The court filing on Wednesday included additional accounts from other students who were forced to withdraw and go through Yale’s reinstatement process. The lawsuit asserts that Yale’s withdrawal and mental health policies especially impact students from less privileged backgrounds, including minorities and those coming from poor families, rural areas, and other countries.

A former student, Rishi Mirchandani, described withdrawing in 2018 after a mental health crisis and having his first application to return rejected despite recommendations by his medical providers that he was ready and that it would benefit his mental health. He was eventually able to return and graduated in 2019.

Neves — the international student removed by Yale while she was still hospitalized — was forced to return to Brazil within 15 days because she was on a student visa, according to the lawsuit. Like other withdrawn students, she had to forfeit some of the tuition she had already paid for the semester and was not allowed to return for almost a year. She’s now slated to graduate with an art and art history degree in the spring.

The lawsuit does not seek monetary damages, but asks for changes to what it asserts are discriminatory practices and policies by Yale. Critics and mental health advocates have argued that instead of being forced to withdrawal or remain full-time, Yale students should be given options such as reducing course loads or attending part-time.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the students by lawyers from three groups: Disability Rights Connecticut, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, and the public interest law firm Vladeck, Raskin & Clark.

“The law requires them to give reasonable accommodations and modifications to any policies necessary to give disabled students full and equal participation,” said Maia Goodell, one of the lawyers representing the students. “If a university has stairs instead of ramps, students in wheelchairs can’t participate. The same rules apply when students have mental health disabilities.”

Goodell and another lawyer representing the Yale students helped file a similar class-action lawsuit in 2018 against Stanford University, which resulted in a landmark settlement a year later. Stanford agreed to give students a greater say in whether to take a leave of absence for mental health reasons. And if students choose to remain, the university agreed to provide disability accommodations.

The Stanford case could provide a road map for similar change at Yale. But Harrison Fowler, a student plaintiff in the Stanford case, cautioned that the settlement hasn’t solved all mental health-related issues on campus. Fowler, who graduated this year, said their lawsuit highlighted the problem and forced Stanford to change some polices and commit more resources. “But I had a friend recently who checked into the hospital at Stanford and their experience of having no choice but a leave of absence was not that different. I know there are still problems.”

Abramson, who is majoring in cognitive science and hopes to graduate from Yale next fall, said it’s scary to file a lawsuit against a university she’s still attending as a student.

“Especially an institution as powerful, rich, well-connected and well-respected as Yale,” she said. “There’s some fear of retaliation. But at this point, Yale has done so much to me already, anything more would be like a drop in the bucket. And if I’ve learned anything from all I’ve been through the past few years, it’s that I can handle it.”