As six recently confirmed suicides at Cornell University this academic year prompt an extensive response from the school’s administration, many students at Georgetown reflect on mental well-being at the university and the various resources and health services available on campus.

Students have varying opinions in response to the deaths at Cornell. Some, such as Murphy Kate Delaney (COL ’13), find little overlap between the academic atmosphere of each school.

“Without knowing the background of each of the students that have committed suicide, I think you could say that many of them were motivated to kill themselves because of the environment that they studied in. I believe that Georgetown has a competitive, but healthy, competitive environment, in which students can feel more comfortable,” Delaney said.

Other members of the Georgetown community are not so sure that the case of Cornell is unique. Victoria Carlson (MSB ’12) said, “The stress of the college experience occurs throughout the United States, not just at Cornell. There can be a lot of stresses and social situations that can drive someone to kill themselves, ranging from a lack of interaction to the shock of a new experience.”

While college suicides may result from overwhelming stress, other personal problems or a combination of the two, students agreed that steps must be taken to prevent them in the future.

The director of mental health initiatives at Cornell has called the recent situation “a crisis,” according to The Cornell Daily Sun, and university administrators have reached out to students to help them cope.

“I know I’ve gotten dozens of e-mails from various professors, organizations and administration just showing that they care and are always there for us if we want to talk,” Samantha Bobra, a freshman at Cornell, said. “The university has a ton of counseling services as well and they’ve been really trying to make sure that anybody who seems to be struggling can get help when they need it.”

The university has increased operating hours for counseling and mental health resources for the campus community, the Daily Sun reported. A student-run mental health group organized an event for the campus community that included speeches by university administrators, including University President David Skorton, and performances by university a cappella groups.

“The main emphasis has been on helping students identify and fix their problems, attacking the root of depression and improving student mental health rather than focusing on putting up more fences around the gorges or similar methods, which won’t solve the problem,” Jacqueline Yost, a sophomore at Cornell, said.

Cornell administrators acknowledge that the university has had the reputation of being a “suicide school” in the past, due in part to an allegedly particularly competitive academic atmosphere on its Ithaca campus.

“Suicides in the gorges by individuals who are not [Cornell] students happen, but the gorges are closely linked to Cornell, and so that can alter how people view the school,” Yost said.

Cornell students disagree on whether the competitiveness is a reason behind the suicides.

“I think it’s ridiculous to suggest that there’s some single reason behind all of this, and especially ridiculous to simply throw the blame on Cornell’s vigorous academics or the presence of the gorges,” Bobra said. “The media has painted Cornell as this stressful, depressing place, and that’s not what it’s like here at all.”

Other students said that they do think that the recent deaths are linked to Cornell as an academic institution.

“I definitely think it has to do with the academic environment, but then again I can’t really say that for sure because I haven’t experienced the academic environment at other schools,” Cornell sophomore Elliott Moreno said.

According to The New York Times, national statistics predict that in a university with 20,000 students, there are about two incidents of suicide per year. At Cornell, a university of 20,633 undergraduate and graduate students in 2009-2010, three students committed suicide in the fall, one in February and two during the same week in March. While the suicide rate this year already exceeds the annual nationwide average for an institution of Cornell’s size, the school’s historical statistics have varied. The number of suicides spiked between 2000 and 2005, when the university had 10 confirmed suicides, but none occurred between the beginning of 2006 to fall 2009.

Campus police have been deployed to bridges that pass over the gorges, and the Daily Sun reported that the Cornell Student Council has considered placing some physical barriers around the campus-owned bridges.

The last confirmed suicide at Georgetown occurred in October 2008, when graduate student Hee Young Kim was found hanged in her Wisconsin Avenue residence.

The variety of resources available to members of the Georgetown community in need of help include Campus Ministry, Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service and Counseling and Psychiatric Service, which runs a hotline for students to speak with a psychiatrist.

According to GERMS Director of Public Relations Chris Santostefano (COL ’12), the student-run EMT service is trained to deal with behavioral emergencies, which he said “include but are not limited to suicide attempts, thoughts about suicide or thoughts about harming oneself or others.”

GERMS provides free treatment and transport on a confidential basis to Georgetown University Hospital, where patients receive additional care.

The Hoya reported Nov. 24 that CAPS saw a steady increase in the number of students seeking its services during the 2008-2009 academic year, the majority of whom require treatment for depression. During that same period, 10.3 percent of the total undergraduate, graduate and continuing studies student population accessed mental health services provided by CAPS. CAPS Director Phil Meilman said that this increase corresponds to a growth in the total student population and a larger CAPS staff. He estimated that 25 to 26 percent of the student body uses CAPS at least once in their four years at Georgetown.

The university has a “safety net” program in place, implemented when University President John J. DeGioia was dean of students, which allows university administrators, faculty and staff to refer any students of concern to receive appropriate counseling.

Georgetown’s CAPS did not respond to requests for comment.

*- Hoya Staff Writer Dawn Hu contributed to this report.*”

As six recently confirmed suicides at Cornell University this academic year prompt an extensive response from the school’s administration, many students at Georgetown reflect on mental well-being at the university and the various resources and health services available on campus.

Students have varying opinions in response to the deaths at Cornell. Some, such as Murphy Kate Delaney (COL ’13), find little overlap between the academic atmosphere of each school.

“Without knowing the background of each of the students that have committed suicide, I think you could say that many of them were motivated to kill themselves because of the environment that they studied in. I believe that Georgetown has a competitive, but healthy, competitive environment, in which students can feel more comfortable,” Delaney said.

Other members of the Georgetown community are not so sure that the case of Cornell is unique. Victoria Carlson (MSB ’12) said, “The stress of the college experience occurs throughout the United States, not just at Cornell. There can be a lot of stresses and social situations that can drive someone to kill themselves, ranging from a lack of interaction to the shock of a new experience.”

While college suicides may result from overwhelming stress, other personal problems or a combination of the two, students agreed that steps must be taken to prevent them in the future.

The director of mental health initiatives at Cornell has called the recent situation “a crisis,” according to The Cornell Daily Sun, and university administrators have reached out to students to help them cope.

“I know I’ve gotten dozens of e-mails from various professors, organizations and administration just showing that they care and are always there for us if we want to talk,” Samantha Bobra, a freshman at Cornell, said. “The university has a ton of counseling services as well and they’ve been really trying to make sure that anybody who seems to be struggling can get help when they need it.”

The university has increased operating hours for counseling and mental health resources for the campus community, the Daily Sun reported. A student-run mental health group organized an event for the campus community that included speeches by university administrators, including University President David Skorton, and performances by university a cappella groups.

“The main emphasis has been on helping students identify and fix their problems, attacking the root of depression and improving student mental health rather than focusing on putting up more fences around the gorges or similar methods, which won’t solve the problem,” Jacqueline Yost, a sophomore at Cornell, said.

Cornell administrators acknowledge that the university has had the reputation of being a “suicide school” in the past, due in part to an allegedly particularly competitive academic atmosphere on its Ithaca campus.

“Suicides in the gorges by individuals who are not [Cornell] students happen, but the gorges are closely linked to Cornell, and so that can alter how people view the school,” Yost said.

Cornell students disagree on whether the competitiveness is a reason behind the suicides.

“I think it’s ridiculous to suggest that there’s some single reason behind all of this, and especially ridiculous to simply throw the blame on Cornell’s vigorous academics or the presence of the gorges,” Bobra said. “The media has painted Cornell as this stressful, depressing place, and that’s not what it’s like here at all.”

Other students said that they do think that the recent deaths are linked to Cornell as an academic institution.

“I definitely think it has to do with the academic environment, but then again I can’t really say that for sure because I haven’t experienced the academic environment at other schools,” Cornell sophomore Elliott Moreno said.

According to The New York Times, national statistics predict that in a university with 20,000 students, there are about two incidents of suicide per year. At Cornell, a university of 20,633 undergraduate and graduate students in 2009-2010, three students committed suicide in the fall, one in February and two during the same week in March. While the suicide rate this year already exceeds the annual nationwide average for an institution of Cornell’s size, the school’s historical statistics have varied. The number of suicides spiked between 2000 and 2005, when the university had 10 confirmed suicides, but none occurred between the beginning of 2006 to fall 2009.

Campus police have been deployed to bridges that pass over the gorges, and the Daily Sun reported that the Cornell Student Council has considered placing some physical barriers around the campus-owned bridges.

The last confirmed suicide at Georgetown occurred in October 2008, when graduate student Hee Young Kim was found hanged in her Wisconsin Avenue residence.

The variety of resources available to members of the Georgetown community in need of help include Campus Ministry, Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service and Counseling and Psychiatric Service, which runs a hotline for students to speak with a psychiatrist.

According to GERMS Director of Public Relations Chris Santostefano (COL ’12), the student-run EMT service is trained to deal with behavioral emergencies, which he said “include but are not limited to suicide attempts, thoughts about suicide or thoughts about harming oneself or others.”

GERMS provides free treatment and transport on a confidential basis to Georgetown University Hospital, where patients receive additional care.

The Hoya reported Nov. 24 that CAPS saw a steady increase in the number of students seeking its services during the 2008-2009 academic year, the majority of whom require treatment for depression. During that same period, 10.3 percent of the total undergraduate, graduate and continuing studies student population accessed mental health services provided by CAPS. CAPS Director Phil Meilman said that this increase corresponds to a growth in the total student population and a larger CAPS staff. He estimated that 25 to 26 percent of the student body uses CAPS at least once in their four years at Georgetown.

The university has a “safety net” program in place, implemented when University President John J. DeGioia was dean of students, which allows university administrators, faculty and staff to refer any students of concern to receive appropriate counseling.

Georgetown’s CAPS did not respond to requests for comment.

*- Hoya Staff Writer Dawn Hu contributed to this report.*”