I am writing in regard to the article published on April 4 about Boston University’s policies on students who may be suicidal (“GWU forces leave of absence on suicidal pupil,” p.1). I would like it to be known that during my junior year at the School of Management, my core group had a member threaten suicide. When it was brought to the attention of our team advisor, we were told that this was an issue the team had to handle, and the advisor dismissed us. When it was brought to the attention of another administrator — she was the one who helped teams that were not getting along — she also dismissed the situation as if it did not matter.

I believe that the school should have taken action and helped the student, not placed the issue on team members who did not personally know one another. Never once was a BU counseling service mentioned or recommended. There is not much “advertisement” about what to do for students with suicidal thoughts and maybe this should be an issue raised throughout the entire campus.

Annina Donaldson SMG ’03