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Yesterday, NYU President John Sexton sent a letter to students, informing them in the wake of the two suicides at Bobst Library, glass panel barriers would be put up in the Bobst Library's inner balconies. Additionally, as the Daily News reports, "70 Washington Square South will be restricted and extra guards will be posted to keep people away" as the panels are installed. Talks with contractors to install panels had been initiated after the first suicide in September, but after Friday's suicide, it seems the process has been expedited. Sexton's letter also noted, "We need to reassert for the library the central role it fulfills in this community of scholars. None of us will ever forget the events of this fall - nor should we - but, with time, neither should we permit our thoughts to be dominated each time we enter and use the library."
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I find this really disturbing. When I was at Tisch, they used to give us a stern warning about filming/setting up our heavy 16mm cameras on the top floors of Bobst-- apparently several film students had accidentally dropped theirs, breaking expensive cameras and sending a rather heavy object plummetting. The thought of a person plummeting gives me the shivers...but also makes me surprised that such a thing hadn't happened earlier.
I'm a little skeptical about putting up barriers, or even hiring guards. It seems like a misplaced gesture. It's like trying to cure a cold by stuffing cotton up your nose.
Here's an interesting article about jumpers off the Golden Gate Bridge and how San Francisco residents have historically tended to reject the idea of putting up barriers:
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?031013fa_fact
I have to say that I'm in favor of the barriers. Admittedly, this will perhaps not stop these people from killing themselves. If they're determined enough, they'll find a way. My concern (I swear I'm not trying to make light of the situation) is more academic and more focused towards the library itself. These suicides are most definately a macabre distraction from the mission of the library itself.
If Bobst Library becomes known as "Jumper's Hall" it cannot function effectively as a library.
As the New Yorker article on Golden Gate Jumpings pointed out, the romantic draw of using the layout of a beautiful place to do one's self in will increase in number of insidents once the place develops a reputation.
I'm an NYU grad student and I was in the library about 30 minutes before the first jumper took his life (I was shooting pictures of the marble floor, no less.) The glass barricades are absolutely necessary, but as someone else pointed out, they are not the end all solution. However, NYU has, rightly, been more communicative about free counseling available on campus, which is the proper long term answer to this situation.
What I found most strange was that there was nearly zero newpaper coverage of the first suicide. The Post and Daily News each had small two-three sentence blurbs in the police blotter. NY Times had nothing.
actually the NY Times had a small blurb about the second suicide in saturday's paper. i dont know if they had anything about the first.
this is a good first step- studies show that if a suicide attempt is foiled about 95% of people don't end up killing themselves. so if someone has to climb over a glass barrier and the delay causes them to get stopped by a guard positioned nearby, that'll probably save their life.
The barriers might succeed in foiling the attempts of future jumpers, but I also think NYU should be allocating resources for counseling services that are more accessible and specialized than the ones currently available.
Times today had a piece on the regularness of people committing "train suicide", standing front of NJ commuter trains. Apparently it happens twice a month, year in, year out.
It looks like a case of new press attention rather than something really new, but who would think that 25 people a year kill themselves on NJ Transit tracks? That's one every other week.(Please hold your fire on NJ - I haven't seen any NYC Transit and LIRR figures yet). If you're an engineer for any length of time, you are probably likely to run somebody over. Yikes. See the NYT's report.
How do you suicide proof a building shaped like bobst? Oh! - Install 11 floors of glass paneling, as NYU now plans on doing.
That is ridiculous. While I feel terrible about the suicides, and feel that NYU should have publicly mentioned the first suicide, I cannot understand how, NYU is responsible for the suicides. Installing glass paneling only costs money, makes the library unattractive and more confined – it does not solve the problem of suicide. Unfortunately, the only way to stop that problem is to address the personal issue within the distressed student. After paneling up Bobst – what will be next? Paneling up the new balcony on the Kimmel Center? The argument for and against paneling up Bobst is equivalent to the argument regarding privacy issues and terrorism threats. When are “safety-measures” going to far? And, I’m sorry, but paneling up Bobst’s atrium is absurd. There’s hundreds of places/ways to kill oneself, on NYU property, even after Bobst has been ‘fixed’.
Studies have shown there is a 2 percent increase in suicides after press coverage and that those who imitate the behavior are usually about the same age as the perpetrator.
A report in 2001 from Austria found that the copycat effect is is larger if the motives for suicide were oversimplified.
According to UC San Diego professor David Phillips, reports on suicide are similar to advertisements; the persuasiveness of the argument must be counteracted by making other alternatives clearly reported.
NYU's lack of widespread response to the suicide neglected to inform students of the potential alternatives. The university should have been more aware of the copycat effect.
There should have been an e-mail sent out with basic facts and info. on university counseling services and hotlines. Info. should have been posted in dormitories and in university buildings and made more in the public attention. The issue shouldnt have been ignored, as it practically was.
just my two cents...
I am an NYU student and from the very first moment I walked in Bobst library while touring the school a few years back I immediately thought to myself, "wow, NYU is asking for suicide." After the first death this year I knew some measures had to be taken. Although glass paneling is costly and unaestically pleasing, it is absolutely needed. I don't care what you have to do and how it may be an inconvience to others, I don't want any more people taking their lives in Bobst. I worry for the lives of those who want to jump and for those by-standers who may be walking through the atrium. Bobst has unfourtunately become a scary place. I have not been there since the first death and will avoid it as much as possible.
This past fall has been very tragic for NYU students, family and friends. I was shocked when I read what happened. I knew nothing of the first suicide until today. I also read about another girl who leaped to her death from her dorm or apartment window. Something is not right. We have to ask ourselves why 3 students took their own lives within 3 months of one another. I agree that barriers should be put up. I don't think barriers in a library will stop students from taking their lives, but it will prevent by-standers from being traumatized.