Cornell gorge suicides

Cornell's Thurston Avenue Bridge in 2009

The Cornell gorge suicides were a phenomenon of suicides at Cornell University in the 1970s, the 1990s and during the 2009/2010 school year, with the suicide method being jumping from the bridges into the gorges.

History

"By the end of 1973, the young decade had already seen...four [suicides] in the gorges." In the "spring of 1976, junior Judy Kram took her own life" in the gorges and in the "autumn of 1977...three students died in the gorges."[1] "On April 13, 1979, about a month after sophomore Mark Sherman disappeared, his body was lifted from Fall Creek", his death being another case of gorge jumping. In "May of 1979, the university approved plans to add six-and-a-half foot metal bars to the already three-foot walls over the Collegetown Bridge."[1] In "1994, ...a fifth student died in the gorges in the span of three years."[1]

Cornell posted "security guards on all of the bridges that cross Cornell's gorges, and extended the hours of several" campus counselling lines.[2]" The half-dozen suicides in the 2009–2010 academic year marked the first instances of student suicides at Cornell since 2005. Stepped-up efforts to help students with mental health issues that began in 2002 and intensified after David J. Skorton became Cornell's president in 2007 are "at least anecdotally ... helping people," said Simeon Moss, a university spokesman. "[2] New "fences were erected after the 2010 suicides." [3]"Cornell University...plans to begin installing nets on... five bridges" which will extend out 15 feet.[3] Between 1990 and 2010, 27 people, including fifteen Cornell students as well as others, had killed themselves from bridge jumping in Ithaca.[3]

Despite these deaths, university officials have "long been quick to assert, don't mean that suicides are more common at Cornell than at other colleges."[2] According to The Huffington Post, statistically when compared to other colleges, Cornell does not have an above-average suicide rate. The misperception of a high suicide rate was attributed to the public nature of suicides in the gorges, as well as unconnected gorge suicides which are often assumed to be linked to Cornell students or faculty.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Fishman, Rob (December 16, 2010). "Cornell Suicides: Do Ithaca's Gorges Invite Jumpers?". The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 16, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Does 6 deaths in 6 months make Cornell 'suicide school'? - USATODAY.com
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Cornell Suicides: Nets To Cover Gorges Around School's Campus". The Huffington Post. August 20, 2012. Retrieved October 24, 2014.