This should be the familys problem, they new this kid had problems before they sent him away. And now wants money for there problem. they brought the boy up and when you send your son or daughter off to college they should have some responsiblty thereselfs. It is not the colleges problem. they have enough to do.
No one should expect a college or university assume responsibility for 24/7 care of its students. That’s an un-realistic expectation. A parent can’t transfer their own responsibility for their child’s well-being to someone else. Colleges and universities are institutions of higher learning, not psych wards. This kid probably had “issues” before this. If someone investigates his past history it’s a good bet they’ll find those other issues. He was paranoid that someone would associate him with his fellow Korean who was behind the massacre at VT. He had no friends. He like to sit at a computer and play “war games”.
Did his parents check on him regularly? If Kim’s buddy Pribush was so concerned why didn’t he contact Kim’s parents directly? And how does a 20 year old kid buy an automatic pistol on short-notice? While tragic, some people simply can’t handle the stress and pressure of everyday life and it’s foolish to think someone, anyone, can prevent suicides. Even “if” more attention was focused on this kid, he might still have killed himself.
But hey, “it’s not about the money”. That’s why his greedy parents want $44,000,000 and you can bet they’ll take every dime they can get.
Right on, Rufus: our public high schools have morphed into babysitting institutions and now the lawyers believe this should also apply to legal adults at our higher level colleges. If our tort system were changed to the simple use of “loser” pays, this suit would never have been filed. As long at the “no accountability” contingency method of compensation stays in place, we’ll continue to see this country sold down the river to its total demise.
While I don’t agree with the suit filed, I think there are some things to consider. If the university has a program in place (and it does) then they should have followed up on the email with the student. Did you ever think that maybe his friend did not even know the parents? My kids had many friends at college that I never met. As a parent who has had children at college I would have wanted that call regardless of whether my child had issues before he went to school or not. This is truly a tragic event that no amount of money will fix. Maybe for the next child at least a phone call will be made.
I don’t think i’ve ever seen a comment section regarding a lawsuit where anyone agreed with the plaintiff. Some kind of record.
The university has some kind of liability here. Maybe not $44 million worth, but a reasonable person has a duty to inform the parents of a child if they’ve been told the child is suicidal. Period, the end. What possible reason could they have had for not passing that bit of info along? Do i think they are the reason the kid shot himself? No. I bet they settle for about a half a million.
Colleges/ Universities are not even allowed to send grades to parents without the students permisssion. Do you think he would have allowed the university to send out information on his mental health?
Had he not commited suicide, could he not have sued the university for sending the email to his parents?
The student was 21 years of age- Doesn’t age matter? What is he was 25, 30 , 35 years of age- at what time do you no longer have to contact the parents?
OK who is responsible when their child commits suicide in their own home? If this was possible to prevent, then there would be no suicides at home or on campus.
Ok – say he’s 35 and enrolled at the school. They don’t have at least a good samaritan responsibility to advise the guy to see a psychiatrist or counselor? From the IJ story (which i admit is lacking detail as always), it appears they took the word of a local cop and said “ok, we’re wiping our hands of this.” Again, i am not saying they owe this family $44 million…but i think they have a liability that they’ll end up paying for. Even if it’s just for Seinfeldian indifference.
I don’t think that age is the issue here. Someone should have been notified. If no one else, the student should have received a visit from a representative from the university saying that they were concerned about him. What is the point of having a program in place if you are not going to follow through?
I respect your opinion, but it’s crap. :) How about having the University Health Center inform parents when a kid tests positive for an STD or gets birth control or asks for a condom????? Don’t you think parents should know when their child is making life, not just possibly ending it??
Oh yeah, they don’t do that because once a person turns 18, medical records are sealed, even if that person is still on his/her parents health insurance.
While I’m sorry for their loss, this sort of big brother approach is not going to stop someone from killing themself.
The person who emailed the university did so on 11/5 saying that he had bought a gun and was suicidial. The university contacted the police department at Blackburg to check him out (would you not do this with the possibility of a gun involved). the police officer met the Tech student and found him alright and the student claimed he never even heard of the person who sent the email to the university. the police officer reported that the information to the university. The Tech student actually did not even buy the gun until 11 days before the suicide (well after the original email to the school). He committed suicide in December. The university took the situation seriously, sent the police to investigate and with the facts at hand came to the conclusion that the emil itself was probably a FAKE.
The university can not protect someone from themselves.
Having 2 relatives that work at 2 universities in2 different states the law is a perosn over the age of 18 has legal right to privacy including his parents.
My nephew is a dean and sadly the parents are not legally entitled to be notified unless they have specific conscent from the student.
As mentioned the univeristy did notify the proper authorities, the police, who did investigate and found no problem. So all of the facts in the story are not complete.
This is ridiculous. The University is now supposed to notify all parents anytime they are informed a student could be suicidal?
Would sure make it easy to ruin your enemies life huh? Just send an email and suddenly this person is investigated by the police and has their family informed that they may kill themselves.
The University did what they should have, notified the police of a possibility. The end.
I feel for the family having to go through this tragedy, but they do not deserve $44M dollars. If he hadn’t killed himself at school there are a million other places he could have done it.
Any suicide is tragic, but this student was an adult. We live in an open society with rights of privacy. The university could not predict the future and relied on the police officer’s observation.
This should be the familys problem, they new this kid had problems before they sent him away. And now wants money for there problem. they brought the boy up and when you send your son or daughter off to college they should have some responsiblty thereselfs. It is not the colleges problem. they have enough to do.
No one should expect a college or university assume responsibility for 24/7 care of its students. That’s an un-realistic expectation. A parent can’t transfer their own responsibility for their child’s well-being to someone else. Colleges and universities are institutions of higher learning, not psych wards. This kid probably had “issues” before this. If someone investigates his past history it’s a good bet they’ll find those other issues. He was paranoid that someone would associate him with his fellow Korean who was behind the massacre at VT. He had no friends. He like to sit at a computer and play “war games”.
Did his parents check on him regularly? If Kim’s buddy Pribush was so concerned why didn’t he contact Kim’s parents directly? And how does a 20 year old kid buy an automatic pistol on short-notice? While tragic, some people simply can’t handle the stress and pressure of everyday life and it’s foolish to think someone, anyone, can prevent suicides. Even “if” more attention was focused on this kid, he might still have killed himself.
But hey, “it’s not about the money”. That’s why his greedy parents want $44,000,000 and you can bet they’ll take every dime they can get.
Right on, Rufus: our public high schools have morphed into babysitting institutions and now the lawyers believe this should also apply to legal adults at our higher level colleges. If our tort system were changed to the simple use of “loser” pays, this suit would never have been filed. As long at the “no accountability” contingency method of compensation stays in place, we’ll continue to see this country sold down the river to its total demise.
While I don’t agree with the suit filed, I think there are some things to consider. If the university has a program in place (and it does) then they should have followed up on the email with the student. Did you ever think that maybe his friend did not even know the parents? My kids had many friends at college that I never met. As a parent who has had children at college I would have wanted that call regardless of whether my child had issues before he went to school or not. This is truly a tragic event that no amount of money will fix. Maybe for the next child at least a phone call will be made.
I don’t think i’ve ever seen a comment section regarding a lawsuit where anyone agreed with the plaintiff. Some kind of record.
The university has some kind of liability here. Maybe not $44 million worth, but a reasonable person has a duty to inform the parents of a child if they’ve been told the child is suicidal. Period, the end. What possible reason could they have had for not passing that bit of info along? Do i think they are the reason the kid shot himself? No. I bet they settle for about a half a million.
Colleges/ Universities are not even allowed to send grades to parents without the students permisssion. Do you think he would have allowed the university to send out information on his mental health?
Had he not commited suicide, could he not have sued the university for sending the email to his parents?
They’re allowed to send notice when the student’s health is threatened…just like if the kid got the flu.
The student was 21 years of age- Doesn’t age matter? What is he was 25, 30 , 35 years of age- at what time do you no longer have to contact the parents?
OK who is responsible when their child commits suicide in their own home? If this was possible to prevent, then there would be no suicides at home or on campus.
Ok – say he’s 35 and enrolled at the school. They don’t have at least a good samaritan responsibility to advise the guy to see a psychiatrist or counselor? From the IJ story (which i admit is lacking detail as always), it appears they took the word of a local cop and said “ok, we’re wiping our hands of this.” Again, i am not saying they owe this family $44 million…but i think they have a liability that they’ll end up paying for. Even if it’s just for Seinfeldian indifference.
I don’t think that age is the issue here. Someone should have been notified. If no one else, the student should have received a visit from a representative from the university saying that they were concerned about him. What is the point of having a program in place if you are not going to follow through?
I respect your opinion, but it’s crap. :) How about having the University Health Center inform parents when a kid tests positive for an STD or gets birth control or asks for a condom????? Don’t you think parents should know when their child is making life, not just possibly ending it??
Oh yeah, they don’t do that because once a person turns 18, medical records are sealed, even if that person is still on his/her parents health insurance.
While I’m sorry for their loss, this sort of big brother approach is not going to stop someone from killing themself.
The person who emailed the university did so on 11/5 saying that he had bought a gun and was suicidial. The university contacted the police department at Blackburg to check him out (would you not do this with the possibility of a gun involved). the police officer met the Tech student and found him alright and the student claimed he never even heard of the person who sent the email to the university. the police officer reported that the information to the university. The Tech student actually did not even buy the gun until 11 days before the suicide (well after the original email to the school). He committed suicide in December. The university took the situation seriously, sent the police to investigate and with the facts at hand came to the conclusion that the emil itself was probably a FAKE.
The university can not protect someone from themselves.
Having 2 relatives that work at 2 universities in2 different states the law is a perosn over the age of 18 has legal right to privacy including his parents.
My nephew is a dean and sadly the parents are not legally entitled to be notified unless they have specific conscent from the student.
As mentioned the univeristy did notify the proper authorities, the police, who did investigate and found no problem. So all of the facts in the story are not complete.
This is ridiculous. The University is now supposed to notify all parents anytime they are informed a student could be suicidal?
Would sure make it easy to ruin your enemies life huh? Just send an email and suddenly this person is investigated by the police and has their family informed that they may kill themselves.
The University did what they should have, notified the police of a possibility. The end.
I feel for the family having to go through this tragedy, but they do not deserve $44M dollars. If he hadn’t killed himself at school there are a million other places he could have done it.
Any suicide is tragic, but this student was an adult. We live in an open society with rights of privacy. The university could not predict the future and relied on the police officer’s observation.
“…a reasonable person has a duty to inform the parents of a child if they’ve been told the child is suicidal. ”
If they had notified the parents, then they would be sued for a breach of confidentiality.
Gee, why is tuition so high?
Since when is a 21 year old a child?