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ithaca
| 5/26/2010 3:49:00 PM Email this article • Print this article |
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A student walks across the Thurston Street bridge, which has chain link fencing up as a temporary barrier beyond the railings already in place. (Photo by Rachel Philipson) |
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Ithaca committee hears proposal to extend temporary suicide barriers
Joseph Murtagh
Reporter
Earlier this year, Cornell University was rocked by a wave of campus suicides that prompted the university's mental health director, Timothy Marchell, to declare that Cornell had a "public health crisis" on its hands.
The university implemented several measures to deal with the crisis, one of which was seeking permission from the city of Ithaca to install temporary chain-link fences on the bridges near the Cornell campus to discourage students from leaping into the gorges. Using the authority granted to her under city law to act unilaterally in the event of an emergency, Mayor Carolyn Peterson approved the temporary fences in late March, with a removal date of June 4.
But now Cornell wants the deadline extended. Peterson, uncomfortable with acting on her own this time, requested that the proposal be brought before the Common Council's Planning and Economic Development Committee. At the its meeting last week, the committee heard from Susan Murphy, Cornell's vice president for student and academic services, who gave a wide-ranging presentation on the logistics of suicide prevention.
Citing scientific data and expert opinion, Murphy explained that the idea of "means restriction" was emerging as a best practice in the field of suicide prevention. Suicide tends to be an impulsive act, she pointed out, and numerous studies have shown that restricting access to commonly used methods can dramatically reduce overall suicide rates. Earlier in the meeting, the committee also heard from Richard Driscoll, director of Development at the Suicide Prevention and Crisis Services, who spoke of the importance of creating an "opportunity barrier" for those contemplating suicide.
Murphy warned that, thanks to the broad national media coverage of the Cornell suicides, the phrase "gorging out" is no longer limited to the Cornell campus.
"Cornell risks becoming a suicide destination," she said.
Murphy also noted that Cornell has a large body of undergraduate and graduate students who are in Ithaca during the summer.
For these reasons, Cornell is requesting that the temporary chain-link fences stay in place beyond the June 4 deadline, while the city and the university work together to find more attractive barriers, which they hope could be installed by the end of the summer.
All five of the committee members admitted that they were originally opposed to the fences on aesthetic grounds, but that after examining the evidence, they had changed their minds.
Eric Rosario, I-2nd, said that, while he supported extending the deadline, he hoped that a permanent solution would eventually emerge that would be a bit more "aesthetically-pleasing."
Murphy reiterated Cornell's commitment to working with the city to find an agreeable solution.
Councilman Joel Zumoff, D-3rd, asked who would pay for the fences, the city or Cornell, to which Murphy replied that, while she couldn't commit to anything at present, Cornell was willing to have "an open and honest conversation about that."
Overall, the committee seemed open to the possibility of extending the deadline and debate centered on the best way to move a resolution forward. To that end, the committee agreed that the issue should be brought before the full Common Council at its next meeting, 6 p.m. June 2 in City Hall, 108 E. Green St.
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