My eyesight was on the line!

By Jenny, an Ex-Christian Scientist Group Contributor.

I went to Principia College, and I was disturbed by the negligence of the Principia administration in handling injury and illness on campus. Principia as an institution makes the Christian Science thing a bit more dangerous. Students are really vulnerable at Prin. They are young, far from family. Principia is acting in the role of authority. Pressure on students can be huge.

When I was in my final year at Principia College, I developed some kind of eye infection. I went to the emergency room secretly, but was still somehow found out by a Christian Science nurse who interrogated me about why I was there. When I refused to tell her, she called my house mom and the dean of students. They each spent an hour or so interrogating me, trying to get me to tell them why I was at the hospital.

The crux of the issue for them was not my well-being or health or whether my eye problem was contagious, but whether I had been given a prescription. They told me that if I didn’t tell them they would have to make me move to Cox Cottage or possibly kick me out. I told them it was my body, my choice, and that I felt it was confidential.

We eventually reached a truce when I told them that if it would make them feel better I would be more than happy to lie to them and tell them that I was not taking a prescription. It was one of the single weirdest experiences of my life. My eyesight was on the line! What would have happened if I had been less sure of my decision or more concerned about public perception or what my parents would say if I was asked to leave?