Tyler Clementi Parents filed notice to sue Rutgers University

Joseph and Jane Clementi, parents of  Tyler Clementi ,a student at Rutgers University student who killed himself after his roommate allegedly used a webcam to spy on him during a engagement with another man ,filed notice Friday preserving their right to sue.

They have to wait six months after the notice to file a lawsuit over their son’s death, which became a symbol in a national out cry over the bullying of young gays.Clementi, an 18 year old violinist in his first weeks of college, killed himself on Sept. 22, days after a roommate and another Rutgers allegedly used a webcam to peek at Clementi’s with another man.
In the notice, the couple said “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” The notice was given shortly before a 90-day deadline, and the family has not decided whether to move ahead with the lawsuit, Paul Mainardi, a Clementi family lawyer, said in a statement. Without the notice, he said, the family would lose the option to sue.”We at the university share the family’s sense of loss of their son, who was a member of our community.

We also recognize that a grieving family may question whether someone or some institution could somehow have responsibility for their son’s death ” Miranda said. “While the university understands this reaction, the university is not responsible for Tyler Clementi’s suicide.”Rutgers spokesman E.J. Miranda said in a statement that the school is not to blame.The suspects, Molly Wei and Dharun Ravi were both charged with invasion of privacy and have withdrawn from Rutgers. Authorities say they’re weighing whether to charge them with bias intimidation.