was incredibly open and compassionate, and if she saw any new cuts on my arms, we would talk about it privately.
However, Bev Wiens, a psychology professor there, made me feel terrible and more ashamed that I already was. She made me feel like a piece of dirt. One day I was having a particularly bad day. I was eating dinner in the cafeteria and something triggered a PSTD episode. I remember being in the cafeteria one moment and the next I was in the Dean’s office. I guess I was in the fetal position on the floor and screaming and crying and a few people helped me out and down the hallway. We talked about what happened for a few minutes and I went on my way.
Later, I was called back to the Dean’s office and the Dean and Associate Dean told me I had to leave the university because I was a danger to myself and others. They said I need to get intense, inpatient treatment at a mental institution before I would be allowed back into the school. I had only melted down and made people feel uncomfortable.
In tears, I pleaded with them. I told them that this was where I needed to be, with godly people, where I could learn more about God’s love and find healing. I needed to be surrounded by people who would support me in my walk, people who believe in God’s mercy. They didn’t hear any of it.
They gave me two hours to pack up all my things and leave the campus. This was the only PTSD episode I had at the school. And I hadn’t endangered myself or others during it.
I couldn’t believe it. They treated me like I was insane. I was doing well in my studies. I had As in all of my classes. It didn’t matter. I was a coffee stain on their pretty, new white carpet. I packed up my things and my R.D. helped me carry them out to my car. To my defense, several students were very upset that the school did this to me. They also couldn’t understand why the school would send me away like that. I didn’t do anything wrong.
I was devastated. Would they have done this to someone who had epilepsy and seizures? Would they have done this to a war vet with PTSD? Isn’t there a law against this? I couldn’t believe that God’s people would cast me out for something I had no control over. There wasn’t any compassion. Nobody wanted to understand. Nobody asked what they could do to help. Instead of believing that I could find healing in a godly institution, they sent me out to get help from the world. This was such a painful blow. I was already broken and trying to learn how to heal and this crushed my spirit. The God I love wasn’t at that University after all.
I formally appealed the decision. I submitted my appeal to Bryce Jessup and he told me it was a well-written appeal, but that he agreed with the dean.
I was heartbroken. This led to rage, which led to determination. I told myself, “I am doing to get back into that school and I will do it with God’s help and His alone.” So, I went to Bridgeway Christian Church. I fellowshipped and found a supportive community there. I talked with Pastor Lance. I dug into the Word. I cried. I agonized. I forgave. I healed. And I applied to WJU again the next semester. I dealt with Tom Stephens directly. I was only allowed back, on probation, with written proof that I was seeing a psychiatrist. Tom said that he would check up on my progress with the psychiatrist on a monthly basis and failure to continue treatment would result in me leaving the school. I only saw the psychiatrist twice. Tom found out. He said that was grounds for expulsion, but he was amazed by how much better I was and he asked me how I did it if I wasn’t seeing the psychiatrist. I said one word “GOD”.
I continued on with my studies. From there, I joined the basketball team. The coach was a nice person, but it was clear to me that she did not like me. Now, I wasn’t the best player by any means, but there were only 6 people on the team. During practice, I never got to run the drills, I just watched as everyone else did the drills. I did not play in any games for the longest time. The school provided matching shoes for the team, which I never got. Later, two more people joined the team and they got shoes right away. Time and time again, she excluded me and made me feel worthless. Other members of the team noticed as well.
What I want to say is that the leadership of the school would rather maintain a certain appearance then to actually be the body of Christ. They cast me out so callously. This PTSD episode thing wasn’t something that happened all the time. It happened once. One time and it was goodbye. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. I didn’t graduate form WJU. A year and a half there were enough for me. Of the people I still talk to from WJU, only two of them actually graduated from there. The rest left.
I went to another university after WJU and when I had a PTSD episode there, I wasn’t kicked out. I talked with the nurse and a school counselor and they advised my professors of my situation. They were very accommodating and provided the support I needed.
The leadership of WJU was unaccommodating, unaccepting of differences, unwilling to work through the problem and they weren’t willing to even listen to my side. I feel like they forgot want being Christian really means. We should love as God loves, and strive to be Christ-like. I don’t think Jesus would be very pleased by how some people are treated at WJU. I think He would be flipping over tables.
Conclusion: Mental Health and Expulsion
While there are more personal stories to come from us on other forms of discrimination and the harmful culture at Jessup, we also encourage you to look at other experiences of harm shared by former students that are not affiliated with our efforts.
An Instagram account called @JessupStories was created in 2020 where current and former students have shared harmful or discriminatory experiences they saw or lived at William Jessup University. While unaffiliated with our efforts, we support their work to provide an Avenue to anonymously share experiences and shine a light on the culture of William Jessup University.
If other students, staff, or alumni have their own stories to share, please submit at liberatedjessupians@gmail.com and we will continue to publish and bring awareness.
If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1–800–273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741–741.
