Months after being named a veteran-friendly campus, ETSU faces the challenge of maintaining that title. Despite the services offered by the university, student veterans say they are in need of more support.Interim Veterans Affairs Coordinator Jeremy Lofquest is attempting to establish new counseling programs for vets on campus. However, he admits that their office is understaffed and underfunded.

“The main problem is that it is incredibly expensive to upstart and get new staff, and we are still pretty low on the totem pole for money here,” said Lofquest.

In 2009 and 2010, the university’s Office of Veteran’s Affairs participated in a survey provided by G.I. Jobs magazine. As a result, ETSU gained the accreditation as a veteran-friendly campus for two years running.

In order to participate in the survey, organizations of higher learning are mailed a form and asked to fill it out in accordance with the services they provide. Some of the qualifying services include financial benefits, support services, enrollment size and location. The services that qualified ETSU include being VA approved, participation in the Yellow Ribbon Program, available online degrees and the existence of veteran clubs and organizations on campus – including a chapter of the Student Veterans Association.

However, the university no longer has a SVA chapter on campus. Vets say this leaves the student veterans with no peer-to-peer support. Also, the university has no veteran specific counselors or advisers, no scholarships or tuition discounts for vets, nor do they grant in-state tuition status if they have moved from out of state. In addition, the university has no formal policies regarding veterans and reservists who miss assignments due to military involvement.

Lofquest said the VA office has no influence to assist students who are having an issue with their instructors. He also said their staff will attempt to help out in any way possible.

The university does allow those services members called to active duty to return with no penalty. Also, the federal government requires that no penalty be given for absences due to military involvement such as training. However, one vet said that some instructors would not allow him to make up missed assignments.

“With my job, there’s no question whether I can or cannot be there,” said National Guard sergeant and ETSU student Chris Harbour. “There’s no consideration for our job if we’re still in the military.”

Sgt. Harbour formerly served in the Army and is an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran. Before attending ETSU, he was a student at UT. In accordance with his position, he must leave for days, sometimes weeks, at a time for training purposes. This semester, Harbour has been scheduled for out-of-state training during the week of finals. As federal law states, he cannot fail his classes due to attendance, but he says there is no policy allowing him to take his finals at a different time.

“They just don’t care and I have no choice to go to this training school,” said Harbour.

He now runs the risk of failing two of his three classes and could possibly be forced to pay back part of his G.I. bill.

Army reservist and former active duty member Tyler Ashby said he has had no issue with teachers allowing him to make up assignments.

“Almost all the teachers I have had so far have been pretty accommodating when I have had something come up because of the military,” said Specialist Ashby.

According to Lofquest, policies on missed assignments are completely up to instructor discretion.

The veteran’s affairs office is only designed to aid veterans in applying for and receiving their G.I. bill benefits and directing the students to other departments according to Lofquest.

The office does not have a veteran counselor to help with the transition from military to school life. Lofquest admitted that this kind of support is “out of their realm of expertise.”

“At the time I filled out the survey and submitted the necessary paperwork, we did have a Student Veterans Association, but it pretty much fizzled out,” said Lofquest. “The main problem is that there is no student that wants to accept leadership after the initial founders graduated or left.”

Without a counselor or formal peer-to-peer groups, that university leaves vets without personal support.

“I’ve been struggling a lot with post-deployment,” said Amy reservist Specialist Jeff Hicks. “Now I am just struggling with the whole concept of school.”

Hicks returned home from Iraq July 23 of this year. He returned to the university only four weeks after the end of his deployment. “I was so focused on doing a specific thing over there,” said Hicks. “Everything was so structured and now nothing is. I just feel lost.”

Many service members returning from overseas are experiencing problems with post-traumatic stress disorder. Even though Hicks does not believe he is experiencing PTSD, he would like to see more counseling services on campus for veterans to seek assistance.

“There was more peer-to-peer support at UT,” said Sgt Harbour. “From a vet’s point of view, there is nothing that different from UT’s campus to make this a veteran friendly school. I don’t believe it is.”

UT has not been named a veteran-friendly campus. Also, Harbour admits to liking ETSU better than UT because of their focus on academics. However, he believes that ETSU has done nothing more than universities like UT to distinguish them as veteran-friendly.

Other students said they feel utilizing the VA office is unnecessary because of the few services offered. They also admitted to being less involved on campus due to the lack of veteran organizations.

With these gaping holes in support, student veterans feel ETSU has a long way to go to prove themselves a veteran friendly campus.

“To be honest, I don’t think they really give a shit,” said reservist Hicks.

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