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New York University is urging students who are feeling overwhelmed to contact the school's mental health facilities, a few days after one of its incoming freshman killed himself by jumping from the 15th-floor roof of his Union Square dorm on East 14th St. Eighteen-year-old "Trey" Allan Oakley Hunter III leapt to his death minutes after texting a goodbye message to his parents and brother. In an email sent out to students, university president John Sexton described how young people far from home and confronted with an alien environment that can seem overwhelming often make irreversible and tragic decisions.
While popular with friends, Hunter was described in the New York Post as having a morbid streak. He arrived at NYU from California as the grandson of a notable WWII war hero and Congressman and the son of a very wealthy dotcom entrepreneur. A seemingly amicable separation with his high school girlfriend appeared to have troubled him. The young woman, who attends Princeton University in NJ, was visiting Hunter in NYC when he allegedly read text messages on her cellphone that indicated she was interested in another man.
It was the first suicide at NYU since six students killed themselves in 2003 and 2004. What seemed like a trend in self-destructive behavior led to the installation of barriers around the atrium of Bobst Library. NYU students are informed during orientation of resources available to them should they feel troubled. Sexton reminded the community that NYU's Wellness Exchange center was available to students.
And Hunter's father told the Sun, "It's been a flood of tears and shock in the last two days...I think it's kind of a myth to believe that, okay, you're 18, you get into college, and you're all ready to be launched."
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It never ceases to amaze how fickle 18 year old girls are.
schools usually do their damnist to cover up student suicide
R.I.P.
What is it about that school that prompts so many suicides? Is it the size, the demographic, or coincidental? I go to Manhattan College, and we've had one suicide on campus, occurring before I arrived, in my history with the school.
We have perhaps an entire student body the size of their freshman class, if even. Is it that the size of the school makes it difficult to make friends? Or, which seems likely, is it that there are just so many people at NYU that you're bound to matriculate students with suicidal thoughts?
Absolutely perplexing to me...
There's no real "campus" feel to the school I think, it's hard to feel part of a community in a huge city like NYC at a school which is spread out all over.
maybe it isn't the school. maybe it's a serial pusher!
If Wikipedia is to be believed Manhattan College only has 2600 undergrads and 400 graduate students. NYU has about 21,000 undergrads and another 16,500 graduate students. The suicide rate is about 11 per 100,000. Based on these numbers it isn't surprising that you don't see a suicide every year at Manhattan College. NYU should average 2 to 3.
So many suicides? bxbrian, according to this article, there hasn't been a suicide at NYU since the, admittedly, large number 3 years ago; and considering that the school is as large as it is, which you acknowledge, I don't think they're doing too badly. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the college age-range, and while schools should continuously be evaluating their mental health-care, there isn't always a person or institution to blame when things like this occur.
this dude didn't listen to enough ozzy
that guy is so emo, it hurts. i wonder if he hit the glass of the cafeteria.
too bad he lived in a dorm, an apt vacancy would make this worthwhile.
Well, as someone who went to NYU several years ago, it can be hard to make friends there if you aren't outgoing. Dorms are mostly apartment style, classes are large, and there is no central campus or "quad". If you don't join clubs or activities and don't do dorm activities and aren't outgoing in class it can be hard to make friends and you may feel overwhelmed.
I went to NYU as well, starting in the year of the rash of suicides. I'm not an outgoing person and I found it relatively easy to make friends. I felt that Washington Square Park itself was the campus and I didn't feel any lack for an actual quad. If someone dislikes the atmosphere, he can transfer. The suicides that year baffled me. My only guess is really the stastical rates?
Anyone with their name ending the "Third" is fodder for suicide.
The chick was good looking, and he wasn't, so she dumped him. End of high school romance story.
At least she's still alive compared to most of the stories of love gone wrong one reads.
it's hipster shock. People with real values get shellshocked from the uncaring and socially detached hipsters. THe environment is very unhealthy. I would shoot myself too if everyone was a douche like coner oberst.
NYU costs $1000 per credit, or roughly $1 for every minute you spend in an NYU classroom. The parents are killing themselves to pay for it, who knows where all that NYU money is really going clearly not to an effective outreach program.
to all of the commenters who have felt the need to post rude things because you think you're witty...you make me sick. obviously this is just a blog and although it is an open forum, how would you feel if this kid was your friend or family member, and while surfing around on the internet you came across people saying things like "one less hipster douchebag" or "more space in new york for the rest of us"? maybe you wouldn't care, I don't know. but I knew him and I do care; seeing comments like that are hurtful and in poor taste.
Look! Up in the sky. Its a bird, no its a plane, no its another NYU student trying to fly.
I sure hope NYU has beefed up their program at the Wellness Exchange, when I tried calling them a few years ago I was put on hold and never got through...good thing I didn't need them that badly.
Poor freshmen don't realize how completely overrated the place is.
he didn't have to die, if he stuck it out he would of gotten an Asian girlfriend. don't know if mommy and daddy would approve, but who knows.
No surprise here. NYU has a reputation for matriculating students who, for "one reason or another" have been rejected by the Ivies and other top tier schools. It's Darwinism at work here, folks...
Maybe unlike other schools, people with or prone to problems come to NYU as idealists thinking that everything will get better and they will finally be understood, not realizing that it is more or like any other place but even harder to establish a sense of belonging. If you polled the avg incoming NYU student, the % of people that view suicide in a romantic light would be higher than any other school as well. Seriously though, having lived in UHall (2002-pre suicides), we always commented that it was built like a mental hospital. I think the real problem is NYU is too cheap to buy anything but white paint.
i teach at nyu. i think it's a combination of a lot of things. lots of students who come to nyu already have mental issues, are in therapy, etc. private and elite colleges have higher proportions of these kinds of students than other places, generally speaking. second, many people have mentioned the lack of a campus and the city factor, which i agree with. new york is a hard enough place to move and get into a groove if you're 21 or 22 (when i moved to the city), much less if you're 18 and are leaving everything you've ever known. also, nyu attracts a certain kind of student--ambitious, go-getting, ready to conquer new york. and that can come crashing down early in the semester. when it comes down to it, nyu is a fairly traditional large university with a lot of anonymity, which doesn't suit individualists well always--the school has a high rate of attrition also. finally, it's just hard to be a new student in college anywhere. so it's not a unique problem to nyu, but there are some unique issues at nyu that can exacerbate it.
I think that the jokes that some of you have made are absolutely inappropriate and hurtful. You didn't know anything about AOHIII. He had a family and friends, and you are using his death as fodder for your stupid cracks.
I think that the jokes that some of you have made are absolutely inappropriate and hurtful. You didn't know anything about AOHIII. He had a family and friends, and you are using his death as fodder for your stupid cracks.
i agree with the one above he did have family and friends and he was an amazing young man. in high school he was so much fun always made people laugh yet super mellow... if you don't know him then don't make inappropriate comments that is uneccesary and obviously you have nothing better to do then crack stupid jokes on people you never knew. he was absolutely one of the nicest people i ever met and im sure everyone else who knew him would stand by that..
He's 18, but by the looks of that NYP picture, he appears to be about 34. I think that, along with being dumped by a first major love would do it...
Look out belowwwwwwwwwwww....splat!!!!
What's a guy with a "III" after his name doing at NYU? That pretty much shows what a loser he was...!
I knew this young man personally and feel utter shock about the tragedy and deep sorrow for his family.
However, what never ceases to amaze me is how some immature people can post hurtful and cruel messages that can be read by the family and friends (like me).
One class some of the people posting should attend is a compassion and sympathy class (or at least show some).
Some of these posts just go to show that although you may be in college and now feel yourself somehow annoited and educated and able to pass judgement, some are still truly children (and I know since I have 3 in college now). Your parents would be very proud if they knew you were now at this level, being all educated and the such. Why don't you go ahead and send them a link to your brilliant post? I am sure they will be proud to tell all of their friends how mature you are.
As a side note: To the immature "posters", I can't wait for the real world to catch up with you. Put on your flak jacket - You think it's tough in there, I will assure you that you haven't seen anything yet...
An honorable gesture by those who post drivel would be to step up to the plate and post an apology for being, quite frankly, childish asses. Your posts are neither funny nor witty. May you never have to suffer this kind of pain in your own life. If so, hopefully people will be more kind to you than you were to others.
To those with compassion, I know for a fact the family very much appreciates your kind words and thoughts as they try to cope with this.
My sympathies to the family and friends. And may Trey Rest In Peace.
Yesterday at 5:30am there was another suicide off the tall building on Waverly and Broadway. The person fell on the newsstand below and there is a chunk missing from the newsstand. This is not being reported for obvious reasons...