California Assembly Bill 1575 – Katie Meyer’s Law
In January 2022, Katie Meyer celebrated her 22nd birthday, and by March, the former Stanford soccer captain had taken her life in her dorm room. This tragic event has spurred legislation like California Assembly Bill 1575, more widely known as Katie Meyer’s Law, which seeks to help college students facing challenging situations akin to Katie’s.
Katie Meyer was a ray of pure brilliance; she was all set to conquer the world. Growing up in Newbury Park, Katie displayed exceptional talent in soccer and academics. Her performance as the hero of Stanford’s NCAA women’s soccer national championship team in 2019 etched her name in national prominence. Alongside her sports accolades, Katie’s dogged pursuit of knowledge earned her a 4.3 GPA at Conejo Valley Unified School District’s online Century Academy.
However, tragedy struck in March 2022 when Katie was found dead in her dorm room. The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner’s Office determined her death to be a self-inflicted tragedy. Katie’s death happened amidst an unpleasant experience involving a disciplinary issue at Stanford University, leading her parents to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the university.
Katie was accused of spilling coffee on a football player who had faced allegations of sexually assaulting one of her teammates in 2021. As a result, she became entangled in a disciplinary process and an investigation conducted by Stanford’s Office of Community Standards.
This process extended over several weeks, and Steven Meyer said, “from her perspective, there was a silence from that office for three and a half months.” During that time, she confided in several teammates, believing the ordeal was over.
On February 28, 2022, she received an email from the university notifying her of a disciplinary charge. The five-page letter indicated that her degree would be placed on hold just months before her graduation and warned that the charge could lead to her expulsion from the university, as noted by her father and court documents.
Katie had a meeting with an assistant director of sports psychology on November 12, 2021, during which she expressed experiencing heightened anxiety and depression throughout the disciplinary process.
In the wake of such a tragic loss, her parent’s grief sparked a nationwide initiative called Katie’s Save, providing a lifeline to students grappling with complex situations. Propelling this initiative forward, California Assembly Bill 1575 seeks to enshrine this offering into law by mandating colleges to provide an adviser when a student requires one.
Assembly Bill 1575, introduced by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin in February 2023, gives students who receive a disciplinary notification the right to an adviser of their choosing while requiring postsecondary education institutions to provide training for the adviser. This assistance aims to help students navigate the disciplinary processes, which are often laden with distress, anxiety, and uncertainty.
Even though the bill’s implementation is not mandatory for private universities like Stanford, it will hold as law for all California community colleges, California State Universities, and University of California campuses. Assemblymember Irwin hopes that the potential success of this model will encourage private universities to follow suit.
Beyond Katie’s narrative, the need for such legislation becomes even more evident considering the alarming statistics in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, which reveals a doubling of suicide cases among NCAA athletes between 2002 and 2022.
While championing this legislation, the Meyer family has also begun to gather public support for the initiative, reaching out to communities via social media platforms and encouraging individuals to write letters backing the bill.
To honor their daughter’s memory, the Meyer family hopes that the enactment of Katie Meyer’s Law will serve as a beacon of hope for students nationwide, ensuring they never have to face challenging situations alone. As psychologist Carrie Hastings states, ” It’s been shown in research that just having one person in your corner can make all the difference.”
The law stands as an emblem of hope and a beacon of support, encapsulating the spirit of Katie, a remarkable girl whose light continues to shine through a law set to change the lives of college students nationwide.