Gay Rutgers' Student Driven to Suicide

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright October 2, 2010
All Rights Reserved.                                

            In the land of Scarlet Knights, 18-year-old Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge Sept. 22 after his roommate Dahrun Ravi and another Rutgers’ student Molly Wei exposed Clementi on a spy cam kissing an unidentified male friend.  New Brunswick, New Jersey authorities charged Ravi and Wei for violating Clementi’s privacy but their actions precipitated his suicide.  When Ravi and Wei’s web cam showed Clementi engaged in a homosexual act, the humiliation induced Clementi’s suicide.  Exposing Clementi’s homosexuality was a clear violation of privacy.  Committing suicide is a far more complex activity involving Clementi’s mental health status that was obviously not too good based on the outcome.  Whether Clementi was an eggshell personality or not, Ravi and Wei’s actions helped push the Rutgers’ sophomore to take drastic action.

              Because of the new-media’s broadcast capability, questions arise whether or not Ravi and Wei’s actions crossed the line to New Jersey’s ban on hate-crimes.  Using a spy cam and broadcasting homosexual acts with consent falls into the category of violating privacy rights.  “A lot of kids are just still immature,” said Rose Caro, a Rutgers’ senior, admitting the Clementi’s death “hit us hard.”  Immaturity doesn’t excuse 18-year-old adults from taking responsibility for their actions.  Since Ravi and Wei’s actions resulted in the death of Clementi, they must be held accountable for their role in the freshman’s suicide.  Blaming Clementi’s actions on his fragile mental health doesn’t properly understand how egg-shell personalities can sometimes crack and commit suicide.  Suicide, itself, is a complex behavior, rarely seen in a vacuum or caused by only one event or factor.

            When promising 22-year-old Los Angeles Angel’s pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed by 22-year-old drunk driver Andrew Gallo April 9, 2009, Orange County prosecutor charged the San Gabriel resident with second degree murder.  “I think it’s tragic,” Gallo’s attorney Jacqueline Goodman.  While intent plays a role in murder convictions, prosecutors were very clear about Gallo’s murder weapon.  “What this case has shown is that the accelerator, the gas pedal on an automobile in the wrong hands is as dangerous as the trigger of a gun,” said Nigel Pearson, the father on Henry Pearson, one of three fatal victims in the crash.  Returning guilty verdicts for second-degree murder, Gallo faces life in prison for the death of Adenhart and two other drunk-driving victims.  While drunk driving is no perfect analogy to the Rutgers’ incident, it points to taking responsibility for their actions.

            Hate crime legislation seeks to protect specific groups from undo victimization.  Clementi’s sexual orientation was the matter at stake, where Ravi and Wei’s deliberately outed of his homosexuality for all to see.  While there’s no direct link between Ravi and Wei’s actions causing Clementi’s death, there’s an indirect one where an already fragile eggshell personality went over the edge.  Exposing Clementi to enough embarrassment and public humiliation pushed Clementi to take his life.  When 40-year-old Army psychiatrist Nidal Hassan opened fire Nov. 5, 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas killing 13 soldiers, his aunt believed it was because he was teased in the Army for his Muslim faith.  More in-depth study showed that Hasan was probably psychotic at the time of the massacre.  His ties to Al Qaeda also contributed to the most deadly attack on a U.S. military base.

            If the aunt’s analysis were correct, then Hasan’s ballistic episode could be traced to teasing inside the military.  While there’s some parallel between violence and suicide, there’s only one direct victim in suicide.  Words and actions have consequences, especially where it involve peoples’ lives.  Undetected mental health problems often cause erratic behavior, whether it involves violence or suicide.  Clementi’s case involved the complex interplay between biochemical imbalances, emotional fragility, erratic decision-making together with the personality dynamics of homosexuality.  So much of the criminal justice system revolves around intent, proving perpetrators’ direct or indirect responsibility for the crime.  While it’s difficult to prove Ravi or Wei tried to drive Clementi to suicide, it’s not difficult to show that their actions pushed Clementi to jump off the George Washington Bridge.

            Charging Ravi and Wei with a hate crime raises some key issues between current gay rights laws and mental health.  There’s a fine line between teasing and provocation, or, for that matter, whether outing one’s sexual orientation constitutes a hate crime.  Ravi and Wei probably had no clue that Clementi suffered from depression or other erratic propensities that led to the ultimate self-destructive act.  “Whether this was cruel joke or outright harassment of this student, what happened on Rutgers University’s campus was a crime,” said Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Mercer), proposing more strict fines and sentences for New Jersey invasion of privacy laws.  Before Rutgers University or New Jersey authorities go overboard throwing the book at Ravi and Wei, they need to pay closer attention to improving detection and treatment of mental illness:  Clementi could have been saved.

About the Author  

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.