Rumors spread after 9 students die at University of Southern California, leaders say
Administrators at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles are trying to tamp down rumors and speculation after an alarming number of deaths at the school this semester.
Nine students have died this school year, with the latest fatality coming Monday afternoon when a 27-year-old student was discovered dead at an off-campus apartment, according to the Los Angeles Times, which reports that the nine students “died between late August and early November.”
The number of deaths so far this semester eclipses the total number last year. Sarah Van Orman, the private university’s chief health officer, said six students died during the last academic year and six died the year prior, while “twelve students passed away during the 2016-17 academic year and four during the 2015-16 academic year,” according to the Daily Trojan, USC’s student newspaper.
“I’ve been acquaintances with at least four of the students who passed away,” said USC senior Nicole Ricken, according to City News Service. “One of them was one of my closest friends.”
City News Service reported that “causes of death for all nine students vary and include suicide.”
University leaders sought to quell speculation about the deaths with a letter to the campus community over the weekend.
“People are searching for answers and information as we attempt to make sense of these terrible losses,” President Carol Folt wrote. “There is a great deal of speculation about the causes of these deaths and most are being attributed to suicide. This is not correct. These tragic losses have resulted from a number of different causes.”
Officials said three of the deaths were suicides, according to the Times. Officials blamed “apparent overdoses and accidents” in other deaths, KTLA reports.
“We have no reason to think that the others were suicide,” Van Orman said, according to the Daily Trojan report that was published before the death on Monday.
One death, just days before school started, involved an incoming freshman “hit and killed on the 110 Freeway while walking between two FasTrak lanes,” the Times reported.
“Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the families and friends of those we have lost,” Folt wrote. “We will continue to work tirelessly to address these losses and do all that we can to improve wellness for our students and our entire community.”
Folt went on to write in the Nov. 9 letter that “in some cases the cause of death is still undetermined, and in others the loved ones do not want details disclosed.”
But that’s left lingering questions on campus.
“Students are pleading for answers from the university,” said Natalie Bettendorf, the USC student who wrote the Daily Trojan article on the deaths, according to the Times. “There’s a sense of desperation from within the student body. There have been too many deaths and not enough answers.”
School officials said they’re trying not to overshare.
“It’s not that we want to hide it, but we also don’t want to repeatedly send information to too many people who, maybe it isn’t in their community,” said Van Orman, per the Daily Trojan. “We want the people who are close to that person to have that information without the risk and the harm that it creates because of the large number of people in our community.”
There were a total of 47,500 students enrolled at USC last year, including 20,000 undergraduates, according to university figures.
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Rumors spread after 9 students die at University of Southern California, leaders say."
