Clementi’s Parents Intend to Sue Rutgers

By Advocate.com Editors

The parents of Tyler Clementi, the 18-year-old Rutgers University student who killed himself in September after being harassed by his roommate for being gay, have filed a notice of intent to sue the school for failing to protect the college freshman.

An attorney for Joseph and Jane Clementi and Clementi's estate sent the notice to the school last week.

The notice reads, “It appears Rutgers University failed to act, failed to put in place and/or failed to implement, and enforce policies and practices that would have prevented or deterred such acts, and that Rutgers failed to act timely and appropriately.”

E.J. Miranda, a spokesman for Rutgers, said the university sympathizes with the family but bears no responsibility for Clementi's death.

“We at the university share the family's sense of loss of their son, who was a member of our community,” Miranda told MyCentralNewJersey.com. “We also recognize that a grieving family may question whether someone or some institution could somehow have responsibility for their son's death. While the university understands this reaction, the university is not responsible for Tyler Clementi's suicide.”

Clementi jumped to his death off the from the George Washington Bridge September 22 after webcast images of him having sex with another man were allegedly broadcast on the Internet.

Clementi’s roommate, Rutgers freshman Dharun Ravi, and a friend, Molly Wei of Princeton, both 18, have been charged with invasion of privacy in the case.

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