Many readers of this likely have seen the email from Cornell’s VP of Communications Susan Murphy. She outlined several steps the school will be taking going forward to prevent Cornell from becoming Suicide U again in the future. Among the measures include mental health seminars offered to freshman during orientation week, increased mental staff at Gannett Health Center, and a review of the academic calendar (not ending two weeks after every other school would be a start).
And then there’s the fences. Cornell asked the City of Ithaca to extend the original June 4 deadline for when the ‘temporary’ fencing on the bridges has to be dismantled. According to Murphy, Cornell wants to, “allow for more time to finalize a plan for appropriate means restriction that fits our campus culture and the uniqueness of the local environment.”
The full email is below:
May 20, 2010
Dear Cornellians,
As the year draws to a close, I want to update you on the actions under way in the wake of the tragic loss of life we experienced this year among our friends and colleagues.
Let me begin by thanking so many of you who took on significant work this semester to extend the care our community needed. A special recognition goes to student staff in our residential communities, EARS counselors, Cornell Minds Matter students and our EMS student volunteers. We are deeply grateful to you and so many others who also made a real difference.
While much of our focus since spring break has been directed toward the immediate needs of our community, we are now taking a comprehensive look at the student experience at Cornell, as called for by President Skorton. As a result, we are taking several initiatives:
• Having increased CAPS staffing earlier this spring, Gannett is now developing a plan that will further expand the clinical staff, improve the 24/7 on-call service, respond to walk-in requests for mental health care, and extend our outreach efforts.
• We are expanding our work on alcohol abuse to help students who come in with or develop alcohol dependency in their first year. We will partner with the Greek system to address alcohol issues as a part of their new member recruitment and education.
• In response to the suggestion voiced by many of you, this year’s new student orientation will include a new program covering issues of mental health and well-being.
• Recently, the Faculty Senate called for increased support for academic advising, both in personnel and technology. The Dean of the Faculty also is launching a comprehensive review of the academic calendar; and starting this year Labor Day will be honored as a campus holiday.
• Finally, we are talking to campus stakeholders, leaders in the local community as well as experts about plans to strengthen the safety on bridges on and around our campus. We are asking the City of Ithaca to extend its June 4 deadline for removing the temporary fencing on the city-owned bridges to allow for more time to finalize a plan for appropriate means restriction that fits our campus culture and the uniqueness of the local environment.
From time to time, I will continue to update you on our progress. Of course I always look forward to hearing from you on these matters. In the meantime, I wish you a wonderful and safe summer, wherever your travels take you. To our graduates, I look forward to seeing you on commencement weekend.
I’m not sure there is any solution that prevents students from screaming Geronimo! off bridges and simultaneously “fits…the uniqueness of the local environment.” I also question the effectiveness of anything during orientation, as students tend to be incredibly flustered by the new surroundings, and also constantly drunk. Anyway, I suppose the school is doing the best it can with this. One can only hope that Cornell’s bout with student suicides becomes something that we only read about in history books.
