College suicide prevention bill named for Madison Holleran moves forward

Madison Holleran, a 19-year-old from Allendale and a former high school track star, committed suicide in January 2014.

TRENTON -- A bill seeking to require that New Jersey colleges provide students with suicide prevention help around the clock cleared an Assembly committee Thursday, The Record reported.

Passing with a 5-0 vote in the Assembly Higher Education committee, the Madison Holleran Suicide Prevention will head to the full Assembly, the newspaper reported. An identical bill was approved by the state Senate on March 14.

As reported by NJ Advance Media, Holleran, a 19-year-old from Allendale and a former Northern Highlands Regional High School track star, committed suicide in January 2014 after suffering from depression in her first year at the University of Pennsylvania.

The proposed bills seek to require colleges and universities to have health care professionals who specialize in reducing student suicides and attempted suicides available 24 hours a day. The reporting act would require schools to post information on student suicides and attempted suicides on their websites.

The bills were proposed to legislators by Holleran's fifth-grade teacher Ed Modica, who created petitions in support of his proposal. The petition has received more 14,000 signatures as of June 3.