Lombardi

Vice President for Student and Campus Life Ryan Lombardi spoke of his own experiences with mental health, saying he struggled with the pressure of comparison and the obsession for perfection he felt as a musician in college at a Dining with Diverse Minds dinner and discussion on campus Oct. 23, held as part of Mental Health Awareness Week.

“What I hope we can have here at Cornell is a community that says it’s okay to be authentic … and that helps students develop resilience,” he said.

Nearly 120 people took part in the event, which represented campus groups including athletics, graduate students and Greek life. Notes were collected from small-group discussions, which centered around Cornell’s handling of mental health issues on campus and were given to staff and administrators to aid in mental health efforts.

Lombardi praised the work of Cornell Minds Matter and the ALANA (African Latino Asian Native American) Intercultural Board. Cornell Minds Matter event coordinator Natasha Khodykina ’17 said Lombardi’s speech perfectly fit the theme of the event.

“The way that he approached the subject made it significantly more than just an administrator preaching what he wanted to do. It was a human saying his own experiences with mental health struggles and how he overcame it,” Khodykina said.

After Lombardi spoke, the participants were given five questions for group discussions, covering such topics as how mental health was viewed in the community, what Cornell was doing right and what Cornell could change to improve the health of its students.

The ongoing Dining with Diverse Minds series links diverse student experiences and concerns on mental health with administrators, in an effort to create a more resilient Cornell community.

Participant, Joseph Kidane ’17, said Dining with Diverse Minds can have far-reaching effects beyond just providing information to the administration. “I think it’s good that we are all in an environment where we can converse about an issue that somewhat affects us all on campus. It gives us information which we can carry on to our friends,” he said.

Michael Zelko ’16 is a writer intern for the Cornell Chronicle.