A recent lawsuit regarding a tragedy at Cornell University has sparked a nationwide discussion about universities’ responsibilities for the prevention of one of the most common killers of college students — suicide.
Cornell student Bradley Ginsburg was one of the estimated 4,000 young adults between the ages of 15 and 24 that commit suicide annually in the United States. Ginsburg jumped off a bridge on Cornell’s campus in 2010.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Because of this high rate of suicide on college campuses, parents and others have questioned universities’ liability for suicide.
The student’s father, Howard Ginsburg, has filed a $180 million lawsuit against Cornell for negligence because the bridge that Bradley Ginsburg jumped off of did not have a fence, according to reports from The Cornell Daily Sun.
Negligence for universities usually includes administrators ignoring the warning signs of suicide, said Charles Daye, a UNC law professor.
But Howard Ginsburg’s lawsuit expands the definition of negligence to include a lack of physical barriers to suicide.
Public entities — such as UNC — are not usually liable for deaths, but there are exceptions with certain cases, Daye said.
The lawsuit against Cornell has also raised questions about whether alternative suicide prevention measures should be mandated on college campuses.