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Friday, January 22, 2016

Inconsistent?

The university seems to be making a distinction between non-sexual and sexual assault in the court case described below. It seems to say that in the latter case, it has a duty to keep students safe - given all the efforts surrounding sexual harassment and assault - but not in the former. Perhaps our non-legal minds is missing some point here.


In a unanimous decision, the court granted a petition to review a 2-1 ruling by the 2nd District Court of Appeals last year that dismissed a lawsuit filed against the University of California regents by former UCLA student Katherine Rosen, who in 2010 was stabbed and had her throat slashed by a mentally ill classmate in her chemistry lab. The lawsuit alleged that in the months before the attack, UCLA officials and professors had received reports of disturbing behavior by Rosen's assailant, Damon Thompson.
Thompson had been diagnosed as having paranoid delusions, was possibly suffering from schizophrenia and had been expelled from student housing after a physical altercation with another resident, according to court documents. UCLA failed to respond to the warnings, and did not alert students to his potentially violent behavior, the lawsuit alleged.
In 2010, a judge found Thompson, who admitted to the stabbing, not guilty by reason of insanity.
A different judge previously denied a request by the UC regents to dismiss the lawsuit. That decision was appealed, resulting in the appellate court ruling…


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