Interesting case:

GWU student has suicidal thoughts, seeks treatment, and receives a letter from a school administrator informing him that his suicidal thoughts constituted “endangering behavior,” violated the code of student conduct, barred him from campus, and faced possible suspension and expulsion from school unless he “withdrew and deferred the charges while he got treatment.” (whatever that means).

Obviously, the GWU was attempting to thwart a possible lawsuit - in case he whacked himself - for fear of being liable, as seeking help for his suicidal thoughts constitutes a potential liability by making the university aware of his suicidal thoughts in a manner that can be tracked with a paper trail.

Will this in anyway reduce the number of suicide attempts by students? Obviously not, and potentially endanger more students by discouraging students with suicidal tendencies to seek treatment. But hey, if these students kill themselves the university will not be liable, as they have no documentation warning them that a student may be suicidal. If they are expelled and kill themselves, the university is not liable because the said student(s) is/are are not enrolled in the university.

Win win for the university, right?

Wrong.

The kid sued the fuckers anyway. For once, bully for litigation. Hell, its a private university, which is basically a for profit corporation which can use its nonprofit status to gobble up investments with boo-koo tax shelters, so fuck ‘em anyway. And yes, the university is trying to protect itself, as other universities have been sued by parents that have tried to make a little green over their depressed dead kid’s corpse. And yes, said parents are the scum of the earth. But whatever, if the university’s defense from such lawsuits is to discourage students with suicidal tendencies to seek help, then double poo on them. Unlike the bullshit cases of evil parents trying to make cabbage on their dead kids, this policy really is putting their students at risk. I don’t care how many stocks or properties the school has to sell off to pay this kid off (they’ll probably just raise tuition to cover the loss - probably not endangering their non-student related investments anyway), this is one of the most morally reprehensible school policies I have ever heard of. I say choke the fuckers until they change the policy.