Students 4 Mental Health Justice v. Harvard

In May 2025, DRA and Nichols Kaster, PLLP filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against Harvard University for its systematic discrimination against students with mental health disabilities.

DRA brought this suit on behalf of Students 4 Mental Health Justice (S4MHJ), a student-led advocacy organization whose membership includes current Harvard students impacted by the university’s discriminatory policies. In bringing this suit, S4MHJ seeks to end these discriminatory practices against its Harvard student members.

The lawsuit challenges how Harvard responds to disability-related behavior with exclusion, blame, and draconian measures, discriminating against students with mental health disabilities.

S4MHJ alleges that Harvard excludes students with mental health disabilities by preventing students from returning to campus, including their residential housing, following mental health-related hospitalizations, depriving them of their community and support system at a time when they are particularly vulnerable. As a result, these students are forced to make arrangements to have friends or family retrieve or collect their belongings from their dorm rooms. S4MHJ alleges that Harvard often prevents students from returning to campus, even after treating providers have determined that they are not at risk of harm to themselves or others.

For students who then seek to return to campus following mental health-related hospitalizations, S4MHJ alleges that Harvard imposes burdensome requirements to return, many of which are unrelated to their mental health recovery, such as work requirements. Should a student be allowed to return, Harvard requires them to sign coercive and onerous contracts for the duration of their enrollment, compelling them to undergo mental health treatment under surveillance by the university, and under threat of expulsion should they fail to comply.

As a result of these policies and practices, S4MHJ contends that Harvard denies students with mental health disabilities equal access to its programs in violation of federal and state discrimination laws. Read the complaint.