07-05-2025
Louisiana universities could get ‘fail safe' for students in mental health crisis
Members of Omega Psi Phi fraternity at Xavier University of Louisiana perform a step routine Jan. 17, 2025, at a kickoff event for the school's 100th anniversary. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)
The Louisiana Legislature is advancing a measure that would allow colleges and universities to contact the parents of students experiencing a mental health crisis.
House Bill 202 by Rep. Delisha Boyd, D-New Orleans, would require colleges and universities to offer privacy waivers to students that would allow the schools to contact a pre-designated person in the case of a mental health crisis or situation in which the student poses a risk to themselves or other.
The measure is necessary because colleges are currently not able to contact parents under privacy laws that protect adult students, Boyd said. Students would be given the option to fill out the waiver.
Legislators on the House Committee on Education described the proposal Wednesday as a 'fail safe.' It comes on the heels of several high-profile deaths on college campuses.
'Just recently, we had a student at Xavier University that committed suicide about a month ago,' Boyd told the committee. 'Imagine if someone had paid attention to the change in attitude, the personality or what have you, it could have ended in a different way.'
Boyd's bill will next be discussed on the House floor.
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