Daniel de Vise reports:
One November day in 2007, an e-mail arrived at the Virginia Tech health center warning that a 21-year-old senior named Daniel Kim might be suicidal.
Within weeks, Kim was dead. And only then did his parents learn of the e-mail.
Four years later, the university has reached a legal settlement with the Kim family that requires school officials to notify parents or guardians when a student is suicidal. The agreement, signed by a Fairfax County judge last month, was disseminated by the Kim family last week.
Read more on The Washington Post. Kim’s family had sued the college and state for $43 million and for an agreement to notify parents if their children had become suicidal.
I think we need to see the exact wording of the settlement, though, as there may be some wiggle room. Vise reports:
The agreement between Virginia Tech and the Kims essentially requires the immediate notification of parents of “potentially suicidal” students, unless school officials have good reason to keep quiet.
What would constitute “good reason?”
Tonia Moxley of The Roanoke Times provided additional details on the settlement of the case, but not the wording of under what conditions the college would have to notify parents:
The state has agreed to pay $250,000 and create a $100,000 scholarship fund to settle a $43 million wrongful death lawsuit brought against Virginia Tech by the family of a student who committed suicide, according to a court order.
The state will pay up to $126,666 in legal fees to the plaintiff’s attorney. The family of Daniel Sun Kim is to receive at least $123,334.
Additionally, Virginia Tech will establish a $100,000 scholarship in Kim’s name, place a memorial plaque somewhere on campus and enact a policy of considering immediate notification of the parents or guardians of any student who is thought to be suicidal.
Has anyone seen the court documents on the settlement who can tell us the wording of under what conditions the college must now notify parents?