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Harvard moved on Monday to dismiss a lawsuit from student advocacy group Students 4 Mental Health Justice, which accused the University of discrimination against students with mental health disabilities.

S4MHJ, which is composed mostly of current Harvard students, filed suit in May alleging that Harvard’s mental health policies were characterized by “exclusion, blame, and draconian measures,” in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Harvard’s lawyers argued in a motion submitted on Monday that both S4MHJ as a group and its individual members lack the legal standing to sue.

The attorneys wrote that the University “endeavors to support all students and their ability to thrive and be safe,” pointing to Harvard University Health Services’s Counseling and Mental Health Services. They added that S4MHJ’s complaint “makes a number of broad — and inaccurate — generalizations about Harvard’s practices.”

“When a student experiences a mental health crisis while enrolled at Harvard College, Harvard engages with the student to make an individualized assessment about the student’s safety and ability to function in and among the school community,” Harvard’s lawyers wrote in the motion.

Spokespeople for the University and lawyers for S4MHJ did not immediately respond for comment Monday night.

In the original lawsuit, five anonymous student plaintiffs described personal experiences with the University’s mental health treatment process. Some argued that Harvard had violated their privacy rights by requesting information about their mental health treatment from off-campus providers. One student said she avoided on-campus treatment for suicidal ideation for fear administrators would force her to take a leave of absence, according to the filing.

“None of the students whose experiences are recounted in the Complaint allege a cognizable injury sufficient to confer standing upon S4MHJ,” Harvard’s lawyers wrote.

The motion argued that the student plaintiffs’ allegations “do not describe an existing or imminently threatened harm that can be redressed by the prospective relief that the Complaint seeks.”

The anonymous plaintiffs also accused the University of barring them from campus during and after their mental health treatments in the original complaint. One said that the Harvard College Administrative Board, which decides discipline and considers petitions for leaves of absence, banned her from re-entering campus after her mental health hospitalization, except to finish her coursework and one final exam.

Harvard’s lawyers wrote on Monday that the student can no longer be provided with the requested injunctive relief because she has since graduated.

They also argued that the lawsuit does not cite any provisions in the Harvard College Student Handbook.

“The Complaint fails to allege the basic information necessary for Harvard to respond and defend itself,” they wrote.

Though the lawsuit only describes five specific experiences, S4MHJ describes itself in the complaint as a group of roughly 30 “neurodivergent and mentally ill people.” The group was co-founded by Eunice S. Chon ’25-’26, who did not respond immediately to a request for comment Monday night.

“The College does not have a ‘one size fits all’ policy for students experiencing serious medical issues,” Harvard’s lawyers wrote. “Rather, it takes an approach tailored to a student’s individual circumstances.”

—Staff writer Wyeth Renwick can be reached at wyeth.renwick@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @wzrenwick.

—Staff writer Nirja J. Trivedi can be reached at nirja.trivedi@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @nirjatriv.