Six Suicides in 6 Months at Cornell

[babylonsister]

Does 6 deaths in 6 months make Cornell 'suicide school'?

By Jennifer Epstein, Inside Higher Ed


Of all the things Cornell University wants to be known for, suicide isn't among them. And yet, after years of trying to shake the image that it's a "suicide school," as one official called it Monday, recent deaths have made it difficult not to associate the upstate New York institution with an above-average suicide rate.

Last Thursday, police recovered the body of William Sinclair, a sophomore engineering major, from near a bridge that traverses one of the gorges that cut through the Ithaca campus. Matthew Zika, a junior also studying engineering, jumped to his death from another bridge the next day, police reported, though his body has not been found.

The two apparent suicides, coming in such rapid succession, would have alarmed any campus — or, as Susan Murphy, vice president for student and academic services, put it in a video posted on the university's website Saturday, they made for "an especially painful week."

Coming as they do on the heels of another student suicide off a bridge in February and three more suicides during the fall semester — as well as five other student deaths caused by illness or accidents — the deaths have shaken the campus. "The cumulative effect of this loss of life is palpable in our community," Murphy said.

more...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-03-16-IHE-cornell-suicides-16_ST_N.htm

[dkf]

1. Wow. Is the culture there that stressful?

[Barack_America]

4. Well, it's Ivy, which comes with its own set of pressures.

But I've never heard of anything particularly malignant about Cornell.

[pampango]

2. Damn, my son considered Cornell but ended up going to Virginia Tech to study engineering.

We all know the violence that VT has suffered through recently, but I've heard of only one suicide there and that was during my son's freshman year two years ago. I had no idea that there was this level of suicides at Cornell.

[Selatius]

3. College can be a stressful time for a lot of people. It was for me.

High expectations, sometimes severe study loads, and being alone and away from friends and family for the first time--it can all bear down on a person. If you're going to Cornell, obviously, the expectations that you should do well can be very high, especially from parents who like to live vicariously through their students' success. I, myself, am not afraid to admit I sought mental health counseling when I fell into a deep depression and became suicidal again when I went to university.

I grew up in a culture where mental illness is still sort of a taboo to talk about or address, so it was an even bigger disadvantage for me as far as the notion of seeking help goes. For me, it was often portrayed as a sign of weakness, of failure, to ask for help instead of trying to stick it out with my own personal demons. I had a lot of problems with severe depression in high school as well. Alas, it seems to run in my family. A lot of people in my family, if they suffer any illness, tend to suffer chronic depression and suicidal tendencies. My uncle tried to commit suicide some years back, so it's not all induced by a stressful atmosphere in college but other mitigating factors as well that come into play.

[Walk away]

5. My younger brother was at Cornell in the old days when Engineering majors jumping...

into the gorges was some kind of horrific tradition. He was a brilliant student studying Engineering on academic scholarship while working a fulltime job. My parents were the "stand on your own" types.

During his Sophomore year he had a massive bleeding stomach ulcer and ended up in the hospital in very bad shape. The Doctor who treated him advised him to make some changes in his life and do what he loved. My parents came to their senses and agreed and he quit his job, changed his major to Achiology, and became one of the happiest and laid back scholars you'd ever want to meet.

My parents change of heart was egged on by me sitting them down and forcing them to read the articles about the Engineering suicides.

p.s. if you've never been to the campus, the gorges and the little bridges spanning them are quite beautiful and make for a dramatic landscape.

[notesdev]

6. Cornell was pretty famous for this back in the 1980s-90s

Although then it was about academic pressure.

Now it's probably students learning exactly what impact those student loans are going to have on their lives.