You can find the full video and related article here. You’ll find lots of original pieces of information that weren’t included in the articles that were run by other major news outlets.
Skorton provides a good response to the reporter’s question about the reputation of Cornell as a suicide school: “There will be plenty of time to worry about our reputation later. What I’m worried about is the next student in distress.” He also openly states that he does consider Cornell to be in a crisis situation, and that the university is doing everything it can to guarantee the well being of its university.
The video also includes an interview with the parents of Bradley Ginsburg ’13, who say that they are not convinced that their son committed suicide on February 17.
Update: After scanning through a number of Cornell related articles around the internet and blogosphere, I discovered that this is not the only article that says there have been six suicides this academic year at Cornell. The CNN article says that in addition to the two most recent suicides, “Cornell officials had previously said authorities confirmed four other deaths at the school as suicides.” Except for Bradley Ginsburg, all three other deaths (presumably they are talking about Boon Jim Lim ’13, Lucas Wooster, and one other person) have not officially been ruled as suicides by the university. Perhaps a reporter just assumed somewhere, or did a university official accidentally admit the truth about the previously undisclosed causes of death?
Apparently some of the reporters (my bet is on Associated Press) invoked freedom of information when they were interviewing administration. An admin confirmed that there were 4 deaths prior to Zika and Sinclair, but did not declare who they were specifically. So no, reporters didn’t just assume.
interesting… where did you get this info?
Dennis, I had also seen a report that journalists invoked Freedom of Information when asking about the Cornell suicides. Unfortunately, I also fail to remember where I saw this.
Good update, Bonica hahaha
Hey at least my saying it proves that information is out there somewhere lol.
Here’s one article that mentions it: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5grb6TfZyCCR1q0G0Ej1hcMAOVsZAD9EGFTI80
The other one where freedom of info was mentioned was probably a video.
Hi. I am the sister of one of the “suicide victims” of Cornell in 2009 — however, my brother was a 32-year old Ph.D. student, not a fish out of water freshman. It infuriates me that these suicides are pointed at the school as opposed to mental illness, depression, etc. People need to be aware of what their friends and family may be going through emotionally — a stressful situation is just the straw that breaks the camel’s back, it is NOT THE CAUSE. Everyone wants a reason or some simple explanation to answer the question, “WHY?”. There are no reasons. Wake up, and help someone who is struggling.