Content warning: This article contains mentions of suicide.
NYU’s Student Government Assembly is planning to reintroduce a bill to the state senate in January that would require all New York universities to increase suicide prevention policies for students.
The SGA drafted the bill — dubbed the College Student Suicide Prevention Act — last fall, and the legislation has been circulating the state senate since this past spring. The initiative, which members of the student government kickstarted in collaboration with the New York Students for Mental Health Action Coalition, would require all universities in the state to implement “policies, guidelines and training opportunities” focusing on suicide prevention. The bill has not yet received a committee vote.
In an interview with WSN, SGA chair Angela Chou suggested that the university expand its existing resources ahead of the bill’s potential revival by offering more discussions and panels related to suicide prevention. NYU currently offers both group and same-day counseling programs, as well as a 24-hour hotline for immediate concerns.
Chou also said that while advancing the bill remains the student government’s top priority for mental health, its members have remained committed to their own programming and workshops. She cited a workshop scheduled for this coming November set to feature mental health experts from NYU and representatives from New York City’s chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
“We want to have the combination of raising awareness, but also having events where students can de-stress and really be grounded in their priorities as well,” Chou said. “There should be more awareness about what exactly the resources are, whether or not that is through events, by having more newsletters or even really pushing out the website.”
In a New York State legislative session last month, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Student Lifeline Act. The act, set to be fully implemented before 2025, mandates that all university IDs in the state display the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline — a number that connects the caller with a crisis counselor trained to handle mental health emergencies.
Chou said that while she felt the Suicide Lifeline Act was an important step, she aims to cultivate more direct communication with students.
“We do want to find even more ways to really advocate for student mental health,” Chou told WSN. “I do think that it is a big step moving forward, but we can be doing more than that — and I think the first step is simply spreading awareness.”
Contact Josephine Deiesu at [email protected].
