The treatment of college students who have attempted suicide or suffer from depression - including policies evicting such students from campus dorms - has led to lawsuits at Hunter College and George Washington University.
One former GWU student, Jordan Nott, decided to sue the university in October 2005 after the school told him he could not return due to a recent hospitalization for depression. Hunter College of the City University of New York was sued in August 2004 for similar reasons after a female student, who had received medical treatment after attempting suicide, returned to her dorm room, only to find the lock had been changed, the Associated Press reported Sept. 4.
Nott's case was settled yesterday, according to an Oct. 31 press release from the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, which represented the students in both the GWU and Hunter cases. The Hunter case was settled in August.
"I hope that this difficult experience will result in positive changes in how student mental health issues are handled at campuses across the country. And I certainly hope that other universities will not discipline their students for seeking mental health treatment," Nott said in the press release, which did not disclose the amount of damages awarded.
Nott's official court complaint states that he was never suicidal but was depressed because of the recent death of a close friend. He voluntarily admitted himself to the hospital on Oct. 26, 2004, according to the complaint.
Still, GWU spokesperson Tracy Schario said Nott violated the "endangering policy" in the university's code of conduct, meaning he presented a danger to his community. A violation of the code of conduct can result in a student's involuntary withdrawal from the university. Schario said she believes GWU did what was best for its community.
"When you're talking about someone whose behavior or actions are disruptive to those in the living community, you have to look at the needs of the whole, not just the needs of the individual," she said.
Nott's court complaint states that he received a disciplinary letter from GWU within 12 hours of being hospitalized, notifying him that "as a student who was subject to emergency psychological intervention or hospitalization, he was not permitted to return to his dorm room."
Just 24 hours later, while he was still hospitalized, Nott received a hand-delivered letter informing him that he had less than a week to prepare for a disciplinary hearing. If he refused to attend, the letter stated he would have to withdraw from GWU and possibly face criminal charges, according to the court complaint.
The Hunter College case was settled in August, awarding the student $65,000 in damages and $100,000 in attorney's fees. The AP article reported that Hunter announced shortly after the settlement that it would end its policy of evicting students for violating their housing contracts by attempting suicide in on-campus dorms.
A Hunter representative declined to comment to The Herald but confirmed that the AP story was accurate.
Karen Bower, senior attorney and spokesperson for the Bazelon Center, said the colleges in both cases violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, and in Nott's case, GWU also violated the District of Columbia Human Rights Act "because it discriminated on the basis of disability."
In both cases, the Bazelon Center lawyers sought to prove that Nott and the Hunter student suffered from a disability - depression - and were therefore subject to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which is cited in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
That section states that no individual with a disability should "be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
Bower said in addition to violating this act, neither school evaluated the students' threat to the community before implementing their policies.
"If you believe that a student is a direct threat to others, you can impose some sort of action against them," she said. "But before universities take any type of action such as imposing a mandatory leave of absence or a suspension, they have to make an individualized assessment about the student."
Such an assessment is intended to determine whether the student is a threat, the severity of the threat and the possibility of the threat occurring, she said. Additionally, she said, the schools must explore any accommodations that could minimize the threat. Bower said this evaluation can be conducted after the individual's discharge from the hospital, but not before.
Schario acknowledged that Nott was suspended before such an evaluation took place.
"These blanket policies that impose disciplinary action, a leave of absence or an eviction from the dorm while the student is hospitalized and upon hospitalization, violate the law," Bower said.
But Schario said the school's actions against Nott were determined after "a lot of discussion, a lot of consultation."
"The goal is always to come to a decision that is in the best interest of the student," Schario said. "We agree that maybe the (disciplinary hearing) was an awkward and impersonal way to handle it, but it certainly had the right outcome."
Bower disagreed that the school's policy protects the student.
"When a student is at their most vulnerable and is seeking attention for severe depression, imposing disciplinary action on them - sending them from the campus - evicting them from the dorm, does not help them," she said. "It may worsen their depression, and it certainly isolates them from their support system."
Policies like GWU's, Bower said, could deter other depressed students who learn about these incidents from seeking help for fear of similar consequences. Friends of a potentially suicidal student may also be hesitant to alert authorities, not wanting to impose consequences on their friend, she said.
At Brown, treatment comes firstBrown administrators say the University's policy puts treatment first.
According to Belinda Johnson, director of Psychological Services, Brown students suffering from depression or who have attempted suicide are interviewed and assessed by a mental health professional at the hospital, not Psychological Services.
Depending on the assessment's outcome, the student is either formally admitted to the hospital for treatment or discharged.
Johnson said the student then meets with someone from Psychological Services - usually herself - as the University makes its own individualized assessment in addition to the hospital's.
Johnson then makes a recommendation to deans in the Office of Student Life, who conduct a third assessment of the student. After all these steps, the deans decide to either allow the student to continue studying at Brown or ask the student to take a temporary medical leave.
"The most important thing to remember is that no decision is made in a vacuum," said Robert Samuels, associate dean of the Office of Student Life. "The deans make the final call, but it's not without having information from Psychological Services."
Samuels said Brown's policy differs from those of GWU and Hunter College in terms of the general mindset the University takes in approaching incidents of this sort, which many schools see as disciplinary in nature.
"Brown has chosen not to take that (disciplinarian) stance," Samuels said. "We're still viewing it as a psychological health issue."
Samuels said there is rarely any disagreement between the student and the administration in determining an appropriate course of action. If there is ever a point of contention, he said, it is usually the length of the sustained recovery period during the medical leave.
Samuels said Brown also considers the University's interests in making these decisions, but only secondarily to those of the student.
"We are aware of the ADA and Section 504," Samuels said. "But clearly, first is the individual student, second is the student's community and third is the institution."
According to a study touted by Johnson as the most reputable report on college suicide rates, the University's suicide rate is roughly one third less than the national rate for suicides among college students.
"I'd like to think that our structure is responsible for the low rate," Samuels said. "But if the rate isn't zero, it's not low enough."
