Federal courts have recently ruled that a college has a duty to intervene when one of its students' lives is in danger. These rulings came in response to lawsuits from students and parents, most notably in the case of a George Washington University student who was evicted from the dorms and barred from campus after he checked himself into the hospital after having suicidal thoughts.
Mental health is an important issue to college students. Suicide is the second leading cause of death to college students, according to the National Mental Health Association Web site.
Though there are certainly concerns for the physical safety and mental health of the greater university community, it cannot help the suicidal student to be forced to disappear from campus with no help from the university. Merely dismissing a student from school without even acknowledging the problem, much less trying to find help for the student, makes it seem that mental health issues are something to be ashamed of and something that the university is unwilling to deal with.
At present, AU has no policy regarding what to do when students are in danger of a mental health crisis. University administration deals with situations on a case-by-case basis. Most students are aided by the counseling center in some way. In some extreme cases, such as those involving illegal drugs, students are evicted from university housing.
It's admirable that AU doesn't have a policy like the one at GW and deals with students one-on-one rather than pushing them under the rug and out the door. It's sensible that the university realizes that mental health issues are entirely personal and cannot be dealt with by standardized procedure.
Universities have an obligation to do whatever they can to protect their students, and AU lives up to this obligation.
