Suicide of Tyler Clementi

Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old violinist and freshman at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, jumped from the George Washington Bridge on September 22, 2010. His body was recovered from the Hudson River on September 29, 2010; the medical examiner listed drowning as the cause of death, with blunt impact injuries to the torso also noted.

In the days before his death, Clementi's roommate, Dharun Ravi, used a webcam on his own computer and on the computer of hallmate Molly Wei to secretly view Clementi kissing another man on September 19. Ravi posted about the incident on Twitter, which Clementi discovered. Two days later, on September 21, Ravi again set up the webcam and publicly invited his Twitter followers to watch a second encounter between Clementi and his companion, though this viewing did not occur; Clementi disabled the camera by unplugging the power strip. That same evening, Clementi reported the incident to a resident assistant and other university officials, requesting a room change and disciplinary action against Ravi. He also wrote about the situation on online message boards. The following evening, Clementi left his dorm, bought food, traveled to the George Washington Bridge, and posted a final message on Facebook before jumping.

Ravi and Wei were indicted for their roles in the webcam incidents but were not charged in connection with Clementi's suicide itself. Wei entered a plea agreement in May 2011 granting her immunity from prosecution in exchange for testimony against Ravi, 300 hours of community service, and counseling. Ravi was convicted on March 16, 2012, on all 15 counts related to invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, tampering with evidence, witness tampering, and hindering apprehension, with the jury finding that Clementi reasonably believed he had been targeted because of his sexual orientation. He was sentenced on May 21, 2012, to 30 days in jail, three years' probation, 300 hours of community service, a $10,000 fine, and cyberbullying counseling; he served 20 days. Following a 2015 New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that struck down part of the underlying bias-intimidation statute as unconstitutionally vague, an appeals court overturned Ravi's convictions in September 2016. Ravi subsequently pleaded guilty on October 27, 2016, to one count of attempted invasion of privacy, a third-degree felony, and was sentenced to time already served with fines paid; remaining charges were dropped.

Clementi's death drew national attention to cyberbullying and the experiences of LGBTQ youth, prompting responses from university officials, government figures including President Barack Obama, legislative proposals such as the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act, and advocacy efforts including the founding of the Tyler Clementi Foundation and the annual "Spirit Day" observance. Some commentators and gay-rights activists publicly questioned whether hate-crime charges against Ravi were appropriate and criticized aspects of media coverage of the case.