<p>ParentOfIvyHope: In the past I have defended you for being outspoken, even when deliberately provocative. However, this is beyond pathetic.</p>
<p>I know (perhaps others don’t) that the “Ivy” in your username refers to Yale. I know that you visited Yale with your wife and daughter when she was shopping for colleges. I know that you and your wife were uncomfortable with the ‘surroundings’ of Yale (I speculate that you saw a few black people, maybe a few homeless people). And so you told your daughter that she could not apply to what was her “Hope”, her first choice, Yale. And all that is fine with me. It is probably fine with your daughter too. MIT is a great school. And she seems to be a great kid.</p>
<p>But could you please just stop trying to keep validating your decision to prevent your daughter from applying to Yale? Last year, you were almost gleeful when you posted about how it was somehow Yale’s fault that a graduate student was murdered in a research lab (turns out, by a co-worker who commuted in from somewhere outside New Haven). And now today, the tragic death of this student means nothing to you except yet another opportunity to tell yourself how smart you were to not let your daughter apply to Yale. </p>
<p>POIH, the mindset of “maybe other places, but not to brilliant HYPSM students” is a dangerous one.</p>
<p>Heaven forbid a young girl starts dating a boy from one of these schools and he physically abuses her. Would you say “that couldn’t possibly be, he is a HYPSM student”? Would you consider it more conceivable in a student from a “lesser school”? Why or why not?</p>
<p>Let’s hope that this tragic and senseless death causes schools to reevaluate their safety polices, causes parents to remind their children about the omnipresent dangers that loom behind simple activities, and finally causes students to realize that many of the irritating and stifling rules came from reactions to tragic accidents. </p>
<p>If that happens, the loss of this amazing young person might have a silver lining for … others who will follow. Of course, that would be an extremely small consolation for her parents and loved ones.</p>
<p>Hi Everyone. Wow. When I started engaging POIH early this morning, I never knew four meetings later that this would have mushroomed into an elitist debate. I really don’t know what to say except that in the end, no matter where fault lies, if any, a beautiful young woman lost her life today. She was a daughter, a friend, a co-worker, a student and a human being. I feel confident that when she is eulogized, her friends and family will celebrate her life, her laughter, her bonds of friendship and love. She will more than likely not be labeled a “Ivy League” student by those who love her, but a lover of education, science and life. For most people institutes of higher learning mold them but don’t define them. To hold Yale to a different standard than little college ABC, or to even think for a minute that little college ABC’s students are any less valued is a pretty twisted concept.</p>
<p>And JMO, I didn’t think she was alone in the lab, because since the facility was a secured facility, someone had to have called 911. I feel confident that it was not the student that was killed making the call.</p>
<p>And about the, “I can’t even imagine that happening at my own student’s university” is the exact denial that was probably the catalyst in this situation. Accidents, alcohol poisoning, rape, assault, etc, are everywhere in the USA. Nowhere do elite college advertise they educate in a bubble. Life has twists and turns that are tragic, random and know no socioeconomic boundaries.</p>
<p>Before I went to medical school I got my undergraduate degree in Astronomy. Actually, Astronomy can be a particularly dangerous subject to major in when you are taking lab courses. You have to be up late at night since that is when the stars come out, you are working in almost total darkness because you can not have any lights on in the observatory when you are observing and telescopes, their mountings and observatory dome doors are very massive and are constantly moving. In addition, late at night there are no faculty members or TAs on site for supervision and often there are only undergraduates present. While this tragic accident did not take place in an observatory, if it had, it would not be the first time an astronomer was accidentally killed by the ponderous automated equipment they were working with.</p>
<p>Years ago, an acquaintance had his long hair caught in a tractor’s spinning power take-off (PTO), which is not unlike the spindle on a lathe. He was badly maimed but not killed. Today, farm tractors can be equipped with a plastic safety shield around the PTO shaft. I keep one on my own equipment, even though it complicates maintenance (and would be tempting to remove).</p>
<p>With a wood or metal lathe, the object that is being tooled is the major spinning component. The cutting tool (and indirectly, the user) must make contact with the piece in order to accomplish the task. So there is no escaping the need for training, personal safety precautions, and constant attention by the user. Even with all that, there will always be some accident for every N hours of use. This can happen to responsible, trained, and highly motivated users who push themselves to keep working after they get tired.</p>
<p>But it could happen to the ignorant inferior buffoons at Brown, Columbia, Penn, Dartmouth, or Cornell? Ye gods, it’s amazing that anyone remains alive amongst the inferior masses at the likes of U Va, the U of C, U Mich, Berkeley, Duke, et al!</p>
<p>My younger S had to go through a shop safety class to be able to work on set construction for the school musical.</p>
<p>Clearly this was a tragic accident and I’m sure a lot of schools and departments will be reminding students of safety protocols. That may be little comfort to this young woman’s family and friends. </p>
<p>But to imply that some lives are more valuable than others…nope. Just can’t go there.</p>
<p>What a tragic, tragic accident. To me the fact that is was Yale as opposed to xyz college or xyz company is incidental. It concerns me also that she was in a lab using this type of equipment at, I think it said 2:30 AM.</p>
<p>We were always afraid that DS could get into trouble in late nite machinery work. He said that there is someone else in the machine room also, ???.</p>
<p>At one time, during DS stay at CMU, he could do machine work on a project but that changed to outside machine/fabrication- one off stuff. </p>
<p>I hated that PTO guard. Took mine off because it always got in the way when I disconnected. I always turned off the motor when I dismounted. Those tires always intimidated me in believing I could be under them, if I didn’t kill the engine and set the brake, and gears engaged.</p>
<p>Aside from the fact the student may not have followed safety protocol, Yale’s possible liability will hinge on whether such an accident was reasonably preventable.</p>
<p>Was there another person in the machine shop at the time of the accident? For instance most machine shops require that at least two people be present at all times to reduce the likelihood of serious accidents. The other person may not need to work on the same project but is available to hit a kill switch or help remove the person from the equipment in case of an accident. Somebody obviously called 911, but that could have been hours after the accident when the student was discovered. </p>
<p>How come the machine shop was open at 2 AM? It is likely that no trained technicians were available to assist students at that time as would most likely be present during regular hours. How did the student get the keys to the facility? Was there any special policy regarding operations outside regular hours? </p>
<p>Are students actively encouraged to work long hours on projects despite the obvious increased risks from sleep deprivation? This could be akin to situation of a few years ago when medical residents routinely worked 40 hour stretches endangering the safety of their patients and their own. Even if extreme working hours were just tolerated as opposed to encouraged, the university could find itself liable for contributory negligence. </p>
<p>The student was apparently familiar with the equipment and was allowed to work on it despite the risk posed by her long hair. Had she been reprimanded before for not putting her hair in a bun as safety measures would require or was this the first time she had her hair down? The extent to which the university actively enforced their safety regulations will be major issue. If their enforcement was lax, it will again be a case of negligence. </p>
<p>In the end OSHA’s inspection will shed some light on the circumstances of the accident. A friend who used to work for OSHA told me that unfortunately many of their regulations were written in blood as a result of horrific accidents that were often preventable!</p>
<p>A few years ago a MIT student tragically fell from his frat house window to his death. Do you think, POIH, that the frat house should have posted a large sign with big red letters that said “DON’T STAND NEAR THE OPEN WINDOW”?
<p>Red Dinosaur posted this earlier in the thread and it makes a serious point.</p>
<p>I teach engineering in a shop/lab room. Statistically, most accident victims in the shop are “seasoned” students. Newbies have an inherent, healthy level of fear that keeps them safe. They’re very aware of where their fingers are and often police each other when it comes to safety rules. </p>
<p>Older and more experienced students feel much more comfortable and tend to lose sight of those basic safety procedures. In 100% of cases, it’s a lapse in judgement that leads to an accident.</p>
<p>I asked, and he knows a couple of chem profs at Yale. He was curious as to why the article says it took place in a chemistry lab if it was really a machine shop in the chemistry building.</p>
<p>My only real question is the safety of students working in a machine shop at 230 am. Tiredness on the job around heavy machinery is a huge cause of accidents.</p>
<p>Other than that, I’m sure her professors are heartbroken. By the time a student is allowed in the building whenever they want access, they are usually very well known and well trusted. I feel terribly for all involved, particularly the family.</p>
<p>In a similar vein, a founder of a very successful specialty manufacturing company once told me that, in his opinion, the workers most likely to be injured by machinery were usually his best employees. They were committed to the production goals and tended to behave in ways that put safety behind achieving the objective at hand.</p>
<p>I also thought Red Dinosaur’s post earlier was very good.</p>
<p>I agree with a lot of the speculation on this thread that there may have been a lapse in basic safety protocol. I keep trying to post something along those lines and it just reads too much like I’m blaming the victim.</p>
<p>In the end accidents happen even when people are careful and no one can be vigilant all the time. The legacy for this accomplished young woman will be what she did with a life that was tragically cut short and I suspect it will be a very enviable legacy.</p>
<p>“But it could happen to the ignorant inferior buffoons at Brown, Columbia, Penn, Dartmouth, or Cornell? Ye gods, it’s amazing that anyone remains alive amongst the inferior masses at the likes of U Va, the U of C, U Mich, Berkeley, Duke, et al!”</p>
<p>Consolation, one of the many perks of HYPSM is that you don’t have to bring ponytail holders, band-aids or acne cream, because HYPSM is so perfect in every way that you’ll never have a bad hair day, get a blister or a pimple. It’s true! In fact, you don’t even need an umbrella. You won’t ever experience rain.</p>
<p>I think it is a machine shop in the chemistry department. If I am not mistaken, people are guided through that area during the sciences tour. I kind of remember our guide speaking glowingly of the machine shop ‘GUY’ who can come up with all kinds of contraptions that the researchers needed and students got training in during their first year.</p>