Suicide Prevention Bill Named After Bergen Track Star Advances

A bill requiring colleges to provide around-the-clock suicide prevention advanced out of an Assembly committee Thursday.

The Assembly Higher Education committee voted 5-0 to advance the Madison Holleran Suicide Prevention Act for a vote before the full Assembly. The Senate approved identical legislation in March.

The bill would require health care professionals, with training in mental health and reducing suicides, to be available around the clock remotely or on college campuses to assist students in crisis.

Holleran committed suicide while attending the University of Pennsylvania in January 2014. She left a note saying, ”I thought how unpleasant it was to be locked out, and I thought how it is worse perhaps to be locked in,” Daily Mail reported.

The Holleran’s maintain their daughter took her life after not being able to cope with the expectation she set for herself, according to Daily Mail.

• Related: Parents of Bergen County UPenn Freshman Who Took Own Life Release Suicide Note

Institutions would need to inform students via email of the service no later than 15 days after the start of each semester.

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