On November 26th, 2022, a Capital University student was having suicidal thoughts and was planning to end his life with a firearm off campus. That night, he ended up reaching out to a friend for help, and he changed his mind about committing suicide. Though he gave his friend the ammunition from the gun, he didn’t have anywhere safe or secure to put the gun at that time, so he did the safest thing he was able to do and locked it in the back of his car for the night until he was able to put it somewhere safer and get some help. He parked his car in the back corner of a campus parking lot and went to bed that night planning to get rid of the weapon in the morning and get some help for his mental health. 

The friend that he reached out to ended up reporting him to campus so he could get that help. Instead, when Capital found out about what happened, they moved to expel him for having a weapon on campus. They said that the context didn’t matter, and there was nothing he could do except stand back and lose his housing, his friends, his schooling, and the community that he loves so much. Context does matter. It has to matter. There’s a difference between someone bringing a gun to school to hurt someone and someone who changed their mind about suicide and had nowhere to put something till the next day. This student is a good, kind person who cares so much about the people and world around him. Everyone that knows him knows that he would never hurt anyone. He needed help and support, and he is getting it and working on getting better. If a student is caught on campus with illegal drugs against Capital’s drug policy, they are allowed to continue attending the institution so long as they seek necessary medical help via rehab or counseling. Since this would be considered a mental health issue, it makes absolutely no sense that a similar solution is not being taken here. Capital says they’re dedicated to helping us as students in our entirety by meeting all of our needs. Capital should be using their conduct process to find a solution that recognizes the need for punishment but to also provide empathy and seek a good and productive outcome rather than just pushing away someone in need of support. The university didn’t respond by offering to help someone in need, instead they gave an excessive punishment that does nothing except hurt an already hurting person and causing the Capital community to lose a needed and beloved member. Capital University should NOT be expelling someone who needed help. 

Instead of giving him the help and support he needed, Capital University decided to expel him and take away the support and community that he needed and that he helped create. This student is an education major who cares about his community. He’s on the board of several different organizations and has worked really hard to contribute to our community to make it a better place. He is a kind person who needs love and support from the Capfam that he loves. Tell Capital to reverse their decision and reinstate him as a student. He needs the community that he loves and we all want him to be a part of it. We hope that you will too. Sign your name to share your support for this student and to tell Capital that you disapprove of their decision and that they should reconsider.