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Student: Brooklyn College Put Me In Psych Ward for 2 Weeks!
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 13, 2011
Modified Jan 13, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 13, 2011
Modified Jan 13, 2011
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An honors student from Nigeria who was studying at Brooklyn College says that a school psychologist forcibly committed her to Kings County Psychiatric Hospital (not a nice place) for two weeks when she sought advice about a hidden camera her landlord installed in her bedroom. Of course, it's not uncommon for people with mental illnesses to believe they are under surveillance, but in Chinemerem Eze's case, it happened to be true! Just because you're paranoid don't mean they're not after you, as the poet sings—unfortunately for Eze, her college shrink wasn't familiar with Kurt Cobain, and she got locked up. Now she's suing the school.
Eze's lawyer Andrew Spinnell tells us, "It sounds surreal. She didn't want to go to the police; she turned to her college for help." According to Spinnell, Brooklyn College referred her to the off-campus housing where she came under surveillance. Spinnell also says, "She already settled a medical malpractice case against King County Hospital for six figures. You don't pay whatever she got unless the other side has a good case. The hospital tried to force her to take medication but she wouldn't take it."
According to a recent court filing [pdf] dug up by Kashmir Hill at Forbes, Eze discovered that her landlord had installed a camera in a vent in her room. She was also troubled because she believed one of her ex-roommates was defaming her on the Internet. When she turned to Brooklyn College security for advice, they summoned Sally Robles, Assistant Professor and School psychologist, who asked Eze "a series of personal questions pertaining to her psychological state of mind, including but not limited to whether she suffered from any mental illness, whether she ever 'heard voices,' whether she had any suicidal ideation and whether she thought of hurting herself," the lawsuit alleges.
Eze insisted she wasn't suicidal and didn't have any history of mental illness, but merely wanted advice about potential criminal activity. According to Spinnell, his client also told Robles she was thinking about leaving Brooklyn College. But instead of guidance, she says Robles and the security guards restrained her in the office and then committed her to Kings County Psychiatric Hospital against her will. Spinnell tells us a campus security guard accompanied her in the ambulance and made sure she was committed. There she remained for two weeks, missing her final exams in December 2008. And when she was released, Brooklyn College allegedly refused to let her take the exams, and so she lost her $65,000 scholarship.
Eze is suing the security officers, psychologist, and CUNY for negligence, emotional distress, and false imprisonment. Brooklyn College has not responded to requests for comment, and we're reluctant to press them too hard—we don't want the men in white coats to come for us. And, for what it's worth, there have been several other reported incidents of tenants discovering their landlords were spying on them.
Tagged
brooklyn
brooklyn college
Chinemerem Eze
CUNY
kings county psychiatric hospital
psychiatry
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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