Discerning fact from fiction with NEDA

By Jasmine White 

A colorful display of stationary, artist markers and stickers from nostalgic television shows and movies greeted all that attended National Eating Disorders Association Campus Warriors’ second meeting of the fall 2025 semester.

On Sept. 25, curious students and the NEDA Campus Warriors e-board met in Lynch Adler 127 at 7:30 p.m., with a goal to learn about what eating disorders are and ways to be an ally to those that are affected by them, followed by attendees making positive vision boards.

Vyan Datt, sophomore psychology major and vice president of NEDA, said, “I just want to give a positive space for every student on campus.”

Datt became involved during freshman year because of their passion for learning about mental health and receiving a warm welcome by Libby D’Orvillers, senior psychology major, president of NEDA Campus Warriors and Datt’s former psychology learning community mentor. 

Datt presented an informative slideshow about eating disorders alongside D’Orvillers and NEDA Treasurer Joe Giambelluca, senior English major.

D’Orvillers began with a “how are we,” slide that allowed attendees to rate how they were feeling based on a character or animal from well known movies, shows and memes. The NEDA Campus Warriors emphasized the goal was to prioritize self-care.

After the mood icebreaker, the e-board led by describing what eating disorders are and attendees were prompted to take a benchmark quiz on how much they know about eating disorders to debunk common stigmas and stereotypes on the topic prior to the discussion.

“It is important to realize that [eating disorders are] different for every person that has it,” Datt said. “Be an ally and check in on your friends and on yourself too.”

The quiz allowed people to see questions they got wrong, leading to discussions on why an answer was correct or incorrect.

Students were shocked to find how they may have been influenced by particular biases and stigmas over time.

The main intention of every meeting is to understand the different types of eating disorders, what early warning signs are and how to support someone who may be dealing with one personally, and what to avoid when trying to help because “community is lifesaving” according to D’Orvillers.

Students were encouraged to get involved with NEDA initiatives by joining communities that are passionate and committed to offering a helping hand to those impacted by eating disorders.

“I love NEDA [because] it’s a great community,” Giambelluca said. “It’s very informative, educational and very family-like.”

In the end, students were given a list of resources to look into including Rider’s Counseling Center, eating  disorder screening tools and Grace Holland Cozine Foundation, a partner of NEDA. 

Senior psychology major Victoria Vargas became a general member of the NEDA Campus Warriors during the spring semester of 2024, shedding light on her close friendship with D’Orvillers and the necessity to get more people involved with NEDA.

“I [want] to see a lot more people here because it’s a very fun and welcoming community,” Vargas said. “[The presentation] was very informative and it’s also just a lot of things that people aren’t really aware of.”

Libby D’Orvillers is president of the NEDA Campus Warriors and opinion editor for the Rider News. She had no part in the writing or editing of this story.