Hello Marion and Kalima:

 

In response to the “as you know” email I must confess that I don’t know. I understood this to be a conversation that would be followed up with a possible trip to talk to a class but that never happened.

 

First of all I don’t know what Capstone Project means and I’m not all that familiar with university language. I understood a classroom, not an entire graduating class of 400 students. I am taken aback by this and very shocked to learn all of this by a student making a request and by Anu's phone call regarding this.

 

I also didn’t know that Helen Benedict apparently was presenting my life story as a "novel"??? This is what I understand from students. If this was so, how is it the University would consider this as textbook material?

 

I am shocked and dismayed that this novel or textbook (whatever seems to be appropriate to Helen for the moment) could be seen as 100 percent accurate. For her to allow me to be used and dissected like a lab rat knowing the implications of harm based on our rocky and conflictual relationship takes her behavior to another level of exploitation. To have 400 students present their analysis of me as a kind of masters project that assesses and treats my life using only Helen's description of me (usually complimentary but occasionally factually inaccurate). Her descriptions of my emotions about my life say more about her than they do about me.

 

It was assumed that I knew more about this project than I did. There was never a request in writing asking for permission to use me as a passive subject for such a psychologically invasive process. While I do wish to meet with these students, I really don’t want this project to continue. It is highly unethical and the staff should be mortified that it has gone this far.

 

How am I to feel that 400 students will make public their assessment, diagnosis, and treatment recommendations without my consent? HIPAA Law states that a treatment plan is covered by the law of confidentiality. How is possible that a living person could be used for this without her written consent?

 

To be used in a book written by a journalist who appears interested only in exploiting us veterans for personal gain and fame and who calls herself an expert with no military experience is painful enough. Turning this into textbook material is unconscionable. As a former social worker myself, I have dealt with many levels of oppression: racism, classism and sexism to name a few. All these involve systematic dehumanization. In the process of meeting professional goals and objectives, human lives are traumatized by the very system that sets out to help them. Mine is a case in point.

I’m not a licensed social worker but my life experience helped obtain these jobs and I worked in this field for many years. If this is what this University is teaching then I’m glad I did not follow through with my education. I find this action unethical, invasive and disrespectful to my being: my spirit feels fragmented and is greatly damaged.

 

 I could have been open to such a huge project had I been involved from beginning to end. My passion is helping veterans and helping others understand us from a place of pain that could lead to some healing. This is not the way to go about it. Having one staff person have one conversation after this project was already underway does not make it okay.

 

I am extremely shocked and furious as it now becomes clear to me that a diagnosis and treatment plans for my life are now in the hands of 400 students who have never even met me.

 

This needs to be made right. How will this be done as the Capstone Project is now nearly complete?

 

I do accept your invitation to address the graduating class. I also wish to have a separate meeting with all staff involved. I understood from Anu that the staff “did not wish to traumatize me further” and therefore did not consult me before undertaking the project. Do you think this in itself is not traumatizing?

 

When Columbia Professor of Journalism Helen Benedict took my story I told her I would only do it if some proceeds of every book purchased would be donated to the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN). She took the story and never made good on her commitment and has proceeded to further exploit me to this point. When I later reminded Professor Benedict of her commitment she simply stated that she wasn’t making any money on the book. She just sold 400 books to your students and is building a professional reputation on the suffering and pain of all military women and women veterans. How do you put a price on that? Is this acceptable professorial behavior? Now I wonder if other schools are following Columbia University’s precedent. Social work is about justice among other things. If there is no justice there can be no peace.

 

I look forward to continuing this discussion.

 

Respectfully,

 

Eli PaintedCrow

 

Eli PaintedCrow

SFC US Army Ret.

Activist for Peace, Activist for Soldiers