Privacy rule change may be life saver for ‘crisis’ students

A UNIVERSITY is considering changes to its data protection rules in an effort to help cut the number of students “reaching crisis point”.

Bristol University has announced proposals for a new “opt-in” contract with its students that would allow it to contact a student’s family if there were any major well-being concern.

The decision comes following calls for tutors to be allowed to alert families by a father whose son killed himself at the university last year.

Ben Murray, 19, died in May and was the 10th Bristol student to take his own life in the last two years.

The teenager, who was studying English, was described as having a “brilliant mind”.

But it was only after his death the family discovered that he had been falling behind in his studies, missing lectures and was days away from “being removed from the university”.

James Murray, his father, said the university had “been very open” with the family since their son’s death.

“Having gone through all the different moments when we could have intervened to save our son’s life, it’s absolute nonsense that you would look at an issue and say, ‘You’re an adult therefore data privacy applies’,” he told the BBC. “Data privacy that may cause the vulnerable to lose their lives makes no sense at all. Tutors are the front line in terms of dealing with students,” he added. “They have the first early warning signs of something being wrong so they need to be held accountable.”

In a statement, Bristol University said: “Our vice-chancellor has met with Ben’s father and we are actively working with his, and other parents, as part of our plans to create a structure of preventive services and policies that avoids our students reaching crisis point. This includes implementing an ‘opt-in’ contract with our students, to enable contact with nominated next of kin if we had a major concern about their well-being.”