Tyler Clementi’s Parents Sue Rutgers University, Department Of Education Confirms It Is Investigating Tehachapi Unified School District Over Suicide Of Seth Walsh At The Request Of Mother, American Civil Liberties Union Threatens To Sue Virginia Delegate Marshall Over Proposal To Bar Gays And Lesbians From Serving Openly In State National Guard, Ivy League Re-Considering R.O.T.C. In Wake Of DADT Repeal

The parents of Tyler Clementi have notified Rutgers University that they plan to sue over the 18 year olds’ suicide in September says after two other freshman students allegedly broadcast an intimate encounter between Tyler and another man, reports MyCentralJersey.com. An attorney for Joseph and Jane Clementi sent the university a notice of tort claim Friday. The notice argues that the university failed to protect Clementi against “unlawful or otherwise improper acts perpetrated against” Tyler, adding that “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.” It lists the damages as Clementi’s pain and suffering and the parent’s loss of companionship and support and their financial costs. It does not specify an amount. A spokesperson for Rutgers said that while the university sympathizes with the family, it does not bear any responsibility for Tyler’s death, E.J. Miranda saying “We at the university share the family's sense of loss of their son, who was a member of our community,” Miranda said. “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.”

Tuesday, Education Secretary Ame Duncan confirmed that federal education officials are investigating the Tehachapi Unified School District in Central California after the mother of Seth Walsh filed a formal complaint alleging that administration and staff failed to adequately address the years of anti-gay bullying that led to the 13 year old committing suicide this September, according the Associated Press. Wendy Walsh says the U.S. Department of Education investigators spent two days last week in Tehachapi interviewing students, teachers, and administrators. She says she contacted them when her son was hospitalized after attempting to hang himself from a tree in the family’s home on September. He fell into a coma and died days later, on September 28th. Of the investigation, Walsh said “They put this on their very important list, their priority list. Obviously, there must be a big problem that needs to be addressed, and it isn’t just around Seth. It’s the whole nation.”

The American Civil Liberties Union Tuesday threatened to file suit if the bill proposed by Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall (Republican-Prince William) banning gays from openly serving in the Virginia National Guard becomes law in 2011, the Washington Post reporting that Kent Willis, the ACLU’s executive director said “Not only is Delegate Marshall’s proposal an affront to gay men and lesbians throughout the state but it will surely be ruled unconstitutional before it is ever implemented.” Marshall announced the proposal after the U.S. Senate Saturday voted to repeal a military ban on openly gay service members that had been in place for 17 years. Willis added that “Delegate Marshall is outflanked on this one and would only be wasting taxpayers’ dollars and the General Assembly’s time by pushing this legislation.”

The New York Times reports that a number of American colleges are reconsidering decisions to bar the Reserve Officers Training Corps from recruiting on campus after the Senate voted to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The presidents of Columbia, Harvard, and Yale have issued statements expressing interest in bringing back the R.O.T.C..; however it remains unclear whether enough student interest exists on those campuses to justify their presence. The R.O.T.C. was banned from a number of Ivy League colleges in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s in the wake of student protests against the Vietnam War, and more recently, because of a military ban prohibiting openly gay service members.