Student Handbook

Suicide Prevention Protocol

According to recent case law, JBU has a limited duty to take reasonable measures to protect a student from foreseeable self-harm that could lead to death.

For on-campus undergraduate students, this responsibility occurs when a JBU employee learns that a student has recently attempted suicide while a student or shortly before becoming a student or becomes aware of a student’s stated plan or intention to commit suicide. When a faculty or staff member has or develops reasonable concern that a student is potentially at risk, they will take action to help protect the student.

In such cases, JBU will provide (and may require) a prompt, professional evaluation.  If a risk to self is considered foreseeable, then the student will be provided options for treatment. If a student with foreseeable risk declines the treatment options provided and does not provide an equally credible or acceptable course of safety in place of the options presented by the university’s representatives, then the student’s emergency contact will be alerted.

Although JBU takes its obligation to protect the privacy and autonomy of its students seriously, the university regards its responsibility to take reasonable measures to protect students at foreseeable risk of harm as its predominant concern. Any intervention to protect the life and safety of an individual student will be conducted with these considerations in mind.

In the case of online undergraduate or graduate students, concerned faculty may help resource students with emergency mental health services and work with JBU's student counseling center and local practitioners to provide referrals for ongoing mental health care.