Chadron State College Settles Student Suicide Suit for Nearly $1M

LINCOLN — The Nebraska State College System (NSCS) will pay nearly one million dollars to settle two lawsuits after a Western Nebraska college was sued for failing to help a student in a violent relationship that ended in a suicide.
The NSCS will pay $900,000 to settle the lawsuits, which allege that Chadron State College failed to prevent violence against or otherwise assist a student experiencing dating violence, which led to Fatima Lissette Larios’ 2015 suicide.
A federal lawsuit filed in 2017 alleged that Fatima Lissette Larios was physically beaten and emotionally abused by her then-boyfriend, who was also a student at Chadron State, for months. It detailed incidents of violent and loud arguments in a campus dorm room that could be heard by others, and that Larios’ coaches observed “suspicious bruising … that included handprints” on her body and emotional changes in her. Fatima eventually discussed her situation with coaches.
Fatima’s coaches told the athletic director, who notified the Title IX office at the school. The coordinators only action was to Fatima a copy of the school’s policy on sexual violence and harassment. The lawsuits allege that the school fell short in its responsibilities to interview students who saw the bruises on Fatima and overheard the violent or loud arguments, failed to protect her from her abuser, and failed to offer the 19-year-old mental health counseling before she committed suicide in 2015.
An attorney for the state college system told the Associated Press that it was “confident no wrongdoing would have been proven in court,” but that the school preferred to avoid the costs associated with a trial and, “bring closure to the family, employees of Chadron State College, and her classmates.”
In addition to the settlement, Chadron State also will conduct suicide training, review its policies and procedures as they relate to violence on campus, establish a scholarship in honor of Fatima Lissette Larios, and maintain a memorial on campus commemorating her life for the next decade. Chadron State President Randy Rhine must also send Larios’ parents a letter of condolence.
 
If you or someone you know are in an unsafe relationship, help is available. Call The Bridge toll free at 1 (888) 721-4340.