Why this cannot be brushed aside
When tragedies cluster within days, in one department, under one administration, the burden of proof shifts from students to institutions. Universities are custodians of young lives, not mere dispensers of grades. Rules that erase a semester over a single shortfall may be administratively neat—but psychologically brutal. When discretion disappears, humanity often follows.
Social media amplified what campuses whispered: allegations of attendance weaponization, lack of counseling, financial pressure, and faculty conduct that crosses from discipline into dehumanization. Student protests demanded an independent inquiry, policy reform, and free, accessible mental-health services. A faculty member’s suspension, while significant, does not close the case—it opens it.
