Standing Guard
Originally uploaded by aimeedars
In the past few months, three Cornell University students have jumped off bridges to their deaths. As a result, CU has instituted a major awareness and prevention campaign. The woman in the red sweatshirt is a security guard who is charged with making sure people don't loiter on this bridge on Stewart Ave. Additionally, Resident Assistants have reached out to students under their charge and faculty have been asked to remind students that academics aren't really everything.
http://www.cornellsun.com/section/news/content/2010/03/16/university-continues-mental-health-support-efforts
When I searched for a news story to add to this post, I found this NY Times article from 1994: http://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/05/nyregion/another-fatal-plunge-has-cornell-asking-whether-its-gorges-inspire-student.html?pagewanted=1
When I was an undergraduate, I worked with a professor who went to Cornell in the 1950's and he said that students were jumping into the gorges then too. It's so sad! Here at VT and at Univ of Maryland, student jump out of their dorm windows for similar reasons.
ReplyDeleteIt's so true that academics aren't everything - I wish students knew that a bad grade or even flunking out will NOT ruin their life. You can always start over - so many people do.