Re: United States - Human Rights Monitor
Posted: 06 Aug 2019 07:08
Lawsuit alleges USU failed psychology student who died by suicide
https://www.hjnews.com/news/crime_court ... 6c074.html
Psychology faculty accused of failing to help bullied student
The family of a Utah State University student who died by suicide in 2017 is seeking damages from the university through a lawsuit alleging that the psychology department didn’t do enough to address an alleged bullying situation in the semesters prior to the student’s death.
Jerusha Sanjeevi, a 24-year-old Malaysian woman studying for a Ph.D. in psychology at USU, died by suicide in April 2017. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, alleges a pattern of bullying, the Ph.D. program’s failure to address the bullying and a failure to mediate intercultural conflict between Sanjeevi and her alleged bully when the program touted its ability to navigate exactly such conflicts.
The lawsuit names USU itself and three psychology faculty members as defendants: Gretchen Peacock, then the psychology department head; Melissa Tehee, a professor in the department who advised the lab both Sanjeevi and her alleged bully were in; and psychology emeritus professor Carolyn Barcus. The lawsuit also names as defendants two USU students individually alleged to have bullied Sanjeevi.
The bulk of the bullying came from one of Sanjeevi’s fellow psychology Ph.D. students, the lawsuit alleges. During the fall 2016 semester, Sanjeevi and the student were the only two students in professor Melissa Tehee’s lab. Tehee and the other student were personal friends and often went horseback riding together at a ranch owned by Barcus, the lawsuit alleges, and that relationship biased Tehee against Sanjeevi when the latter brought up the alleged bullying.
The alleged bullying also included statements about Sanjeevi’s culture that she found hurtful, including that “Asians only want to please their parents” and that “Asian names are weird,” the complaint states.
Despite her previous strong academic record, the perceived favoritism and the alleged bullying had Sanjeevi considering leaving USU only weeks after beginning her first semester there.
Sanjeevi reported her bullying concerns to Tehee, who then met with both students. The lawsuit is sparse on details concerning this meeting, stating that the attorneys hope to learn more in discovery. Sanjeevi, however, told her boyfriend that she felt neither Tehee nor the other student took her concerns seriously.
Following the meeting, the bullying escalated into rumors about Sanjeevi’s academic character, according to the lawsuit.
A student told attorneys that the other student would text Sanjeevi pictures of Indian foods and memes, asking her whether they were “legitimate.”
“This was done despite the fact that (Sanjeevi) affirmed numerous times that she was not from India, but from Malaysia,” the student told attorneys.
Sanjeevi was of Indian and Chinese heritage, making her a minority even in her native Malaysia.
The other student would mock Sanjeevi when she spoke in class, the lawsuit states, and told Sanjeevi that she was “too sensitive.”
Students the attorneys spoke with allege that the other student “started a narrative in the (psychology Ph.D. program) about a ‘minority hierarchy’ which basically stated that if two parties were of a minority status, the one with the darker skin was the inferior of the two.”
At one point Sanjeevi said her alleged bully is “Native American but ‘presents white,’” the lawsuit states.
The alleged bully’s idea of “racial hierarchy permeated the Program and tormented Jerusha until her death,” the lawsuit states.
https://www.hjnews.com/news/crime_court ... 6c074.html
Psychology faculty accused of failing to help bullied student
The family of a Utah State University student who died by suicide in 2017 is seeking damages from the university through a lawsuit alleging that the psychology department didn’t do enough to address an alleged bullying situation in the semesters prior to the student’s death.
Jerusha Sanjeevi, a 24-year-old Malaysian woman studying for a Ph.D. in psychology at USU, died by suicide in April 2017. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, alleges a pattern of bullying, the Ph.D. program’s failure to address the bullying and a failure to mediate intercultural conflict between Sanjeevi and her alleged bully when the program touted its ability to navigate exactly such conflicts.
The lawsuit names USU itself and three psychology faculty members as defendants: Gretchen Peacock, then the psychology department head; Melissa Tehee, a professor in the department who advised the lab both Sanjeevi and her alleged bully were in; and psychology emeritus professor Carolyn Barcus. The lawsuit also names as defendants two USU students individually alleged to have bullied Sanjeevi.
The bulk of the bullying came from one of Sanjeevi’s fellow psychology Ph.D. students, the lawsuit alleges. During the fall 2016 semester, Sanjeevi and the student were the only two students in professor Melissa Tehee’s lab. Tehee and the other student were personal friends and often went horseback riding together at a ranch owned by Barcus, the lawsuit alleges, and that relationship biased Tehee against Sanjeevi when the latter brought up the alleged bullying.
The alleged bullying also included statements about Sanjeevi’s culture that she found hurtful, including that “Asians only want to please their parents” and that “Asian names are weird,” the complaint states.
Despite her previous strong academic record, the perceived favoritism and the alleged bullying had Sanjeevi considering leaving USU only weeks after beginning her first semester there.
Sanjeevi reported her bullying concerns to Tehee, who then met with both students. The lawsuit is sparse on details concerning this meeting, stating that the attorneys hope to learn more in discovery. Sanjeevi, however, told her boyfriend that she felt neither Tehee nor the other student took her concerns seriously.
Following the meeting, the bullying escalated into rumors about Sanjeevi’s academic character, according to the lawsuit.
A student told attorneys that the other student would text Sanjeevi pictures of Indian foods and memes, asking her whether they were “legitimate.”
“This was done despite the fact that (Sanjeevi) affirmed numerous times that she was not from India, but from Malaysia,” the student told attorneys.
Sanjeevi was of Indian and Chinese heritage, making her a minority even in her native Malaysia.
The other student would mock Sanjeevi when she spoke in class, the lawsuit states, and told Sanjeevi that she was “too sensitive.”
Students the attorneys spoke with allege that the other student “started a narrative in the (psychology Ph.D. program) about a ‘minority hierarchy’ which basically stated that if two parties were of a minority status, the one with the darker skin was the inferior of the two.”
At one point Sanjeevi said her alleged bully is “Native American but ‘presents white,’” the lawsuit states.
The alleged bully’s idea of “racial hierarchy permeated the Program and tormented Jerusha until her death,” the lawsuit states.