Katie Meyer’s Law to protect students facing disciplinary actions introduced at the federal level

WASHINGTON D.C. (KEYT) – This week, Congresswoman Julia Brownley introduced Katie Meyer's Law to guarantee students at college and advanced degree programs have the right to ask for an independant advisor when facing disciplinary actions and create new reporting requirements for campus suicides.

The federal bill is named after Katie Meyer, a student, resident advisor and standout goalkeeper at Stanford University who took her own life while facing disciplinary actions from the higher education institution in March of 2022.

Katie made two massive saves against the University of North Carolina in the 2019 NCAA women's soccer championship which the Stanford Cardinals won.

Previously, she played soccer for the Eagles Club team in Camarillo and for Newbury Park High School's soccer team as well as kicked on the football team.

In late February 2022, Katie received a five-page email from Stanford University stating she was facing disciplinary action that would jeopardize her graduation that was in less than four months.

The letter stated that the university was also considering her expulsion and was sent after she waited three-months for a response from the Office of Community Standards.

Katie suffered an acute crisis stress reaction and university officials failed to respond to her expression of experiencing the severe mental response shared Congresswoman Brownley's Office.

Shortly after, the 22-year-old took her own life on March 1, 2022.

"College should be a place where students can learn, grow, and prepare for their futures, not a place where they are left to navigate intimidating and high-stakes disciplinary processes alone," explained Congresswoman Brownley. "By ensuring students have a trusted advisor by their side and by requiring greater transparency about suicide on our campuses, my bill seeks to put student well-being and mental health front and center. We owe it to Katie, her family, and countless other young people to make sure no student feels alone in their greatest moments of need."

Katie's parents, Gina and Steve, vowed to make changes that could have saved their late daughters life and in 2024, California passed AB 1575-Katie Meyer's Law ensuring that university students in the golden state have access to a confidential advisor when facing disciplinary actions.

"AB 1575 does not reinvent the wheel when it comes to mental health techniques, but it does provide a ‘front end safety net’ for our students, whereby their adviser would be informed on day one of an administrative conflict," shared Gina and Steve Meyer. "We truly believe this bill could have saved Katie’s life. We miss her endlessly and realize AB 1575 will not bring her back, but it will save lives going forward. Katie would have wanted that."

In 2024, Assemblymember Irwin, who authored AB 1575, shared that the Meyer family was advocating for this model at the national level to combat the number of students who have died by suicide while facing disciplinary actions at their schools.

"We are grateful to Congresswoman Brownley for recognizing the importance of Katie Meyer’s Law and introducing it on a federal level," continued Katie's parents. "The law now has the ability to have the vast and necessary impact on not only protecting and supporting California students, but students in our universities across the country."

Federal law does not currently require institutions of higher education to allow students to consult an advisor during disciplinary hearings for academic or athletic code of conduct violations.

The bill would require any higher education institution that receives federal funding to inform and allow students who receive a notification of alleged violations of the school's code of conduct to select an advisor or have the an independant advisor provided to them either through a confidential respondent services coordinator or through an agreement with student-based or alumni-based peer support groups.

School's would also need to train advisors on the institution's adjudication procedures, authorize advisors selected by students to receive bi-weekly updates throughout the process, and facilitate the participation of advisors during official proceedings.

If passed, the bill would also require higher education institutions that receive federal funding to include suicides in an Annual Security Report alongside crime statistics and safety measures on campus.

"We truly believe this law could have saved Katie’s life," noted her parents. "We miss her endlessly and while it will not bring her back, it will save lives and protect students and their campus communities going forward. We know Katie, an incessantly loving, loyal and protective person, would have wanted that for everyone."