There are murky areas aplenty in higher-education law, and with an annual college suicide rate of 1,300 to 1,400 students, mental-health policies are particularly fraught and confusing.
But every now and then, a ruling or a settlement actually helps clarify matters. Such was the case with an October settlement of a class-action suit against Stanford University concerning its mental-health leave-of-absence policies.
Student plaintiffs said they were coerced into taking involuntary leaves, or leaves that were “voluntary” in name only, when they sought help for suicidal thoughts, anxiety and depression, or other mental illness. The resulting settlement led to new policies that went into effect in January and that have been hailed as a model by legal and medical specialists, and mental-health advocacy groups, too.
Among the new policies:
- Students will have two business days to change their mind after agreeing to a voluntary leave.
- The university will make appropriate accommodations, in reviewing leave and other options, for students who are hospitalized.
- Involuntary leave will be treated as a last resort after discussion of reasonable accommodations, which could include reducing courseloads, changing dorm rooms, and other options. These will be brainstormed in consultation with a mental-health specialist in the university’s Office of Accessible Education.
- The university will give significant weight to the students’ primary-treatment providers.
- Students may petition to retain their campus housing when on leave for a term. This is important, Porter said, because some students have housing insecurity or their family homes are unsafe or untherapeutic for them to return to. This policy will put them on an equal footing with students being treated for cancer or other illnesses who are allowed to remain on campus.
- When a student wishes to return from an involuntary leave of absence, Stanford will assess whether the student is ready and able to return to the university with or without reasonable accommodations.
- A resource person, familiar with the policies but outside the decision process in a particular student’s case, will be made available by the university to advise the student facing choices about leave, during that leave, and returning from the leave.
- Stanford will provide staff members with training on mental health and the new leave policies.
Legal experts say the fact that the resolution was reached by settlement makes it stronger because all parties recognized new social and clinical norms. The transparency and detail of the policy, experts say, help students but also help limit the university’s liability in the case of a student’s suicide, self-harm, or other incident.
The head of a mental-health advocacy group called the settlement “a great step in the right direction” that “will hopefully encourage other colleges and universities to re-examine their policies and make changes that are more compassionate and student-centered.”
Stanford did pay the plaintiffs’ $495,000 in legal costs, but the case offers a little hopeful light in a landscape of dark legal twisters. At least occasionally, controversial issues can be resolved without endless litigation and huge monetary stakes.
