Within its recent history, New York University (NYU) has seen an unprecedented number of student suicides. Never before has the phenomenon of contagion been so prevalent among the undergraduate population or as feared by the administration. In contrast to the three reported deaths within the first sixty-six years of the school’s suicide timeline (“Gained 105”, 1930; “N.Y.U. Student”, 1950, Arenson, 2003), the NYU community has experienced nine student suicides since 2003 (Healy, 2003; Arenson, 2003; Tavernise, 2003; Arenson, 2004a; O‘Brien, 2004; Collins, 2004; Baker, 2005; Burke & Grace, 2007; Chung, 2007; Gendar & White, 2007). The method of choice for six out of nine deceased students was death by jumping from buildings.

According to a New York State Office of Mental Health (NYSOMH) report, “a number of suicide clusters, usually involving jumping from heights, has been reported on college campuses” (2005, p. 67), NYU receiving official recognition for clusters alongside Cornell University (NYSOMH, 2005). The report also draws attention to the media’s role in spreading contagion in young people. Adolescents are more likely to be affected by the copy-cat syndrome if the death of a young person is highly publicized. Students already contemplating suicide who are exposed to the media attention of previous student deaths are most at risk (NYSOMH, 2005).

The extreme media coverage of NYU’s plight, which has taken forms ranging from a documentary titled The NYU Suicides (Strange, 2005) to the shockingly distasteful photograph of a student falling to her death on the front page of the New York Post (2004), coupled with the university’s high statistic on students who experience depression, anxiety, stress, and low self-esteem makes NYU a suicide breeding ground. In a 2004 self-study report, NYU states that 74% of its freshman felt things were hopeless, 97% felt overwhelmed by all they had to do, 41% felt academics suffered as a result of stress, 95% felt exhausted (from other than physical activity), 90% felt very sad, 58% felt so depressed that it was difficult to function, and 16% seriously considered attempting suicide one or more times throughout the 2003-4 school year.

To respond to the issue of student suicide, NYU has implemented several strategies ranging from expanding the university counseling services to building physical barriers in “high-risk” areas. In 2003, after the first two students jumped from the 10^th floor of Bobst Library, emergency counseling and extended weekend hours were among the first approaches (Arenson, 2003), as well as erecting eight-foot-tall plexiglass walls around the balconies of the library atrium. In addition to physically barring students from certain places, NYU has a history of using guards to keep an eye on students in or around “suspicious” vicinities. As the plexiglass walls were being erected at Bobst, NYU security guards were used as watchmen in the library, and in 2007, the same method was employed for roof tops (Afridi, 2004; Chang, 2007; Dover, 2007; “Officers guarding”, 2007).

After the string of suicides in 2003-4 ending with Joanne M. Leavy, who jumped from the Tisch building, the Wellness Exchange hotline was created for students to have access to therapy services after hours (Arenson, 2004b). In March 2005, the university announced further plans to prevent suicide by restricting balcony access on two high rise dorms, Carlyle Court and Coral Towers (Arenson, 2005). The most recent responses besides posting guards on residential and select educational buildings have been to install magnetic doors that will remain locked at all times except in cases of emergency on all roof access entry ways (Chang, 2007; “Officers guarding”, 2007) and a renewed attention to Wellness Exchange hotline (Timm, Aragon, & Hasnain, 2007).

Additionally, the university states another intervention and treatment method concerning the alarming mental health statistics in their Self-Study Report (2004).

“Medication therapy, once a peripheral aspect of college mental health, has moved front and center. Prescriptions rose 39% last year [2003] and have tripled since 1997-1998, most notably for anti-anxiety medications (up 72%) and anti-psychotics (up 173%). UCS [University Counseling Services] medicated approximately 750 students, about one in five who came to the clinic. An increase in prescriptions may require more health professionals trained in psychiatric assessment and psychoparmacotherapy. Securing permanent funding for an additional psychiatric position is a high budgetary priority for UCS (annual report, 2002-2003)” (p.100).

We, at the Environmental Health Clinic, recognize the university’s efforts to address the problem at an internal level. Yet, despite the increase in use of counseling services and prescription medication (NYU, 2004), student safety is not guaranteed by these measures as clearly demonstrated by the more recent deaths since the 2004 report. Ultimately, the university cannot control students’ mental health; even limited efforts to ensure well-being come under searing attack by students for their right to choose. For example, involuntary leave of absences have been controversial and often a subject of dispute from the student body. However, what the university can control is the design of the environment in which they live and study. Our proposed solution to NYU’s suicide crisis is preventive design for impulse suicide, in line with our external approach to health as a shared experience within a community.

As stated in the NYSOMH report and other college mental health reports, removing risk from prime suicide areas is an effective way to inhibit impulse suicide (2005). The specific focus on roof space puts forth an effort to recreate our relationship to this “high risk” area. However, the campus officials’ militarized, roof lock-down response to the recent string of suicides, banning even academics conducting research on the roofs, is a rather unfortunate attempt to secure students’ bodies¾ it ignores the tremendous psychological and environmental benefits that could be experienced from reclaiming roof space as an area utilized for promotion of biodiversity and life rather than invoking feelings of fear and death.

The proposed garden schemes are not intended to give the student body access to building tops, but are designed to increase the level of building safety. With the use of a particular billowy cloth to surround the garden, jumping from the building would be nearly impossible as the fabric cannot be lifted or climbed. Moreover, the green roof’s composition of plants would maximize environmental benefits, primarily as habitat for urban wildlife and as catchers of storm water, which would have numerous positive impacts on our metropolitan setting. Creating a habitat for urban animals gives the university a chance to utilize more creative therapy methods.

Animal assisted therapy has, for a long time, been a simply constructed program of companion animals and the target group. However, newer models of wildlife therapy have been evolving recently. Several studies have shown that proximity to plants and animals has positive psychological and physiological properties, especially in an urban environment. During this time of tragedy and fear, the NYU community could use the healing effects of nature as opposed to the repressive connotations of the institution’s past design responses.

References

(1930, January 31). Gained 105 Pounds, N.Y.U. Girl Ends Life. New York Times, pp. 23. Retrieved March 8, 2008 from http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:2082/pqdweb?index=0&did=96044966&SrchMode=1&sid =2&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=120529611 2&clientId=9269. (1950, January 4). N.Y.U. Student is Dead. New York Times, pp. 7. Retrieved March 8, 2008 from http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:2082/pqdweb?index=34&did=86981809&SrchMode=1&si d=4&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=12052963 24&clientId=9269.

Afridi, H. (2004, March 21). Taking Refuge Behind Glass Walls. New York Times, section 14, pp.3.

Arenson, K. (2003, October 21). At N.Y.U., Not All Want to Talk About Deaths, but Reminders Are Never Far Away. New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2008 from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A06E2DC1E3EF932A15753C1A9659 C.

Arenson, K. (2004a, March 10). Suicide of N.Y.U. Student, 19, Brings Sadness and Questions. New York Times, pp. B2

Arenson, K. (2004b, September 10). N.Y.U. Sets Up a Hot Line After a Series of Suicides. New York Times, pp. B7.

Arenson, K. (2005, March 30). After Suicides, N.Y.U. Will Limit Access to Balconies. New York Times, pp. B2.

Baker, A. (2005, November 26). After Samsung Reports Accident, Painful Details of Suicide Emerge. New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2008 from http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:2510/2005/11/26/nyregion/26crash.html?pagewanted=1&_ r=1.

Burke K., & Grace, M. (2007, September 23). NYU freshman commits suicide, dies from 15- story jump. Daily News. Retrieved March 8, 2008 from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/09/23/2007-09- 23_nyu_freshman_commits_suicide_dies_from_1.html

Chung, J. (2007, November 12). Apparent NYU Student Suicide in Downtown Dorm. Gothamist. Retrieved March 8, 2008 from http://gothamist.com/2007/11/12/apparent_nyu_st.php.

Collins, G. (2004, September 7). N.Y.U. Student Is Killed in Fall at Tisch School. New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2008 from http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/07/nyregion/07jump.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewan ted=print&position=.

Dover, S. (2007, October 25). Roof duty continues for guards: widespread rumor said shifts would end Oct. 22. Washington Square News. Retrieved March 8, 2008 from http://media.www.nyunews.com/media/storage/paper869/news/2007/10/25/News/Roof- Duty.Continues.For.Guards-3055963.shtml.

Gendar, A., & White, M. (2007, November 21). NYU student left note before killing himself: cops. Daily News. Retrieved March 8, 2008 from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/11/13/2007-11- 13_nyu_student_left_note_before_killing_him.html.

Healy, P. (2003, October 20). N.Y.U. Student’s Fatal Plunge Appears to Be Another Suicide. New York Times, pp. B3.

(2004, March 10). Death plunge No. 4: NYU’s grief. New York Post, front cover.

New York State Office of Mental Health (2005). Saving Lives in New York: Suicide Prevention and Public Health (Volume 2, Approaches and Special Populations). New York: Government Printing Office.

New York University (2004). Self-Study Report on Undergraduate Education for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. New York: New York University.

O’Brien, E. (2004, March 17-23). N.Y.U. copes with another student suicide. The Villager, 73(46).

Strange, A. (Director). (2005). The NYU Suicides [Motion picture]. USA: CustomFlix.

Tavernise, S. (2003, October 26). In College and in Despair, With Parents in the Dark. New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2008 from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E6DD1031F935.

Timm, J., Aragon, D., & Hasnain, Z. (2007, December 5). Some callers: NYU mental health hotline ineffective. Washington Square News. Retrieved March 8, 2008 from http://media.www.nyunews.com/media/storage/paper869/news/2007/12/05/UniversityNe ws/Some-Callers.Nyu.Mental.Health.Hotline.Ineffective-3133137.shtml.

Washington Square News Editorial Board (2007, October 17). Officers guarding roofs is flawed. Washington Square News. Retrieved March 8, 2008 from http://media.www.nyunews.com/media/storage/paper869/news/2007/10/17/Opinion/Offic ers.Guarding.Roofs.Is.Flawed-3037035.shtml.

National Suicide Strategy and Surgeon General  “call to action” http://www.hopes-wi.org/Resources/NtlStrategy.htm#goal11

http://www.hopes-wi.org/Strategy/index.htm

http://www.hopes-wi.org/Resources/calltoaction.htm

According to the a Natural Resources Defense Council press release, more than 27 billion gallons of raw sewage and polluted storm water discharge out of 460 combined sewer overflows into New York Harbor annually. New York City’s outdated sewer system can overload with as little as one-tenth of an inch of rain, causing combined sewage from buildings with dirty storm water from streets to overflow in the harbor (2008). Sustainable urban infrastructure design can help alleviate our rivers from pollution of this magnitude. A study by Moran et al. (2005) states that green roofing can relieve up to 60% of all rainwater leaving the roof (as cited in Snodgrass & Snodgrass, 2006, p. 21).

In addition to helping clean our waterways and allowing animals to re-inhabit the rivers, green roofs can also promote biodiversity inside our otherwise concrete jungle. With carefully selected plants, green roofs create habitat for the city’s native fauna which go well beyond the expected list of squirrels, rats, and pigeons. For example, New York City is on the migratory route for nearly 90 different species of butterflies (Zirlin & Ingraham, 1997). By planting specifically for their reproductive and dietary needs, we can show a little hospitality to our yearly guests and encourage the butterflies to take a break on their long journeys up and down the East Coast.

 butterfly spreadsheet

Powers, J. (2008, January 30). New York City to Clean Up Waterways by Greening Roadways and Roofs. Natural Resources Defense Council Media Center Press Release. Retrieved March 6, 2008, from http://www.nrdc.org/media/2008/080130.asp.

Snodgrass, E.C., & Snodgrass, L.L. (2006). Green Roof Plants: A Resource and Planting Guide. Portland, OR: Timber Press Inc.

Zirlin, H., & Ingraham, J. (1997). Not Rotten to the Core: Butterflies of the Big Apple. Retrieved January 15, 2008 from http://www.naba.org/pubs/ab97c/p4.html