Princeton University. Photo credit: Kah-Wai Lin, Flickr.
An uneasy question is hanging over Princeton University's verdant New Jersey campus as the semester draws to a close: Is the school within its rights to force suicidal students to leave?
That issue is at the center of a lawsuit against the Ivy League school and seven of its officials, filed in late March by an anonymous person identifying himself as a current student. And it is spurring dialogue both on campus and in broader academic and legal circles.
In the suit, the plaintiff alleges that after he took a large dose of pills in his dorm room, the university discriminated against him on the basis of disability—by not providing reasonable accommodation for his mental illness and by pressuring him to leave. The lawsuit alleges violations of the plaintiff's rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, among other statutes.
"As a direct result of the Defendants' actions he has experienced extreme embarrassment, stress, emotional pain and mental anguish, as well as … reputational injury," the lawsuit says.
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