<p>What a sad story:</p>
<p>I heard about this from my D1 on Saturday. I feel very sad for the families. All the students are talking about this and are very disturbed. There is also an active discussion on the Cornell thread.</p>
<p>Many people want to “blame” something. Some people are blaming Cornell’s rigor. Some are saying the school isn’t doing enough. I do not think there is any simplistic answer. Obviously the students (and Marie Osmond’s son) had may issues going on. </p>
<p>But this does give all of us a chance to talk w/ our kids, friends or anyone we want about sadness, stress, anxiety and depression and explain that there are people who care about them and there is help available.</p>
<p>The article doesn’t come out and say that the three sad deaths in one month were suicides, but the subtext is pretty clear: the college isn’t employing security guards because the bridges are slippery with ice, after all. How awful for the entire college community. Worse, students in that age group are prone to copycat suicides.</p>
<p>^^^I’ve been unable to get the link to work, marite. Perhaps there are just too many people trying to access it at this time.</p>
<p>I am having trouble with it too.</p>
<p>The link doesn’t work. Just to be redundant. Also, really just wanted to extend my sympathy to anyone whose kids are in pain over all of this, right now. How terribly sad and concerning it must be. I hope everyone heals soon. My heart goes out to the parents. Such loss.</p>
<p>Try the Ithaca Journal:</p>
<p>[theithacajournal.com</a> | The Ithaca Journal | Ithaca news, community, entertainment, yellow pages and classifieds. Serving Ithaca, NY](<a href=“http://www.theithacajournal.com/]theithacajournal.com”>http://www.theithacajournal.com/)</p>
<p>The link worked earlier, but all attempts to link to the Cornell Sun right now are failing.</p>
<p>When we visited Cornell many years ago, our host cheerfully pointed to the bridge and mentioned suicides. We thought this was a bit of local legend. Cornell is a great school, but it would be odd if there were more pressure on students than other similar universities. My heart goes out to the students’ families.</p>
<p>Thanks, ConCerndDad. That link works.</p>
<p>So distressing. When I was a graduate TA, I had a student who seemed so stressed about his poor performance in the lab section of the class I was helping with that I mentioned it to the professor in charge. A week later the prof. called me aside to thank me for mentioning the student to her; she concluded he needed counseling badly and she made sure he got it immediately.</p>
<p>The memory of that boy’s paralysis (he seemed frozen with fear when I asked him how I could help him understand the material) is quite vivid decades later. I have made sure my kids know that college courses are just college courses and the world does not come to an end if academic plans have to change.</p>
<p>It is hard to imagine the pain the families are experiencing.</p>
<p>
Suicide takes the lives of more college-age students than anything except car accidents. The Cornell deaths are notable because 1) people wonder why this happens at a good school and 2) gorge jumping to one’s death makes for sensational news. </p>
<p>It wasn’t that long ago that NYU had to install panels in its library windows to prevent people from jumping. UCSD recorded 17 suicides between 1983 and 2002 on-campus alone. 12 MIT students committed suicide between 1990 and 2002, one of whom set herself on fire. Another 12 committed suicide at Harvard in the same time span. 1 in 6 Yale students seek mental counseling each year.</p>
<p>One can lead a horse to water, but one can’t make him drink – all the counseling services in the world won’t help if a student doesn’t seek them out. Thankfully there are people like midmo who notice and help such students, but inevitably and tragically one or two will slip through the cracks.</p>
<p>Add my sympathies to all those affected.</p>
<p>midmo - thanks for sharing that memory. It shares as a reminder that it is always better to err on the side of caution and seek help for someone. I too doubt Cornell is that much tougher but that the appeal and ease of the gorges when one is so stressed and feeling helpless is not a good combination. It is so sad.</p>
<p>Spot on warbler!!</p>
<p>
It’s not the gorges alone that make these deaths newsworthy:</p>
<p>UCSD: 17 in 19 years = 1 per year.
MIT: 12 in 12 years =1 per year.
Harvard: 12 in 12 years =1 per year.
Cornell: 3 in one month.</p>
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<p>Sorry Marite … very bad stats work … post long term suicide rates by school and then you’d be on to something.</p>
<p>And as a Cornell 81’ grad I’ve been hearing about Cornell and suicides since ABC news did a segment on college suicides and shot the story at Cornell while I was in school … and I’ve seen numerous studies showing the suicide rate at Cornell is similar or lower than other top schools … and that the rate at top schools (as a group) does tend to be somewhat higher than lower ranked schools.</p>
<p>I agree, 3togo. While it is true that this has been an unfortunate month for the Cornell community, it is important not to seize upon those figures as an excuse to vilify Cornell. Over a much broader time range, its suicide statistics are exactly in line with those of other universities.</p>
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<p>But, come on Marite, this is not usual. Washington DC and Philadelphia also got the most snow ever recorded. It is not the norm.</p>
<p>Twelve student deaths in one year. Nine of them suicides. That’s a lot for the community to process.</p>
<p>I was merely pointing out that there really was no need to mention that suicide also occurs at other institutions. There is no equivalence between 1 death per year at other institutions and 3 deaths in the past month at Cornell.</p>
<p>here is some old data … [Suicide</a> Rates at Cornell Not As High As Believed | The Cornell Daily Sun](<a href=“http://cornellsun.com/node/2072]Suicide”>http://cornellsun.com/node/2072)</p>
<p>and newer data … <a href=“http://media.www.jhunewsletter.com/media/storage/paper932/news/2006/04/20/News/Hopkins.Suicide.Rate.In.Line.With.National.College.Trend-2242150.shtml[/url]”>http://media.www.jhunewsletter.com/media/storage/paper932/news/2006/04/20/News/Hopkins.Suicide.Rate.In.Line.With.National.College.Trend-2242150.shtml</a></p>
<p>and one last one … which references two other instances where 3 students deaths occured very close together …
<a href=“http://marczawel.com/freelance-work/the-cornell-daily-sun/3rd-death-in-two-weeks-hits-cu-campus/[/url]”>http://marczawel.com/freelance-work/the-cornell-daily-sun/3rd-death-in-two-weeks-hits-cu-campus/</a></p>
<p>The 3 recent deaths are all tradegies but extrapolating a trend at Cornell from those 3 suicides doesn’t seem to hold up to 20 years or so of history.</p>
<p>I don’t usually post in the Parents forum but I just have to point this out. There are 12 deaths this year involving undergrads. 4 of them are suspected suicides. The others are due to illness and accidents.</p>