Parents of NJ student who killed himself may sue Rutgers

[RandySF]

The parents of a Rutgers University student who killed himself after his roommate allegedly used a webcam to spy on him during a tryst with another man have filed notice that they're considering suing the school.

Joseph and Jane Clementi, parents of Tyler Clementi, filed notice Friday preserving their right to sue. They have to wait six months after the notice to file a lawsuit over their son's death, which became a symbol in a national outcry over the bullying of young gays.

In the notice, the couple said "it appears Rutgers University failed to act, failed to put in place and/or failed to implement, and enforce policies and practices that would have prevented or deterred such acts, and that Rutgers failed to act timely and appropriately"

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2010/12/parents_of_nj_student_who_killed_himself_may_sue.php?ref=fpa

[virgogal]

1. This tragedy is hardly the fault of Rutgers.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. In a prior thread there was some discussion that Rutgers did not follow their process

in handling prior complaints

[rfranklin]

4. The Ra was informed...the response may have been too slow...

From this snippet it looks like Rutgers may be held liable...

In an online posting on Sept. 22, Clementi said, "I ran to the nearest RA and set this thing in motion....We'll see what happens....He seemed to take it seriously....He asked me to e-mail him a written paragraph about what exactly happened....I e-mailed it to him, and to two people above him."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20018385-504083.html

[MadHound]

2. Why aren't they going after his roommate, since he's the one who set up the camera and such?

Oh, yeah, that's right, Rutgers has money, the roommate doesn't.

[LisaL]

5. As far as I can tell, we know almost nothing of how Rutgers responded

to Tyler's complaints to figure at this time if this potential lawsuit has merit. Was Tyler promised a roommate change, when was it going to happen, etc, etc, etc?