Should/Can I sue my university

[LiGr]

Jurisdiction

New Jersey

Hi,

I am a Resident Assistant at my university and have been on the receiving end of multiple accounts of verbal, non-verbal, and sexual harassment, in addition to being exposed to marijuana on an almost daily occurrence.

These are the events that I have reported to school officials (there are a few other incidents that I did not report):
1. A student pointed a Nerf gun at my head and said "oh look a target"
2. I have an emotional support animal (approved under 504) that I was bringing to my car, when a student said that they were going to "squeeze and juice it"
3. Students stood outside my door at 2 am, calling and baiting me
4. A student walked past me said "are you going to open up wide" and than shouted to another student across the street
5. My room frequently smells of marijuana from students smoking above, across, and outside of my room.

As a RA I have reported these incidents, all of them containing the same individuals, however the one "leading" switches up. In addition to filing official reports, I have contacted my supervisor in Residence Life and Director of Community Rights and Responsibilities, directly through emails and in-person. I received no response and have only received a response when I directly go to the office and initiate a conversation with my boss. The only action that has been taken, that I have been notified of, is my boss speaking to the students. Any sanctions handled by judicial are considered confidential, however school policy does state that acts of bullying and harassment are to be followed up with the victim. I have resigned as an RA, in effect at the end of the fall semester, and I am moving off campus. These events have occurred between the first week of October, to the most recent one that was this evening. When I spoke to my boss after the first incident he laughed and said "would you rather them be smoking marijuana?" (which they were/are doing as well). My physical and mental health has deteriorated quite a bit. I have had a tremendous increase of panic attacks and migraines. I do not feel safe on campus, I have said this directly to my boss and other staff members. Even though I am no longer going to be living on campus, I am worried about the other students, if the school is going to let an RA, who has the ability to easily write reports, get mistreated by other students, how are they going to keep the other four hundred residents safe.

I am not entirely clear whether this would be a case against housing (Residence Life), the university, or the students themselves. College policy wise there are violations of bullying, harassment, and sexual harassment, that are found directly on the website. My main issue is that the school is not taking action to stop these actions from taking place and are failing to provide disciplinary actions to students in regards to both different forms of harassment and drug abuse. I know that there is time allotted to filing a sanction, court, and an appeals period, however nothing is being done in the meantime to keep these students from continuing.

I think that this would fall under "negligence," however I have never sued anyone and I do not know if I should even bother, but I am worried about what will happen if the issue is not addressed to the students remaining on campus.

 

[army judge]

Before you attempt to do anything, it might be best to consult two or three local lawyers.
Not to worry, most lawyers waive the fee for the first discussion.
Its a great way to share your concerns without incurring any costs.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I'd have to say double that the only way to appreciate the nature of your options is to have a legal consultation with a local attorney. Everything is fact specific. However you will probably need to consider the costs if a contingency fee cannot be arranged, which only usually occur when attorneys believe there is a very good chance of winning and recovery. With a university with deep pockets that might be the case. You'll need to inquire.

 

[ElleMD]

Before you can do anything, have you reported what happened to the Title IX coordinator? Every campus has one. It isn't clear from your descriptions if any of these acts were truly violations of any kind but that is your starting point. You are absolutely correct that you are not entitled to know what discipline has been taken with others. I didn't not know what you expect as follow up. Have you contacted campus police about the marijuana use when it is happening? There just isn't much that can be done by resident life after the fact, just like there isn't much police can do after the fact. ESAs aren't under 504, they fall under the Fair Housing Act, but one isolated comment about your dog is not a violation of the act.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

The failure to police the presence of marijuana on campus is an ongoing act. I'm not sure that the other acts would fall under the school's responsibility if they are just individual incidents of harassment by different students as opposed to a repeating pattern of harassment by the same students. I do think that the OP is trying to imply that the school knew about a series of incidents and took no measures to protect him, although it's difficult to say that these incidents rose to such a level of danger that they were required to take unusual measures. It's why a consultation with an attorney (potentially free), would probably be the best way to go forward. My gut feeling tells me that proving responsibility and especially damages may present a difficult case. But if the consultation is free, might as well take advantage of hearing it from someone who can ask many questions.

 

[ElleMD]

Most schools offer consultation with legal counsel as a service to students. I have to tell you, I work in an office that handles this stuff every single day for a college and I don't see anything described that warrants anything more than someone talking to the student involved, if that. Walk into any residence hall on campus and you will find a nerf battle or water gun battle. Our biggest issue with them is not setting off the sprinklers with the nerf weapons. As far as contraband goes, they are small potatoes.

4 incidents in 2 months is not what would be considered pervasive. The 3rd incident is the only one that I could see being actionable in any way and it isn't clear what actually happened.

As a RA, it is part of the job to deal with these incidents directly. If there are drugs being used, contact the police. Follow your schools drug free policy. Every school receiving federal funds has one. You are the one who should be handling 95% of the incidents directly. If students are making unkind or harassing comments, you should be addressing it with them, not just filing complaints for every comment with the Res Life office. Typically RAs are responsible for holding programs for residents. Have you hosted any dealing with substance use, or responsible sexual conduct, or non-discrimination? Those are probably the 3 most common topics. Have you spoken with any of the students who committed any of these acts directly?