Publication Date: Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Our Town: Remembering Adam
Our Town: Remembering Adam
(September 28, 2005) by Don Kazak
Vic and Mary Ojakian of Palo Alto are on a quest to improve mental health support for students in the University of California system. And, it may be happening.
Their son, Adam, was a 21-year-old UC Davis physics major when he killed himself last December. His suicide devastated his City Councilman father and his mother, but some good could come of it for others.
The Ojakians have been relentless in gathering information about student suicides and finding out how other universities deal with student depression.
They even went to the annual conference last May at the Depression Center at the University of Michigan, the only academic center in the nation for the study of depression and suicide.
The Ojakians drove to San Francisco last Wednesday to speak to the University of California Board of Regents at its monthly meeting at UCSF.
Going into the meeting, Vic didn't sound optimistic that there would be any encouraging response to what he and Mary would have to say.
During the public-comment portion of the meeting, speakers are given just one minute, which isn't enough time to say much of anything. But the written statements Vic and Mary prepared would be made part of the record.
And since he was making an official request under the California Public Records Act for data on student suicides and other information, merely putting the request on record satisfied him.
But they also captured the attention of the Board of Regents and University of California President Robert Dynes -- perhaps more than they anticipated.
Vic made his brief comments, noting that he was submitting a request for data.
Then it was Mary's turn. "My name is Mary Ojakian. I am Adam Ojakian's mother. Adam died of suicide on Dec. 17, 2004." The room went very still.
After all the public comments, Dynes told the regents that he was assigning Marcie Greenwood, UC vice president for student affairs, to compile a detailed report on student suicides that would be the basis for a future discussion by the regents.
That discussion is one of the things Vic wanted.
"Frankly, that's a big win for the kids of California who go to the UC system," he said later. One could hear the relief in his voice.
It was an emotional morning for the Ojakians. Mary's voice broke when she was addressing the regents, and Vic's was emotional when he said, after speaking to the regents, "We wanted it on the public record. We know how much is wrong. If kids commit suicide on UC campuses, it makes them (the regents) culpable."
Compiling a report on student suicides won't prevent future suicides, but it may point a way forward to a better system of support for overworked and sometimes depressed students.
Other universities have much more thorough student-support systems than the University of California -- especially the Big Ten schools, including the University of Michigan.
No words can comfort parents over the death of a son. But their words may have power behind them.
Adam's death may be a cautionary tale for an academically high-performing community like Palo Alto, where expectations of success are so great. Kids sometimes buckle under that pressure.
Student stress has been a concern in the Palo Alto Unified School District, with the PTA Council sponsoring an evening of discussion last spring. It's a concern not likely to soon go away.
Finding a balance between academics and just being kids can be tricky in a community where high school students often stay up after midnight finishing their homework.
The pressure in college can be greater.
Don Quixote tilted at windmills, thinking them giants.
Vic and Mary Ojakian are challenging a real giant, the UC system.
So far, so good.
In her written remarks, Mary listed a number of things that could be done inexpensively to increase student support that together "could make the difference between life and death for the some of the most promising human beings our society has."
Senior Staff Writer Don Kazak can be emailed at dkazak@paweekly.com.
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
