Help your favorite CCer. Berkeley or Cornell?

monydad
Sun, 09 May 2010 10:27:11 +0000

“…there is a high suicide rate associated with Cornell”

Note the careful phrasing, “associated with”, as opposed to “at”. Because, actually the rate over time there is not particularly high, notwithstanding the anomalous recent cluster.
[Hopkins suicide rate in line with national college trend - News](http://media.www.jhunewsletter.com/media/storage/paper932/news/2006/04/20/News/Hopkins.Suicide.Rate.In.Line.With.National.College.Trend-2242150.shtml)
[MIT Suicides Reflect National Trends - The Tech](http://tech.mit.edu/V120/N6/comp6.6n.html)

“Who knows why?”
Most published speculation is it is because of the dramatic and public nature of the suicides that do occur there, involving the gorges. though the actual rate there is not remarkable.

"Maybe its the ugly weather and the isolation of Ithaca or maybe just maybe it has bad juju. "

Ithaca’s weather and location were doubtlessly not materially different in 2005-2008 when there were no suicides there whatsoever, or over longer periods where the rate is below average. But maybe juju??? The weather is cold in winter, but I liked it the other seasons. It is spectacularly beautiful in the Fall. As for location, Ithaca is actually a very nice place to live. When one is “isolated” in a community together with 30,000 fellow students one is not really isolated, by their very presence.

"Suicide rises significantly in Fall 2009/Winter 2010 "
a tragic suicide cluster, something that unfortunately happens from time to time, all over, relating to publicity & copycat phenomena.

The fences were deemed necessary to interrupt the current cluster.

"Stay in sunny, lovely, beautiful California. "
I’ll give you sunny, but IMO, to me, Cornell is actually the more beautiful setting of the two. It is nestled within the gorges and nature, and Ithaca is ringed by state parks.