Virginia Is For Lovers ... And Suicidal Undergraduates.
MayorBob.
Posted to Legal on Mon Feb 26, 2007 at 05:43:54 PM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
Suicide is the second leading cause of deaths of college students and is nearing "epidemic proportions." (pdf doc) In light of the increasing body counts, many schools are slowly coming to grips with the problem and beginning to set up programs aimed at identifying potential suicides in order to get them help before they make an attempt on their lives. But, what to do with those who try to do away with themselves and fail? Should they be kicked out of school or stigmatized while on campus? The legislators of at least one state - Virginia - are answering those questions with a very firm no.
Both houses of the Virginia General Assembly have passed legislation which require public colleges and universities "to develop and implement policies that" identify and address "the needs of students exhibiting suicidal tendencies or behavior." The bill, which still requires the governor's signature, also would bar institutions from punishing or expelling students "solely for attempting to commit suicide, or seeking mental health treatment for suicidal thoughts or behaviors." This legislation comes at a time when some institutions are under fire for not having done enough to prevent student suicides or for having taken adverse action against students for seeking mental health services.
The legislation doesn't keep schools from taking appropriate action to deal "with students who are a danger to themselves, or to others, and whose behavior is disruptive to the academic community." According to bill sponsor Del. Albert Eisenberg (D - Arlington), the legislation was founded on the reality that "pressures on (students) are tremendous" and such a law would insure that students in crisis would get the help they need. Dr. Jane Horton, an administrator at Washington and Lee University, believes this is a bad law, in that forcing schools to keep suicidal students on campus "is putting their own health at risk or placing an undue burden on the university for taking care of them, and an undue burden to other students who are concerned." Horton has joined in a letter urging Virginia governor Tim Kaine to veto the bill when it is presented to him.
Eisenberg responds by observing nothing in the bill implies that schools should be considered psychiatric wards. If a student is engaged in dangerous behavior "authorities have to be allowed to come in and deal with the problem." Jihad Aziz, an administrator from Virginia Commonwealth University, sees the main benefit of the legislation as raising awareness of the plight and needs of suicidal students but "the reality is you can never stop anyone from harming themselves."
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