Besides being illegal, Wizner feels that forbidding students to talk about controversial topics like suicide would be unwise. "What schools should be doing is creating an environment where the issue of suicide can be discussed in an open way," he says. And while students like Alex might not care about risking suspension by talking about suicide on school grounds, having a policy like this could be damaging, Wizner says. Alex didn't get in trouble for talking about his suicide note, and we never see the school actually enforce the rule, but even announcing a no-suicide-talk policy could scare some students away from talking about something that they might need to discuss in order to heal. "A policy like this isn't only problematic when someone is punished," he says. "It’s problematic when it’s announced."