Recent district court cases have ruled that if a college student's life is in foreseeable danger, their college has a duty to prevent suicide attempts.
This decision comes in response to the numerous lawsuits filed by students and parents claiming that institutions failed to recognize the student needed psychological counseling because of suicidal thoughts and depression.
The most notable of these suits is that of former George Washington University student Jordan Nott. The Eagle reported March 27 that Nott was "barred from his dorm and all other GW property and was threatened with arrest if he returned to campus" after he checked himself into George Washington University Hospital in the fall of 2004 after contemplating suicidal thoughts.
Other incidents of students or their parents filing lawsuits have occured at other institutions including Hunter College, a City University of New York school, where an unidentified 19-year-old female student was evicted from her dormitory after attempting to commit suicide by overdosing on Tylenol, according to CNN.
The Hunter student was allowed to retrieve her belongings under the supervision of a security guard, CNN reported.
AU currently does not have a set policy on dismissing students who are having suicidal thoughts, although students may be relocated, according to Julie Weber, executive director of Housing and Dining Programs.
"When we deal with a student who is in distress, everything is evaluated on a case-by-case basis," Weber said. "Our first concern is that the student is OK."
Weber said that while Housing and Dining will not directly evict a student who has attempted suicide, they may take other actions to ensure their behavior does not negatively affect other students, such as relocating the student to a different building or floor.
"We want to take care of a student who is in distress, but we want to take care of all of you," she said. "We have to take the impact on the other students into consideration. The needs of the greater community do need to be considered."
Eviction is considered only in extreme cases. Illegal drug use in an attempted suicide could be grounds for eviction. In this case, AU is not responsible for finding alternate housing for the student, but will assist the student in finding a new residence, Weber said. AU does attempt to provide students with counseling and other psychological services through the Counseling Center, according to Weber.
In addition, AU has a parental notification policy should a student need to go to the hospital for an attempted suicide, but this is only used in extreme cases when a parent or guardian might be able to intervene and protect the student from harm.
"Information regarding a student's contact with the Counseling Center would not occur without the student's written permission," said Wanda Collins, director of the Counseling Center. "In accordance with the law, confidentiality for a suicidal student would only be breached when it was necessary to prevent that student from imminent harm."
Hunter College has since changed its policy concerning students who attempt to commit suicide and abandoned the three-year-old suicide policy as part of a settlement with the female student, who also received $65,000 in her lawsuit, according to CNN.
GW has made no changes to its policies, and former student Nott enrolled at the University of Maryland for the spring 2005 semester, The Eagle previously reported.
Collins said students can speak confidentially with a counselor by calling the Counseling Center at (202) 885-3500 or by stopping by Mary Graydon Center 214. Further information about the Center and mental health screenings for depression and other issues can also be found on the Counseling Center's Web site at www.american.edu/counseling.
