NYU student deaths raise concern on campuses

After three recent student deaths, one of which has been confirmed as a suicide, at New York University, the school and other universities are taking a closer look at how to mitigate future risk.

Officially, only the first death, that of John Skolnik, a 20-year-old junior from Evanston, Ill., has been declared a suicide. The cases on the other two students, Stephen Bohler, an 18-year-old freshman from Ohio and Michelle Gluckman, a 19-year-old student in the School of Continuing Studies, are still technically open. All three occurred over the past month and a half.

The worry both at NYU and throughout the academic community is that suicides among adolescents and young adults generally trigger more suicides in the same age group, explained John Taylor, a spokesman for NYU.

"If you look at many of the guidelines for prevention organizations," he said, "they all agree that the more press there is, the more of a risk you have for additional suicides."

NYU feels that it is important to emphasize that there is no established connection between these three deaths.

"There's no connection between the three deaths other than the fact that they're absolute tragedies," Taylor said.

Terry Conn, Penn's associate vice provost for University Life echoed his sentiments regarding the deaths, saying that despite precautions schools can take, situations like these do arise.

"What happened at NYU was of course a tragedy and our sympathies go out to [the students'] families," she said. "As an institution, we do everything to support our students but unfortunately sometimes these incidents do occur."

The last suicide at Penn occurred in April 2002, when Wharton undergraduate student Electra Bynoe's death was ruled a suicide by asphyxiation. That followed the death of Jose Joseph, a Wharton junior who fell to his death from his Hamilton College House room.

Joseph's death was followed weeks later by the discovery of the body of Engineering graduate student Anirban Majumdar in the Schuylkill River, but his death was not officially ruled a suicide.

The body of Wharton junior David Dantzler-Wolfe was also found in the Schuylkill River last May, and while police said there was no indication of foul play, his death was not officially ruled a suicide. He had been reported missing in December of 2002.

At NYU, some steps have been taken in light of the recent deaths, including the extension of counseling services that are already provided to students.

"There's a very good counseling system available, and we've expanded upon it over the past six weeks," Taylor said.

Taylor explained that in addition to extending the hours of both their phone-in and walk-in services, e-mails have been sent out to the entire NYU community from President John Sexton and other senior administrators addressing the deaths.

Faculty members have also been asked to pay closer attention to their students and to discuss any concerns they may have.

Ilene Rosenstein, the director of Counseling and Psychological Services at Penn, said that while this is an important approach, she feels that NYU should also be proactive in providing more information to students.

"I think it's a very good thing that they're giving helpful hints to faculty, but it needs to go to students because they often know when fellow students are in distress," she said.

At Penn, while officials are well aware of the recent incidents at NYU, they have not altered the University's current policies or services, feeling that they are already sufficient.

"Penn already provides all of those services and more," Rosenstein said.

She explained that CAPS representatives are available 24 hours every day, including weekends.

"There's always someone on call," she added.

Penn students who have had experiences with CAPS say that its services are accessible, but others feel they need to be more publicized in order to be effective.

"I think CAPS is readily available," College junior Juliette Avigdor said. "There's also a help line. There's a lot if you're in need of help."

Still, a Wharton freshman, who did not want her name published, said that she wished in the past few months she had been more aware of the services CAPS offered.

One of the main concerns in the world of higher education regarding depressed and potentially suicidal students is that legal restrictions regarding whether or not a college or university has the right to notify parents about their child's risk may be too strict.

Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, colleges cannot violate confidentiality agreements with students.

"There are different types of confidentiality," said Rosenstein, "and CAPS is bound by client-counselor confidentiality. A student has to have immediate intent to act on suicidal or homicidal tendencies or has acted on it already in order for confidentiality to be broken."

Sometimes, however, the approach of CAPS is to ask for students' permission to involve and share information with someone they trust, such as a family member.

In addition, the University last year implemented a policy under which students who present a serious threat to themselves or others can be forced to take an involuntary leave of absence.

For this to occur, the provost and the student's school dean must, based on an assessment conducted by a CAPS professional, come to the conclusion that the student's behavior either harms or threatens the health or safety of him or herself or others, causes or threatens to cause significant property damage or significantly disrupts educational and other activities at Penn.

According to Conn, however, the policy has yet to be used.

"Our first concern is with the health and welfare of the student," Conn said.

"We are always meeting with different groups to help them understand how to treat all situations regarding students and depression," she added.

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