Public college and universities might not be responsible for protecting students from violence, a California appeals court has ruled.
In a two-to-one decision, the appeals court ruled that the University of California at Los Angeles was not responsible for one of its students getting stabbed and having her throat slashed by a fellow student. The offending student, Damon Thompson, had been treated by the university for schizophrenia-related symptoms and was later found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Still, the appeals court based its decision on whether the university did enough to protect the victim, Katherine Rosen, having known of the attacker’s symptoms.
“We find no basis to depart from the settled rule that institutions of higher education have no duty to their adult students to protect them against the criminal acts of third persons,” the ruling said. “The conduct at issue here — a violent crime perpetrated by an individual suffering from mental illness — is a societal problem not limited to the college setting.”
In a footnote in the decision, the court mentioned that requiring colleges to predict future behavior of their students may result in more harm than good.
“Some schools might attempt to shield themselves from liability by reducing or eliminating mental health services, thereby increasing the overall risks to the student community,” the footnote said “Other schools might chose to compel their students, particularly those with mental disabilities, to participate in a wider range of mental health services, thereby intruding on the privacy and freedoms associated with the modern college experience. A college or university’s task in addressing these issues would be further complicated by various statutes that prohibit discrimination based on disabilities, including mental illness.”
Hindsight being 20-20, one can believe that a person with symptoms of schizophrenia could be dangerous. But not everyone with such symptoms is dangerous, and Thompson may not have given any indication to the university that he would become violent.
It’s a tragedy, for sure, but one that doesn’t appear to be the fault of the college.
Though the ruling was limited to this case, it could have farther-reaching consequences. Colleges and universities are being required to adjudicate felony sexual assault in part because of a reinterpretation of the anti-discrimination law Title IX. The law has been used to sue universities for failing to protect students from sexual assaults — even when the alleged assault occurs off campus, at parties freely attended by students and which were not university-sanctioned.
If schools don’t have an obligation to protect students from potential future crimes, the entire witch hunt going on right now involving campus sexual assault might come to an end.
