Last weekend, a Georgetown student reported his roommate to CAPS after he made a threatening remark referring to the tragedy at Virginia Tech. The student was right to report his roommate, who was then strongly asked to leave campus housing. Because students don’t face the same legal obstacles as universities and know more about what’s happening on campus, students have a particularly important role to play in preventing campus violence.
Ryan Hart (SFS ‘10) reported his Harbin roommate, Reynold Arias (COL ‘10), who goes by Rei Sairu, to CAPS last week. He has been barred from entering the campus gates until the end of the semester, though he may return in the fall.
But if Sairu had gone to CAPS himself and said something disturbing to a counselor, or if he had written a fear-inspiring English paper and the University was informed, it would have been difficult for Georgetown to take action against him. Universities cannot even legally contact parents without the consent of the student, unless there is a clear danger, according to Rothstein. On the other hand, students are not legally constrained from informing the University or even the authorities of a threatening student.
The problem is that the law surrounding this issue is somewhat ambiguous on what a university can do, according to Georgetown Law Professor Paul Rothstein, who specializes in constitutional and criminal law. For a university to intervene, “there must be a determination that he presents a danger to himself and others,” he said. Colleges have to walk a tight rope between ensuring safely and overreacting. In the case of the former, they may have saved lives. In the latter, they may have done more harm than good by infringing on a student’s privacy and embarrassing him or her. Many universities, including George Washington, have been sued for intervening, but have also been sued for holding back when a clear danger was present.
But While these pages urge students to alert the University if another student presents a significant danger, we must keep in mind that we still want an environment where people can talk about their problems, even if it is disturbing. Because of what happened in Blacksburg, we will now have a lower threshold for alarming behavior. But students should be comfortable making appointments with CAPS without worrying that they’ll be reported for saying something strange. And barring extraordinary exceptions, what they say is confidential, according to Georgetown’s policy.
Whether Rei Sairu deserves to be barred depends on the University’s judgement of how serious of a threat he is. But his roommate was right to report him, and Georgetown should be commended for taking action.
If it’s clear that the student is troubled, but not seriously dangerous, there are steps that can then be taken before alerting the University. Encourage the troubled student to set up an appointment with CAPS. Call his or her parents. But if the friend or roommate seems like a real threat, let the University know.
