*All visual sensitive content is located at the bottom of the story, including SGA’s apology post and their original campaign.

Last week, the Student Government Association (SGA) at Georgia Southern hosted tables bringing awareness and sharing information about Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Flyers were passed out and posted around campus reading “When you come to the end of the rope, tie a knot and hang on!” followed by a #SUICIDEAWARENESS.

Students across campus were outraged and confused at the message. The George-Anne Reflector reached out to students and compiled a list of quotes from them. We reached out to SGA for a statement, asking if they had anything further to add, other than the letter published by the SGA President; they provided no additional comment. Their full apology letter went out to students this past week, however, they still faced backlash. Students and alumni left their comment section with furious messages and statements on the issue. Later all comments were deleted and turned off on the post. Their full apology letter can be found at the end of the article or on their social media platforms.

“At first, I definitely had to do a double take because I saw it quickly and my friend pointed it out. It made me drop my jaw and I was just thinking, ‘Wow’. It made me worry for people around campus who might not be in a good place mentally. I was also confused and concerned about how it could have made it to the printing stage without anyone catching it beforehand.”

• Hunter Davis, Senior

“Seeing this SGA flyer around campus was upsetting for me both as a mental health advocate and a suicide attempt survivor. We have a fully staffed counseling center, psychology clinic, and psychology department that could have told SGA that this was not appropriate if they had been contacted. The flyer in its nature is insensitive and thoughtless3 because it is not just the mental health advocates and psychology students on campus that see issue with this flyer, a variety of students see issue with this flyer. In discussing the flyer online, I have had several people ask why SGA would think this was okay. It is insulting for the SGA president to claim to be a mental health advocate yet approve for this flyer to be distributed. It is insulting to mental health advocates like myself that put in the work to educate and create safe communities to discuss mental health, and it is also insulting for those who need better from their student government. My comments as well as other students’ comments on SGA’s Instagram have been filtered out before the comment section was removed completely before being turned back on with filters still in place. SGA knows that this should not have been distributed and if a mistake like this was made in the workplace, there would be accountability. I believe this is also what we need to see here.” 

• Jill King, Junior, Recipient of NAMI Georgia’s Young Leader Award

“I don’t know how someone could look at that and be like ‘Yea, this is alright to hand out.”

• Hailey Loth, Sophomore

If you or someone you know were impacted, help is available. As a reminder, the Counseling Center offers same day solution screenings Monday – Friday from 8am – 5pm. During after hours, students can reach a counselor by calling the Counseling Center at 912-478-5541 (Statesboro) and selecting option 2. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline also provides 24/7, confidential support to anyone in a mental health-related distress. If there are immediate safety concerns, please call 911.