<p>I don’t think I’d have liked to have an automated system keeping track of me when I was a young adult and I can’t imagine my kids would want that either especially for a few days - it’s easy to go off the radar, leave campus, hand out off campus for several days or longer…not practical to “monitor” that tightly young adults. Also on many campuses it is mid-terms and kids are really focused on themselves more than what is happening around them or even what their friends are doing as it is the assumption that friends are “studying.” Agree that perhaps RAs could be alert when they don’t spot someone for awhile but I am not a believer in applying a process and system of monitoring the majority for the problems that are very much in the minority. It’s really sad when you hear of any suicide or drug overdose and it is very possible that this young man had neither and we will find that he had an aneurysm or something physical that was not preventable. </p>
<p>There’s a big difference between nobody noticing somebody had been MIA for a week, and people noting they haven’t seen their friend in a while without automatically jumping to the conclusion that they were dead in their dorm room-- who would think that? Even if they stop by to check on them-- they knock, no answer, okay must not be home! I can’t blame the school or this person’s friends for this… it happens and it’s easy to do, you never think of the worst thing that could happen first and if you do you’re an alarmist.</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is that he wasn’t missing until he was dead, and by then it didn’t matter if it took someone 5 minutes or 5 days to find him. It’s sad to think that he wasn’t found sooner but I don’t think this is a safety issue or that monitoring needs to be implemented. This sort of thing happens all over, not just on college campuses.</p>
<p>This sort of a situation happened at a school near me a few years ago. It didn’t take long for them to find her because of the smell because the dorms had the heat cranked so high, they called it “supercharged heat” in the trial. Really unfortunate and traumatic for everyone involved. But if she’d been found right away she’d still be dead.</p>
<p>Ema has posted my thoughts, what good would an alarm have done in this case? Ignore everything else wrong with the idea, in this situation all it would have done is have found him after 1 day instead of after however many days. Regardless if he was found 1 day after he died or 1 week, he’s still dead, it doesn’t make much difference. </p>
<p>Those poor parents.
Did anyone find a source for the suicide rate, yet?</p>
<p>^^^How do you know that? What if this young man didn’t die immediately…they haven’t released a cause. I hate to think that he could have been in the bed, incapacitated for several hours before he died, but we really have no way of knowing for certain. </p>
<p>Very sad. However, for some people, being found promptly after having collapsed unconscious could save their life (eg. diabetics, or depressed people who OD). I know a diabetic who collapsed with low blood sugar, was found in time and saved. And someone else who was found delerious and close to dying from an extremely rare infection, saved when concerned co-workers went to check up after a few days missed work. I doubt monitoring ID card swipes would help much in those cases, but I am wondering if there are any cell phone apps which could potentially help concerned parents to monitor students with health issues that place them at risk for this kind of thing.</p>
<p>From “missing residential student policy” at S’s school:
“For purposes of this policy, a student may be considered a “missing person” when he or she is
absent from the University for more than 24 hours without any known reason. A student may
also be deemed missing when his/her absence is contrary to his/her usual pattern of behavior
and/or unusual circumstances may have caused the absence. Such circumstances could
include, but not be limited to, a report or suspicion that the missing person may be the victim of
foul play, has expressed suicidal thoughts, is drug dependent, or has been with persons who
may endanger the student’s welfare.”
Students designate a contact person to be called if they are are reported missing.</p>
<p>I do worry if my s’s suitemates would report him missing if they didn’t see him. One had an apparent/serious issue recently, and the other two (including my S) ignored him/did not call for help. The “disconnect” between young people (especially young male roommates/neighbors) concerns me. Maybe I’m wrong, but young people don’t seem to socialize in same way as we did 30 years ago. It is too easy to “mind your own business,” “respect his privacy” or keep in the ear buds/focus on phone/computer and pretend not to notice what is happening next door. I know that these cases are rare, but I feel it is important for kids to look out for their neighbors and know what their usual schedule/pattern is. I think this is something that roommates should talk about and give each other their emergency contact info. just in case.</p>
<p>When D was in college, we couldn’t contact her for several days after a break and were worried that she hadn’t returned to campus.She lived in an apartment and we didn’t even know her roommates or how to contact them, so we had campus security check on her. (She was OK, her phone was dead. . .)</p>
<p>Card swipes are already recorded and certain incidents/patterns will be a “red flag.” I actually think it would be very cheap/simple/easy to pull up those whose cards haven’t been used in a certain period of time. But what to do with that info? Because most of the time there will be a reasonable explanation for the non-use of the card, so too many false alarms.</p>
<p>@atomom and other’s with college students: Do you really believe there is a disconnect with this generation or is this just a guy thing? </p>
<p>Clearly this is humor, but a case in point is the college roommate of Axl Heck. He never talks to Axl or leaves his computer. </p>
<p>Partly a guy thing, but due to new technology, it has become so much easier to tune out electronically and not be present to–or even acknowledge the existence of-- those around you. Yeah, imo it is worse now. </p>
<p>He was found on the floor of his room. Foul play and suicide have been ruled out. </p>
<p>It’s tragic, but it’s not clear that anything could have been done. We have to wait for them to release lab reports to know cause of death. </p>
<p>I knew a great guy who was a friend of a friend who one minute was walking down the street with friends, and the next minute dropped dead from a previously unknown aneurism. Another friend’s son died in college from a diabetic complication. One of my friends accidentally electrocuted himself. </p>
<p>Can’t blame the school or friends here. In any given population, some people will die unexpectedly. </p>
<p>These are all tragedies, but no blame needs to be assessed. </p>
<p>I hope the friends and family of Nicholas Barnes will find comfort in their memories of him. </p>
<p>I am a bit surprised by the feedback in this thread. I don’t find fault with the University of Chicago but it’s surprising to find that so many people believe that a week of unexplained silence (and no sight of) a college student is unremarkable. I am not talking about “a weekend excursion” to parts unknown. And Atomom’s information indicates that, at least officially, some colleges are concerned enough to take action when one of their resident students is unreachable for a pre-determined period of time.</p>
<p>And then how much time without activity would raise the red flag on these card swipes? All the scenarios that are being described are people who were sick or hurt for minutes or hours (not days) before dying, people who needed help immediately-- is a red flag supposed to be raised if you havent swiped your card in 12 hours? What if you’re on the floor having seizures or something ten minutes after walking into your dorm, at what point should the alarm be raised? It doesn’t make any sense, how can this be done in a way that would make any difference at all to someone in the midst of a medical crisis?</p>
<p>I’m sympathetic, because I think if I’d died in my dorm and I didn’t start to stink, it could have been weeks before anybody would have noticed I was missing. Nobody but my parents would have come looking for me. I just can’t come up with any practical or desirable way to prevent this, you aren’t talking about noticing a student has gone missing-- once they are missing there is nothing you can do, you are talking about being there the moment a medical crisis begins to intervene. Unless we start equipping students with heart rate monitors or something I see absolutely no way to feasibly do this. I imagine it’s a pretty rare situation that a student is trapped in a dorm dying but takes days upon days to die. Nobody notices they haven’t seen Johnny in 5 days while he’s been slowly dying in his dorm all that time-- and if you act now there’s still time to save him, so hurry! Are we really going to implement an extensive monitoring system just to track for that one very unlikely possibility?</p>
<p>He missed a week of class…why didn’t that absence raise any questions? I find it hard to believe that an upper division student would not be in classes small enough to raise concern if he didn’t show up.</p>
<p>At what point do you decide an absence isn’t just an absence, and how often is that point before someone would have died if they were in a medical emergency?</p>
<p>And think about it, my classes for example were almost always only twice a week. So, in a week, I would only have two absences in each class, and I’ve never had the same person in more than one of my classes at a time. After two absences do you expect a professor to call security? That’s a whole week of absences.</p>
<p>Even if the classes met every day, I could see thinking it a little odd after two or three absences, I would probably drop an email or stop by and knock on the door to see what’s up. If it were me, it would probably be another 2-3 days of non-response before I would start to worry something is really wrong, unless this is someone whos schedule I know so well that I normally would know where they are at any given time to know it is unusual they are not home when I stopped by. By then, you are at 5-6 days. I just don’t think this is that odd for someone who lives alone and doesn’t have roommates or family to come home and discover it. I see nothing that can be done to solve this “problem.”</p>
<p>If you’re not super good friends with the person that lives next door to you in your neighborhood, how many days would it take for you to notice you haven’t seen them in a while? What about a friend you only see once or twice a week? It’s easy to say, if I was in that situation I would of course know something was wrong and spring into action! But you wouldn’t, not in a matter of a few days.</p>
<p>There already are programs that can link one person to a friend or parent thru cell phone. If one had such a program installed, and noticed that they never left their dorm, then 1 could call the person or an RA or roommate. I just don’t see how a college can be responsible for this, especially as so many students live off campus. </p>
<p>I am surprised his parents didn’t text him, miss him, and ask for a sign of life.</p>
<p>Poor choice of words, but that is what many of us call it when we don’t hear from our kids for a few days and wonder what is up.</p>
<p>My point of posting this in the first place was that our society has become disconnect from face-to-face relationship building that would have prevented a situation like this. Even if he died instantly from “whatever” it is a disheartening that he laid there for so long. </p>
<p>I understand. I think back to being in college and remember that there were classes, but there were also folks I used to eat meals with, to hang out with, etc. Wouldn’t they have missed me? We were in the habit of seeing each other at certain times. And I’d think today when kids can text each other so quickly and get instant feedback, it would be even easier to figure out what happened to a missing friend. Wouldn’t someone have sent a text saying “missed you at lunch?”</p>
<p>I don’t know where you conclude that society has become disconnected from the face-to-face relationship building that would have prevented this situation. I think that’s romanticizing the past, looking through rose-colored glasses, whatever cliché you like.</p>
<p>There have always been loners and people who kept to themselves (and may have been perfectly happy doing so). There have always been people who had mental health issues leading to self-harm. There is absolutely nothing new here. It’s obviously all sad and unfortunate, but there’s no reason to believe today is more isolated. If anything, colleges do a heck of a lot more to create bonds in dorms and other small subgroups than they used to. </p>
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<p>I’m sorry, but do you have a son? If so, if he checks in with you every two or three days he is a <em>significant</em> exception from the norm.</p>
<p>I’m lucky if I hear from S once a month. And he actually likes me. :)</p>