By Angelica C. Gualpa
U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley (D-Westlake Village, Agoura Hills, Calabasas) this week introduced legislation to create new reporting requirements for campus suicide incidents, and to ensure students at higher education institutions have the right to select an independent adviser to help them navigate disciplinary proceedings.
The measure, Katie Meyer’s Law, was inspired by the life of Katie Meyer, whose tragic passing underscored the urgent need for greater student mental health protection and support.
“College should be a place where students can learn, grow, and prepare for their futures, not a place where they are left to navigate intimidating and high-stakes disciplinary processes alone,” said Brownley. “By ensuring students have a trusted advisor by their side and by requiring greater transparency about suicide on our campuses, my bill seeks to put student well-being and mental health front and center.”
Katie Meyer, a young woman from California’s 26th Congressional District, was a standout goalkeeper who led Stanford University to the 2019 NCAA women’s soccer championship. She was a gifted student, resident advisor, and a future law student awaiting her acceptance to Stanford Law.
However, in late February 2022, less than four months before her graduation and unbeknownst to her parents, Katie received a five-page email with criminalistic language from Stanford stating she was facing a disciplinary action that put her degree on hold. The charge letter not only threatened to withhold her degree, but the charge from Stanford officials could also result in her complete expulsion from the university.
This charge letter was sent at night after over three months of near silence from the Office of Community Standards. Distressed by the potential disciplinary action and inability to graduate, Katie suffered an acute crisis stress reaction. Stanford failed to provide any supportive action or to respond in any way to her expression of being distraught and distressed. Shortly after, she took her own life on March 1, 2022, at only 22 years old.
In the wake of this devastating loss, Meyer’s parents worked tirelessly to honor her memory and save others from this heartbreaking tragedy. Their advocacy led to the passage of a new California state law guaranteeing students the right to an adviser during disciplinary proceedings – a policy they believe could have saved their daughter’s life.
Currently, federal law does not require higher education institutions to allow students to have an adviser during disciplinary hearings for academic or athletic code of conduct violations. Even on campuses where advisers are permitted, those advisers often lack training in the institution’s procedures, leaving students isolated and unprepared in stressful proceedings.
Katie Meyer’s Law would expand California’s new state law to a federal scale, so students across the country can benefit from these needed protections.
The bill would require higher education institutions that receive federal funding to:
- Provide or allow an adviser if a student receives notification of an alleged violation of the school’s code of conduct;
- Notify students of their ability to select their own advisor or have the institution provide an independent advisor, either through a confidential respondent services coordinator or through an agreement with student-based or alumni-based peer support programs.
The bill also sets requirements for the adviser leading up to and throughout the disciplinary proceedings, including:
- Training on the adjudication procedures of the institution;
- Authority, with written permission from the student, to receive bi-weekly updates throughout the process; and
- Ability to actively participate in the proceedings as an advocate for the student.
In addition, the legislation would strengthen campus transparency requirements related to suicide incidents. Current law requires colleges and universities that receive federal funding to publish an Annual Security Report (ASR) with crime statistics and safety measures. Katie Meyer’s Law would require incidents of death by suicide to be included in the ASR, ensuring students and faculty have necessary transparency surrounding this serious mental health concern.
“We owe it to Katie, her family, and countless other young people to make sure no student feels alone in their greatest moments of need,” said Brownley.
