Why parents left broken by suicide are begging universities to do more

While Bob and Maggie won part of their case, with the University of Bristol being told they should have made adjustments for Natasha under the Equality Act, the judge ruled that the university did not owe Natasha a duty of care.

Part of the judgement read: ‘There is no statute or precedent which establishes the existence of such a duty of care owed by a university to a student’.

The ruling has galvanised Bob and Maggie to petition the government to make this vital change common law.

‘We’re calling for universities to have a statutory duty to protect their students from reasonably foreseeable harm, caused by either direct actions or a failure to act.’ Bob explains.

‘If you know someone is going through a mental health crisis, you don’t put them through further unnecessary distress. The judge ruled their actions lead to her death. They didn’t help her. It felt like they didn’t give a damn.’

The increased pressure on students in more recent years has made it all the more important for universities to look after those studying with them. Lockdown in particular is thought to have had a significant effect; Nightline, which is staffed by anonymous student volunteers, said it recorded a 51.4% increase in calls in 2020-21, and that this has grown since, with early data suggesting numbers for 2021-22 were 30% higher, and up a further 23% since the new academic year began.

The intensity of lockdown, heaped upon the pressure cooker environment of student halls, made for toxic environment for Oskar Carrick, who took his own life aged 21 in 2021.

Fascinated by the silver screen and a keen filmmaker, Oskar headed to Sheffield Hallam University to study film and TV production. Having previously been a shy, quiet and sensitive child, as he’d grown older, Oskar loved his friends and hanging out with his group.

His mum Maxine knew he was ready to leave their Kendal home. She had some concerns – Oskar had sustained a brain injury in a car accident a few years prior, which affected his memory and his sleep, but she just saw how eager her son was to meet new people and learn new skills.

‘He was considered disabled, and so we thought being in halls would be good for him in case he needed help,’ she tells Metro.co.uk.

However, it emerged after Oskar had died that he had become fixated on falling out with people, and had repeatedly tried to injure himself.

‘Oskar had become more desperate to please people,’ Maxine explains. ‘As it was lockdown, we didn’t get to see him, but we spoke a few times a week and he’d send us little videos. We thought he was having a really good time.

‘But he was getting twitchy and worried about falling out with people. He was living in an enclosed situation and I think that got on top of him. 

‘But we had no clue how severe things had got. We spoke to Oskar before he took his own life – he was asking us to bring his printer to university. He talked about how he was going to watch England play Scotland with his mates.’

Tanya tried to access LSE’s mental health and wellbeing service. She felt concerned that other people struggling with their mental health could end up spiralling, like she had, without any additional support. She began to lobby the university to improve their mental health service.

‘There was a cycle of students who wouldn’t want to approach the service because they felt service wasn’t providing any practical support,’ she explains.

Tanya understands that budgets across all universities are being stretched – in 2022, the UK university sector complained that institutions were being ‘squeezed and squeezed hard by inflation’.

However, along with Baton of Hope, she is calling for universities to at least signpost to external services if institutions themselves cannot provide essential support.

Tanya is also helping spearhead an educational charter for universities to adopt in order for educational environments to provide a standardised, high level of service for struggling students.

‘We need all institutions to bring together all resources in one place, unify them and have a standardised document for them to be accountable to’ she says. ‘Sending people to long NHS waiting lists is not enough.

‘It’s going to be a work in progress and will need an entire shift in mindset, but universities need to take greater care of their students. They need to have a proper duty of care.’

However, John de Pury, Assistant Director of Policy from Universities UK is somewhat doubtful whether statutory legislation is the right way to go.

‘We have to be careful that any additional statutory duty works for all students and is practical and proportionate. This should not be about blaming universities but about improving outcomes,’ he tells Metro.co.uk.

‘Universities are not health care settings. Yet because of the broader crisis of young adult mental health, we have ended up managing risk and providing significant support. In fact, the suicide rate in higher education is half that in the wider population showing that these efforts are protective of students.’

‘At the same time we do need to continue to show improvement and reduce variation. This needs collaboration, leadership and agreed measures of success.’