In the midst of my senior spring, I am filled with so much gratitude for Bowdoin and the memories I’ve made and the people I’ve met here. But my positive experience comes with a major caveat that I would feel bad leaving without an attempt to address, knowing that the systems that failed me will continue to impact students now and into the future unless something changes.

I came into college two years deep in an unresolved eating disorder and was left on my own to struggle through relapse and recovery throughout my first year, take a leave of absence because I could not face being back at a place with so many negative memories attached, then return as a sophomore recovered but unsure of who I was without my eating disorder and not knowing anyone in my new class year.

For a while, I thought this was a niche problem I had and not Bowdoin’s responsibility by any means. But I’m realizing that things need to change, not just for teenage me, but for my friends, future Bowdoin students and the ten percent of the student body that statistics suggest are dealing with an eating disorder at any given time. Previous stories of eating disorders in the Orient and RISE further highlight the impact they are having on our community.

This is a systemic issue that is not unique to Bowdoin or the fault of anyone here, but given that it’s so prevalent, Bowdoin needs to address it. I am really grateful for the work that people in Health Services, Counseling and Student Wellness are doing to improve support, that Dining has reduced pro-restriction messaging and most of all for the friends who were there for me. But there are still so many cracks that people can fall through.

The Health Center’s primary screening for eating disorders seems to be interrogating low weight and missing periods. This is an entirely insufficient model given that 94 percent of people with eating disorders are not underweight, many people with eating disorders would not typically get periods or do not lose them and denying the existence of a problem and refusing help are often a part of the illness, which makes weaseling out of these conversations without action being taken quite doable.

We live in a world where diet culture and body shaming are normalized, and nutrition information from Dining should push back against this, not reinforce it. Why are we taught an endless amount of ways and reasons to restrict food, but not about how much more fulfilling classes are when you’re not hungry, or how your life can fill with what you care about when you’ve eaten enough to stop thinking about food, or how hard you can laugh with your friends when you have energy to spare to be happy?

Harmful narratives can lead to anything from low self confidence or turning down your friend’s birthday cake to a life-threatening mental illness. Eating disorders are so awful, yet they can be successfully treated, and life on the other side is incredible. Awareness, prevention and early intervention measures can also go a long way. This is especially important at a place like Bowdoin, where high achievement and perfectionism, which are major risk factors, are so common. I don’t have the perfect solution, but I hope that anyone here in a position to make this better in any way will work towards doing so.

Katharine Gage is a member of the Class of 2026.