Native American Woman Veteran facing Columbia University
questioning the dept. of social work teaching ethics
About the
My name is Eli PaintedCrow and I am posting this website to educate those considering attending Columbia University. This website challenges the integrity and the ethics of this university in particular the dept. of journalism and the dept. of social work.
In the next few pages, you will find information that has been damaging for 2010 graduating students from the department of social work and myself a veteran with 22yrs of military service with my last tour being in Iraq.
I have tried my best to be an advocate and educator to the civilian community on the issues of military women and post traumatic stress and its effects on those we are connected with. Returning military personnel face many issues in leaving the military and returning to civilian life.
Unfortunately, others have taken my work and exploited it when it could have been done respectfully and honorably. Even when the solution was offered to the capstone committee, it was rejected. I share this experience with you now to demonstrate why veterans are hesitant to share their lives in the military. I am a living example of it.
It is devastating and painful to know that the civilian community adds to the pain of veterans suffering from their traumas by creating projects that directly affect the present life of a human being such as myself. It is a reminder of the options that run through our head to stop the pain. Some more permanent than others.
I placed my trust in people to tell the story respectfully and honorably. Instead I have been treated like a lab rat dissected and put back together in the opinions of others without my permission or even meeting me. This is a perfect example of why returning military people are hesitant to share and this creates a great separation within in the civilian population and veterans.
Veterans struggle with systems that are supposed to help us be better human beings. We are supposed to be supported back into wellness. This is a clear indicator that the education system is way off track if this Ivy League institution is reverting to live human research. This mistrust stands in the way of building communities inclusive of veterans and their experience.
Instead, we are alienated due to ignorance or just a lack of a desire to understand veterans. Hence, the 18 suicides that are committed on a daily basis by returning military may be the only way to express how misunderstood and untrusting we become.
Women veterans are a topic of interest to many. However being used as a subject because I am Native American takes this country back to the days when live subjects were being experimented on to learn about those who were different without a care if pain was caused, it was for the greater good. There are laws in place to prevent this sort of thing, but somehow this Ivy League feels that they are exempt.
I invite you to write to Dean Takamura and Helen Benedict and express you concerns on how this university is treating veterans and how damaging this act is for it allows other universities to follow suit
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We all serve for different reasons and we all return with a different frame of reference about life and our service. For some there is honor for others there is a great disappointment in what we thought we were doing. For all of us there is an internal conflict that we must contend with and to dismiss that individual by depersonalizing their life experience is unconscionable.
Thank you for visiting this site if you have any comments please feel free to write me at crow4peace@yahoo.com