Some people believe that a college or university is a family, despite its size. This year, New York University’s family lost four of its members in a string of apparent suicides.

While no recent suicides have occurred at Syracuse University, some officials have been increasing their efforts to counsel and protect vulnerable students.

‘The public is now recognizing what we have known all along,’ said Rebecca Dayton, director of the Syracuse University counseling center. ‘On this campus there hasn’t been any major increase in the suicide rate. Students are coming to college campuses in more psychological distress, there has also been more media attention, and it’s almost like the hot issue of the day. We are noticing an increase in psychological distress, but not completed suicides.’

The NYU suicides were the first that had occurred at the university in seven years, said John Beckman, vice president for public affairs at NYU, in a written statement.

‘It was mostly shock,’ said Bret Nolan Collazzi, editor in chief at The Washington Square News, the student newspaper at NYU. ‘After the first death, I think most students were a little down. It was taken with the same kind of emotion as any death.’

When the second and third deaths occurred, students began to wonder more about what was causing these suicides, he said.

‘The second death (later ruled an accident) seemed like a copy-cat suicide, and I think it just chilled a lot of students,’ Collazzi said. ‘It just seemed like students were dying for some reason. I think a lot people started wondering if there was something killing students at this school.’

‘The third one got students nervous I think,’ Collazzi added. ‘It happened a week after the second one and then suddenly in two months time, three students had died.’

The copy-cat effect, also known as the contagion effect, occurs when one person is inspired to commit suicide after another person’s suicide.

The effect could be one of the reasons that lead a person to commit suicide, Dayton said.

‘Nobody can make anybody else feel suicidal or make them suicidal,’ Dayton said. ‘But certainly when a person is vulnerable and if a school or someone glorifies what happened to someone through suicide, or makes them a martyr, so to speak, that certainly can have an effect on someone who might be contemplating hurting themselves.’

After the fourth death occurred at NYU, Collazzi said that attitudes among the students changed.

‘There was a kind of iciness to student reaction after the fourth death. It wasn’t as much of a concern. It was like ‘This is bizarre,” Collazzi said. ‘It was kind of a colder reception.’

Being in a big, impersonal city like New York may have played a part in the suicides, Collazzi said.

‘A lot of people get stressed out, but few of them take their life,’ Collazzi said. ‘If people are stressed out and have no social life, suicide becomes an option. If there is anything specific about NYU that could have facilitated student deaths, it is if you are not used to New York City, if you are not used to a large campus, if you are not used to being a little fish in a big pond.’

The deaths at NYU have focused much attention on the issue of suicide in a university setting. Dayton said that everyone has their own opinions about the causes of these deaths, and many different factors play in to people’s ultimate decision to kill themselves.

‘What happened at NYU was just something we all were concerned about,’ Dayton said. ‘I wasn’t so much concerned personally of any contagion effect as much as I realized that that really continues to highlight the fact that this is just a really serious issue. Something that we have to make sure that we as a college counseling center here at SU are doing is everything that we can do to prevent and or intervene with students who are suicidal.’

The issue of suicide is real, and can happen anywhere.

‘Though the university had not had a student suicide on campus for seven years prior to this fall, this year’s tragedies show that every institution, NYU no more or less than any other, is vulnerable,’ Beckman said.

Dayton said that in her 10 years at SU, she has only experienced one or two suicides. If a threat of one does occur, though, Public Safety officers, along with the counseling center, are ready to help.

‘Certainly, when we come close to an individual who is emotionally despondent or has threatened to do harm to himself, we can establish that we can initiate an investigation,’ said Capt. Drew Buske of the Department of Public Safety.

He said that DPS will involve the counseling center and if the student is in imminent danger, the Syracuse Police Department will be informed. DPS helps the person in danger and informs roommates and others about the services that the counseling center has to offer. Residence hall staff are also informed, Buske said.

DPS does not have a special unit that deals with students who might attempt suicide because the event could occur during any shift anywhere, Buske said.

The number of suicides on the SU campus has been declining, yet psychological stress remains a concern, Dayton said. Because of the increased concern in student suicide and stress in the last few years, SU has put more resources into the counseling center.

The center has almost doubled its staff and moved into a new building, Dayton said. The center has also been able to provide more preventative measures against suicide like education, signs with information about suicide and phone numbers to the counseling center. It has also hired an independent psychiatrist who can prescribe medication, Dayton said.

A therapist is also on call 24 hours a day, who can be called in case of an emergency. The counseling center is a completely confidential service that is supported by the health fee, so in effect, it is free to students, Dayton said.

‘Our first concern is for the emotional welfare of the party, and we are going to get them the emotional services that they need,’ Buske said.

Published on April 13, 2004 at 12:00 pm