The lawsuit raises serious questions about Harvard\u2019s enforcement of involuntary leave policies and could force the University to change them, legal experts said, pointing to settlements at other Ivy League schools where similar policies were challenged in court.<\/p>\n
S4MHJ did not demand any monetary compensation \u2014 only that a judge declare the policies illegal and force Harvard to make changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, justice isn\u2019t about money,\u201d Student B wrote in a statement to The Crimson.\u201cIt\u2019s about making sure students in our position are treated more fairly in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Your School Doesn\u2019t Want You Back\u2019<\/p>\n Harvard\u2019s mental health policies have long been the subject of controversy<\/a>, but legal experts say the S4MHJ case could seriously challenge Harvard\u2019s involuntary leave policies and the treatment contracts students are required to sign before returning.<\/p>\n Of the five anonymous students whose stories are detailed in the complaint, four were banned from stepping foot on Harvard property, even if escorted by a parent, after they were hospitalized for mental illness and placed on medical leave.<\/p>\n The group alleges this rule, outlined in the Harvard College Student Handbook, amounts to discrimination against students with mental health disabilities in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination based on disability.<\/p>\n \u201cThey become relegated to a status that is even more restricted than members of the general public \u2014 about whom Harvard knows nothing \u2014 who are generally free to enter Harvard\u2019s campus,\u201d S4MHJ\u2019s lawyers wrote in the complaint.<\/p>\n Ohio State University law professor Ruth Colker \u201978, a disability law expert, said universities can only legally justify campus bans under the ADA if they prove that individual students posed a risk to other students.<\/p>\n \u201cThose are really the only facts that I can imagine that would in some way justify a university saying, \u2018You can\u2019t come back on campus, you can\u2019t enroll in classes, you need to make a demonstration that you are no longer a risk to the self, safety, and health of others,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cBut there\u2019s nothing in this complaint to suggest that that argument has ever been made. It looks like these were students who had suicidal ideations.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the University did not respond to a request for comment on how officials determine whether to bar students on leave from accessing campus.<\/p>\n According to a former College administrator, Harvard considers whether the presence of the student with mental illness would place undue strain on their friends and classmates when deciding whether to restrict their access to school grounds. <\/p>\n Former Dean of University of Louisville\u2019s Brandeis School of Law Laura F. Rothstein said the key legal question is whether Harvard\u2019s policy \u201ctreats a student adversely based on treatment and diagnosis, rather than behavior and conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I would expect the judge in the case will try to sort out is what was really the basis,\u201d Rothstein said. \u201cWas this based on the student\u2019s mental health status, or was it based on conduct?\u201d<\/p>\n Doctors for Student E \u2014 another anonymous student plaintiff in the case \u2014 extended his stay in the McLean psychiatric ward beyond what they believed was medically necessary, they told him, because the student was unable to return to campus, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n While Student E and his doctor were successful in convincing Harvard officials to allow him to return five days before Harvard\u2019s initial demand, he said that he had felt pressured to remain confined in the mental hospital.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a really strange feeling being a 19-year-old and having a doctor, two social workers, and a nurse being like, \u2018Yeah, you don\u2019t have to be here, but we\u2019re keeping you here because we don\u2019t want you to be homeless, and your school doesn\u2019t want you back on campus, even though you\u2019re not a risk to yourself or others,\u2019\u201d Student E said in an interview with The Crimson.<\/p>\n New York Law School professor Heather E. Cucolo said the policies, which appear to similarly restrict the five students named in the complaint, constitute \u201ca blanket discrimination policy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA direct threat analysis,\u201d she said, \u201cjust does not apply, particularly if there have been medical professionals who have mandated that these individuals are no longer a danger to self or others, and that they should not be denied equal access.\u201d<\/p>\n While universities are allowed to create treatment plans individualized for specific students, multiple experts said the consistent use of blanket campus restrictions constitutes in practice a policy far less tailored than advertised.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat seems to be clear is they\u2019re not undertaking the kind of individualized analysis that\u2019s required,\u201d University of Michigan law professor Samuel R. Bagenstos said.<\/p>\n Similar mental health lawsuits at Princeton University and Yale University in 2014 and 2022, respectively, resulted in settlements. As part of their agreement, Yale changed its leave of absence policy to grant students on leave the right to enter campus spaces like libraries and access university resources such as the career advice office. The university also relaxed its re-enrollment requirements.<\/p>\n Bagenstos said that because S4MHJ is bringing a similar suit, they have \u201ca very strong likelihood of success.\u201d<\/p>\n The Contract to Return<\/p>\n To return to campus, the plaintiffs had to sign extensive treatment contracts granting Harvard access to their medical records, mandating therapy and medication use, requiring that they limit alcohol intake, and demanding that they \u201cimmediately\u201d comply with psychological evaluation whenever required by Harvard administrators. S4MHJ alleges the contracts violate students’ privacy rights and are exclusively imposed upon students with mental health disabilities.<\/p>\n The Student Handbook\u2019s involuntary leave of absence policy applies broadly to \u201cmedical circumstances\u201d and does not describe separate criteria for mental health conditions. But the plaintiffs argue that Harvard does not hold students without mental illnesses to the same standards.<\/p>\n \u201cIn practice, these policies are only applied to students who are hospitalized or visit the emergency room for symptoms of mental health disabilities, and not to students who are hospitalized or visit the emergency room for other reasons, such as a broken arm,\u201d they write in the complaint.<\/p>\n S4MHJ also argues that Harvard makes it difficult for students to return to their education once they have been put on leave, calling the College\u2019s policies \u201cinvasive\u201d and \u201cburdensome.\u201d<\/p>\n Harvard spokespeople did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the allegations in the complaint. But the Handbook describes the requested information as \u201climited\u201d and \u201con a need-to-know basis.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the Handbook, students on medical leave must petition the Administrative Board for their return, typically by providing \u201cevidence of productivity,\u201d which includes a written statement and letters of recommendation. Student A \u2014 another anonymous plaintiff in the case \u2014 alleges that she had to provide proof of six months of continuous, full-time work in order to re-enroll.<\/p>\n Students on medical leaves of absence \u201cordinarily will be required to consult with Harvard University Health Services (and to grant permission to Harvard University Health Services to obtain their relevant treatment records and communicate with their treatment providers),\u201d according to the Handbook.<\/p>\n The Handbook notes more than 40 pages later that \u201cany student may, of course, refuse to allow consultation between the student\u2019s clinician(s) and Harvard College, but such a refusal will not prevent Harvard College from making a decision regarding a student\u2019s return to residence or continued enrollment.\u201d<\/p>\n The policies do not explicitly say whether a student who does not grant administrators access to their medical records would be allowed to return to the University.<\/p>\n Even after Harvard lifted her involuntary leave and allowed her to re-enroll, Student B said her treatment contract conditions made her \u201creally fear for my education.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t get to have the same right to privacy of my information as other students,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t get to walk around campus with complete confidence that the resident dean couldn\u2019t knock on my door tomorrow and tell me that I need to be psychologically evaluated.\u201d<\/p>\n The Handbook explains that the Ad Board only requires treatment contracts after HUHS conducts an \u201cindividualized assessment\u201d of a student\u2019s needs. But S4MHJ\u2019s complaint alleges that many of its members\u2019 contracts contained nearly identical conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cThese contracts, which give Harvard the right to surveil students\u2019 private medical decisions and access private medical information in order to return to enrollment and campus, are applied routinely to students with a wide range of mental health conditions and are not tailored or individualized to the students\u2019 care needs,\u201d the lawyers wrote.<\/p>\n Student E, who is now a senior, said he had to sign four almost identical treatment contracts since sophomore year. He said the contracts made him feel like \u201ca checkbox\u201d in the eyes of the University.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I was to take a gap, for example, for five years and come back to Harvard, I would still be on the exact same treatment contract,\u201d he said. \u201cHarvard\u2019s approach is not just to isolate and stigmatize the person once they try to get the help that they need. It\u2019s also to continue to isolate and stigmatize them, regardless of any type of growth.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not really about verifying if a student is okay or not,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s instead about controlling a student and protecting the institution\u2019s reputation and\/or bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n Student E said he hopes the group\u2019s lawsuit will force Harvard to adopt a more tailored approach to supporting students with mental illnesses that would not deter students from seeking treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was always this culture at Harvard that basically said it was okay to be depressed, but only to the extent that it\u2019s funny,\u201d he added. \u201cAs soon as it becomes serious, you are a liability, and Harvard will kick you out.\u201d<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n \u200b\u200bIf you or someone you know needs help at Harvard, you can contact Counseling and Mental Health Services at (617) 495-2042 or the Harvard University Police Department at (617) 495-1212. Several peer counseling groups offer confidential peer conversations; learn more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can contact a University Chaplain to speak one-on-one at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> or here<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can also call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.<\/p>\n \u2014Staff writer Wyeth Renwick can be reached at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. Follow her on X @wzrenwick<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In fall 2022, a Harvard freshman was taken to McLean Hospital in Belmont for expressing thoughts of suicide.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260],"class_list":{"0":"post-341010","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Harvard](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/091324_1382852.jpg.1500x1000_q95_crop-smart_upscale.jpg\")
Harvard has placed students on involuntary leave and banned students from setting foot on campus after hospitalizations for mental illness. By Hugo C. Chiasson<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Harvard](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/213803_1351858.jpg.1500x1000_q95_crop-smart_upscale.jpg\")
Harvard University Health Services is located in the Smith Campus Center. By Angela Dela Cruz<\/a><\/p>\n