Yesterday was World Mental Health Day, and instead of being able to take time to appropriately raise awareness about mental health issues, one law school was thrust into an emergency situation.
We have some alarming news from the Philadelphia area, where a law student posted messages so “disturbing” on social media that campus police were put on “high alert” and the administration decided to ban the student from campus.
The school in question is the Rutgers University School of Law, where a student from the Camden campus “wrote a number of posts that have been characterized as disturbing and placed them on a closed Facebook page for Rutgers Law students.” What the Facebook posts specifically said is unclear. According to the Philly Voice, the school has declined to discuss the content of the student’s posts.
According to Mike Sepanic, associate chancellor for external relations at the school, “What emerged from the investigation is that no one felt a credible, immediate threat to the safety of the campus. We were taking steps out of concern for the student.” Per Sepanic, Rutgers police investigated not just the incident but also the student’s interactions with others on campus.
The Camden County Prosecutor’s Office is assisting Rutgers with the investigation, but no charges have been filed or arrests made. “Our student affairs folks are talking to the student and hoping to connect the student with the appropriate help,” Sepanic said.
Best of luck to Rutgers Law-Camden as they deal with the outcome of this situation. We hope the law student in question gets the help that’s needed.
Rutgers—Camden bans law student from campus over ‘disturbing’ Facebook posts [Courier Post]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.