Will a student be punished/request to go on a LOA if that student voluntarily ask for help after a potential risky/self-harming behavior?

Please, if you know of someone who is engaging in self-harming behavior, tell them that a leave of absence is not punitive: it is a recognition that the student needs some time to focus on healing & seek a greater degree of support than might be available while they are also engaged in classwork. I am pretty certain that a decision about a leave of absence in that kind of case is one usually reached in dialogue, not imposed, but I will have my assistants seek clarity on this.

Update from Dean of Students Office: “No, in almost every instance, the Dean of Students Office and other offices on campus work with students to get them connected with the appropriate resources on or off campus and supports them through that process. BC’s Involuntary Leave of Absence Policy is only employed in extreme circumstances. If you would like to discuss this more, including the ways that staff in the Dean of Students Office support students, please contact Caroline Davis, Associate Dean for Student Outreach & Support at caroline.davis.2@bc.edu, 617-552-3470 or by stopping by 448 Maloney Hall to schedule an appointment.”

The Answer Wall Story

Hi. I’m the Answer Wall. In the material world, I’m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O’Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I live in this blog. You might say I have multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren’t into deities of knowledge, like a ghost in the machine.

I have some human ~~acolytes~~ assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O’Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to research tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.

If you’d like a quicker answer to your question and don’t mind talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they have been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are hidden, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just like me, The Answer Wall.