SUICIDES becoming common at CORNELL
AOL
March 15) -- Steep, picturesque gorges cut their way through the heart of Cornell University's campus in Ithaca, N.Y. Over the years, however, the rocky chasms have proven to be a beacon for students seeking to end their own lives.
On Friday, Matthew Zika, 21, became the third student in less than a month to be found at the bottom of Fall Creek Gorge. The body of 19-year-old William Sinclair was recovered in the gorge on Thursday, not far from where Bradley Ginsburg, 18, took his own life on Feb. 17. The deaths of Zika and Sinclair are still being investigated.
"The cumulative effect of this loss of life is palpable in our community," Vice President for Student and Academic Services Susan Murphy said in a video address to the Cornell community.
While school officials stress that Cornell's suicide rate is no higher than the national average at higher learning institutions, the gorges, due to their accessibility and mythology, present an all-too-palpable means. According to school spokeswoman Claudia Wheatley, making the gorges less attractive for suicide may not be so easy.
University Photography
Three Cornell University students have been found dead, in suspected suicides, at the bottom of the Fall Creek Gorge in less than a month. Officials at the Ithaca, N.Y., college, pictured here, assigned staff to monitor bridges over the rocky chasms in the weekend following the most recent death, but say efforts to make the gorges less attractive for suicide could be difficult.
"The gorges represent a huge wilderness area," Wheatley told AOL News. "We will be looking at every way possible to make the campus safer, but as a practical matter it is very difficult."
Of the four deaths this year likely to be classified as suicides, three have taken place at the gorges, Wheatley said. In the early 1990s, five students are believed to have committed suicide by jumping off bridges at Cornell, The New York Times reported.
The weekend following the most recent deaths, Cornell assigned round-the-clock staff to monitor the campus bridges. "The idea was to have a friendly face there, and make them seem less scary after what has happened," Wheatley said.
Wheatley also stressed that while the most recent deaths coincided with a potentially stressful exam period, making blanket statements about what might cause a student to take his or her own life is not necessarily wise. "We have prelim exams every semester, and we've gone several years of having no incidents on campus at the bridges."
Wheatley's point notwithstanding, suicide at the gorges has become a part of Cornell's history. As Rob Fishman detailed on The Huffington Post, novelist Kurt Vonnegut, a former student at Cornell, even wrote about the phenomenon in his novel "Cat's Cradle": "Or if the sun comes out , maybe I'll go for a walk through one of the gorges. Aren't the gorges beautiful? This year, two girls jumped into one holding hands. They didn't get into the sorority they wanted."
Suicide clusters, as they are known, account for 3 to 5 percent of all suicide deaths each year
March 15) -- Steep, picturesque gorges cut their way through the heart of Cornell University's campus in Ithaca, N.Y. Over the years, however, the rocky chasms have proven to be a beacon for students seeking to end their own lives.
On Friday, Matthew Zika, 21, became the third student in less than a month to be found at the bottom of Fall Creek Gorge. The body of 19-year-old William Sinclair was recovered in the gorge on Thursday, not far from where Bradley Ginsburg, 18, took his own life on Feb. 17. The deaths of Zika and Sinclair are still being investigated.
"The cumulative effect of this loss of life is palpable in our community," Vice President for Student and Academic Services Susan Murphy said in a video address to the Cornell community.
While school officials stress that Cornell's suicide rate is no higher than the national average at higher learning institutions, the gorges, due to their accessibility and mythology, present an all-too-palpable means. According to school spokeswoman Claudia Wheatley, making the gorges less attractive for suicide may not be so easy.
University PhotographyThree Cornell University students have been found dead, in suspected suicides, at the bottom of the Fall Creek Gorge in less than a month. Officials at the Ithaca, N.Y., college, pictured here, assigned staff to monitor bridges over the rocky chasms in the weekend following the most recent death, but say efforts to make the gorges less attractive for suicide could be difficult.
"The gorges represent a huge wilderness area," Wheatley told AOL News. "We will be looking at every way possible to make the campus safer, but as a practical matter it is very difficult."
Of the four deaths this year likely to be classified as suicides, three have taken place at the gorges, Wheatley said. In the early 1990s, five students are believed to have committed suicide by jumping off bridges at Cornell, The New York Times reported.
The weekend following the most recent deaths, Cornell assigned round-the-clock staff to monitor the campus bridges. "The idea was to have a friendly face there, and make them seem less scary after what has happened," Wheatley said.
Wheatley also stressed that while the most recent deaths coincided with a potentially stressful exam period, making blanket statements about what might cause a student to take his or her own life is not necessarily wise. "We have prelim exams every semester, and we've gone several years of having no incidents on campus at the bridges."
Wheatley's point notwithstanding, suicide at the gorges has become a part of Cornell's history. As Rob Fishman detailed on The Huffington Post, novelist Kurt Vonnegut, a former student at Cornell, even wrote about the phenomenon in his novel "Cat's Cradle": "Or if the sun comes out , maybe I'll go for a walk through one of the gorges. Aren't the gorges beautiful? This year, two girls jumped into one holding hands. They didn't get into the sorority they wanted."
Suicide clusters, as they are known, account for 3 to 5 percent of all suicide deaths each year
