I do not have case information but I do know NOLS has had other incidents and deaths on their courses. The problem comes from taking young people with little to no outdoor experience and putting them on a dangerous mountain or in sea kayaks in rough ocean conditions. I do know they have had fatalities at both those endeavors in the past.
In the case of the bear incident, one or more of the instructors should have been armed and prepared to protect the students. Same way a fishing guide or other outdoor guide in Alaska is armed to protect their clients.
In some ways it reminds me of the case some years ago where the BOSS "survival school" took people out for 2 days at the beginning of it's training without food or WATER and a student had begged and pleaded for water and showed all the signs of being in dire condition, the "instructor" ignored the young man and they allowed him to become unconscious and die. The school has a responsibility to ensure the safety of the clients, period. There is little value to exposing someone to danger for the sake of survival. A survival school should not be pass/fail it should be a place to learn technique and wisdom from experienced instructors so if you are ever in a true survival situation you have a better chance to actually survive.
Even the military, who trains many troops very vigorously, provides water and other necessities to ensure their health and safety.
There are way too many of these so called survival schools that set themselves up based on the Rambo mentality. They run people too hard, they deprive students of essentials so you can learn survival. NO, what you learn is pain, agony and fatigue. There is little survival technique being learned, it is all about endurance, which is another game altogether.
There needs to be more control and licensing to operate this sort of school, especially when minors are involved. Wilderness First Aid Cert is not enough to ensure student safety and oversee proper curriculum.