NYU student leaps to his death from 10th floor

[JJC]

An New York University student leaped to his death Tuesday from the 10th floor of the main library, police said.
Andrew Williamson-Noble, 20, of Irvington, N.Y., used an NYU-issued card to swipe himself into the Bobst Library, where he committed suicide around 4:30 a.m., sources said.
Witnesses reported hearing a "loud thud" when the junior's body hit the marble floor in the atrium of the library.
"There was no blood," said a 19-year-old student named Tyler, who was studying in the building's basement at the time.
The Greenwich Village-based university, which has endured a rash of suicides in recent years, installed six-foot plexiglass walls on the floors facing the atrium in 2003 after two other students killed themselves.
"It's not an easy thing to do," said sophomore Irvin Camarillo, 19. "You'd have to be tall to flop over it, unless you had a chair or something."
Many students said they recently had midterms and they're still feeling very stressed out.
"I think it's that some people just have a lot of troubling adjusting to school," said freshman Lindsey Wu, 19. "And right now is just after midterms."
NYU president John Sexton confirmed the suicide in an e-mail sent to students around lunch time.
"The impulse for self-harm -- particularly among young men and women with so much talent and so much to live for -- is incomprehensible to me," he wrote.
Sexton also urged students who might be struggling to cope with the tragedy to visit the counselors at NYU's Wellness Center.
"It's a terrible, terrible tragedy," added Anthony Jiga, NYU's vice president for budget and planning.
NYU is a highly-competitive school full of driven students and that has sometimes led to tragedy.
Two years ago, the school began posting security guards on the rooftops and restricting balcony access in two high-rise dorms to deter suicidal students. There have been at least half-dozen suicides at NYU since 2003.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/11/03/2009-11-03_nyu_student_found_dead_at_university_library.htm
l#ixzz0VpWXVHPK

Very sad to read such stories RIP. My friend's roommate committed suicide at a different university here as well. Life is tough and so many young people are depressed but hide it well on the surface.

[FrankBooth0]

NYU seems to be an epicenter. I hear it is often a mix of heavy city life (which is new to a lot of the out of towners) and the general school pressures.

[USMC29]

Interesting fact the majority of students who kill themselves are asian males, my sister was head of a suicide prevention group at Cornell. Someone shot themselves at Arizona State just last week also, sidenote.

[goat89]

Internal bleeding.
RIP

[JJC]

Originally Posted by FrankBooth0

NYU seems to be an epicenter. I hear it is often a mix of heavy city life (which is new to a lot of the out of towners) and the general school pressures.

I was thinking maybe the school's location creates more social pressure on its students? Fordham and Columbia don't steal the media spotlight on student suicides like NYU does, and both of those schools are just as academically demanding on their students.

[HGRazorR]

Wow, I went to NYU... after a couple of people doing that at the library my senior year, they put up these tall plexi-glass barriers to try and stop it. Before, they just had these chest-high iron fences shaped like a crucifix when you look down at them.

That kid must have gone through a lot of effort to kill himself. I dunno, it's sad... the school is a really great place to be, but competitive as hell. Can't imagine what it's like for those Stern kids trying to get jobs.

[FrankBooth0]

I think it has more to do with what HG mentioned. Fordham & Columbia have the cred, but not the exposure like NYU has. That exposure to me is for more fantasy than fact. Time I spent there (For a program) didn't really impress me much but it felt stressful just to be in any of their buildings. I went to HS right across the street from their main campus.

Either they get more press because of who they are, or it is happening too often at this Uni. If the latter, than some reason needs to be present outside of the obvious and the personal.

RIP

[Vinny_121_DDS]

Originally Posted by USMC29

Interesting fact the majority of students who kill themselves are asian males, my sister was head of a suicide prevention group at Cornell. Someone shot themselves at Arizona State just last week also, sidenote.

that statistic is new to me. Are you talking about east or south asian? One of my closest friends committed suicide back in 2003. Another one at Carleton university killed herself after the student health doctor prescribed her antidepressants.

There's a lot of pressure socially and academically in university.


Well, rest in peace.

[hidayatnw]

Originally Posted by Vinny_121_DDS

that statistic is new to me. Are you talking about east or south asian? One of my closest friends committed suicide back in 2003. Another one at Carleton university killed herself after the student health doctor prescribed her antidepressants.

There's a lot of pressure socially and academically in university.


Well, rest in peace.

Originally Posted by USMC29

Interesting fact the majority of students who kill themselves are asian males, my sister was head of a suicide prevention group at Cornell. Someone shot themselves at Arizona State just last week also, sidenote.

I never hear suicide like this when I studied Business in the Netherlands University (Rotterdam). Any idea why that sort thing happened in US?

[NUCKINFUTS]

I feel really sorry for this kid, that feeling of being bombarded one after another is a feeling I wish on no one. My first three weeks of high school I had one test for each class almost everyday and sometimes most of them on the same day making studying near impossible.

RIP

[Vince S]

Originally Posted by Vinny_121_DDS

that statistic is new to me. Are you talking about east or south asian? One of my closest friends committed suicide back in 2003. Another one at Carleton university killed herself after the student health doctor prescribed her antidepressants.

There's a lot of pressure socially and academically in university.


Well, rest in peace.

As a doctor once told to my cousin who was nearing nervous breakdown at the Uni to have the best grades "Do you see any grades on my diploma?"

People need to ****ing relax... I perhaps wasn't the best student there was out there but I ended up getting pretty good jobs just as the best guys did.

Academics are one thing, real life situations aren't written in textbooks.

[Vinny_121_DDS]

Originally Posted by Vince S

As a doctor once told to my cousin who was nearing nervous breakdown at the Uni to have the best grades "Do you see any grades on my diploma?"

People need to ****ing relax... I perhaps wasn't the best student there was out there but I ended up getting pretty good jobs just as the best guys did.

Academics are one thing, real life situations aren't written in textbooks.

Grades are everything when it comes to getting into the professional schools. Also, students are paying thousands for tuition, housing, living and there's no guarantee of success. It's quite stressful when things aren't working out.

Before I got into medical school (naturopathic), I was always stressing out about my gpa, and how a B was going to destroy my gpa.

[the_13th_redneck]

The reason why a lot of East Asians kill themselves is because the pressures of living as a part of a very stifling culture. Even if you are out of the country, you're not necessarily out of the community.
I'd continue but considering how much crap I got on the thread about the pissed off Iraqi guy who ran over his daughter I'll pass.

[Dling]

Originally Posted by hidayatnw

I never hear suicide like this when I studied Business in the Netherlands University (Rotterdam). Any idea why that sort thing happened in US?

I wouldn't think that it's only the States. The example that Vinny gave from Carleton was a few year ago iirc in Ottawa. Was pretty big news. Being a student can get pretty stressful when ends don't meet. The studying and money is stressful enough, let alone finding jobs, etc. in your field of study later on.

And as far as the Asians go, aside from costs and cultural differnces, etc., from my personal experience (I'm Chinese Canadian), Asian parents take school very, very seriously. It came to the point where I've been demoralized by mid 80s because all my parents could tell me was to get 90s next time. There are plenty of Chinese students in my course and they have citizenships and other legal things to worry about too. One of my classmates almost didn't make it back this year because he almost lost his student visa.

[Vinny_121_DDS]

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

The reason why a lot of East Asians kill themselves is because the pressures of living as a part of a very stifling culture. Even if you are out of the country, you're not necessarily out of the community.
I'd continue but considering how much crap I got on the thread about the pissed off Iraqi guy who ran over his daughter I'll pass.

I've heard first hand it's really competitive in east asia over grades and marks. Everybody is ranked, and everybody knows what each person got overall across the nation. It's like the olympics there. People jumping off balconies, it's pretty shocking, but I haven't heard of it here in Canada. You may have, but I haven't.

Yes, I read your immigration post, and I agree with what you said. I can feel the heat across my screen.