University kicks out student for being depressed

[xpgeek]

GWU suit prompts questions of liability

Campus barred depressed student

WASHINGTON - About 2 a.m. one sleepless night, sophomore Jordan Nott checked himself into George Washington University Hospital.

He was depressed, he said, and thinking about suicide.

Within a day and a half of being there, he got a letter from a GWU administrator charging him with violating the code of student conduct for his "endangering behavior" at that time. He faced possible suspension and expulsion from school, the letter said, unless he withdrew and deferred the charges while he got treatment.

'Like a stab in the back'
In the meantime, he was barred from campus.

"It was like a stab in the back," he said. He felt they were telling him, "We're going to wipe our hands clean of you."

His response has college administrators around the country taking notice: Nott sued the university and individuals involved. The school violated federal law protecting Americans with disabilities, the complaint argues -- the law covers mental as well as physical impairments.

In essence, it says the school betrayed him by sharing confidential treatment information and pushing him out on a temporary suspension just when he most needed help.

In court documents filed this week, the university's attorneys defended the actions taken, denied that Nott was disabled and suggested his conduct might bar his recovery. And they asked that the charges be dismissed for the individuals named -- mostly administrators and counselors. The university policies might seem impersonal, spokeswoman Tracy Schario said, but they are designed to keep both individuals and the community safe.

Suicidal students have always forced tough calls. But with shifting legal ground, growing threats of lawsuits and increasing numbers of troubled teenagers entering colleges, many administrators are even more worried about how to handle them.

Historically, administrators have not been held responsible for student suicides, said Karen-Ann Broe of United Educators, but recent -- and not yet settled -- cases have thrown that in flux.

Article continues at source :
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11754386/

[xpgeek]

Wow, I saw the headline from the RSS feed and went 'WHAT !".

That is so, F'ed up.

As a person with a long history of, I'll say, mental health experience myself, I find this appalling, and just downright wrong.

What do people here think about this ?

[zimagirl79]

That is such bullsh1t! First off, if he is depressed and thinking of suicide, he is a danger to himself and not others. Second, by treating him this way, they are just compounding his problems. The school has an obigation to provide an education to any student who qualifies for enrollment and is paying for tuition. Give him credit for recognizing his problems and acting to do something about them before it was too late!

[xpgeek]

Edit : Had to add this.

In the hospital, one of the letters he received suggested that he could withdraw to defer the charges. He decided not to argue his case at a school judicial hearing to be held two days after he left the hospital, he said, worried that an effort to fight the charges would fail and leave him with a permanent black mark, an expulsion or suspension, on his transcript.

He withdrew, went home to Upstate New York, he said, missing his friends and worried that he had ruined his education. Weeks later, he waited for his father and friends to lug things down from his dorm because, he said, he had been told he could be arrested for trespassing.

If he had known, he said, he never would have gone to the hospital.

This is sad, this is really sad. If he had known this was going to happen, he never would have gone to the hospital, and might have not stopped himself from committing suicide. I just hope this doesn't discourage other students in need of help from seeking it.

[Micron]

Depression is an old friend of mine too. Makes me mad that crap happens like that. People can't help getting i'll like this.

I hope one day they suffer from some illness and get prejudice from people.

[Boeing_737]

Suicidal students have always forced tough calls. But with shifting legal ground, growing threats of lawsuits and increasing numbers of troubled teenagers entering colleges, many administrators are even more worried about how to handle them.

Historically, administrators have not been held responsible for student suicides, said Karen-Ann Broe of United Educators, but recent -- and not yet settled -- cases have thrown that in flux.


Well, at first sight the anger rose, but at re-reading the first doubts came up.
How was the complete story to be told? What behavior of the victim was seen in the weeks before?
It looks like injustice, but what had GWU to gain (or to loose for that matter)?
In most of these cases the whole story and then told from both sides, could raise a lot of second thoughts.

If one could read all the documents presented at court, most of the time a kind of tragedy will enroll.
BTw, I too walked the land of shadows.