Appalachian State University has broadened its counseling services as part of an aggressive campaign to address the deaths of nine enrolled students since September.
Two full-time and two part-time professional counselors have been added this year, and two more part-time counselors will be hired soon, the university said Friday.
Counseling center hours have been expanded, and students have been reminded that therapists are on call around-the-clock for those in crisis.
For the picturesque campus of 18,000 that hugs a mountainside in Boone, this school year has been one of serial mourning.
Three deaths, including that of a recent dropout, have been ruled suicides. Another was from an overdose of oxymorphone, the state medical examiner said Friday. Four enrolled students died in auto accidents, and the cause of death is pending in two other cases.
App State says the ninth enrolled student, who died off campus during this spring semester, has not been identified at the request of next of kin. Police say foul play is not suspected in any of the cases.
Although the number seems high for a population in the prime of their lives, it is only slightly ahead of total deaths in the previous two years, according to the Office of Student Development. In the 2012-13 academic year, there were eight student deaths; in 2013-14, there were seven, university spokeswoman Jane Nicholson said Friday.
But the year began with a high-profile case that put Appalachian State in the media spotlight and raised sensitivity to succeeding cases. Anna Marie Smith, an 18-year-old freshman from High Point with a history of depression, disappeared three weeks into the fall semester, triggering a massive hunt that went on for 11 days through the western highlands before her body was found in woods just off campus with a suicide note.
While the search was going on, another student told police that she had been abducted and brutally raped while walking near Appalachian’s football stadium. That report intensified media attention, though university police later determined the rape report was a hoax.
For Americans in the 15-24 age range, accidents are the leading cause of death, followed by homicide then suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
November suicides
In a statement, ASU Chancellor Sheri Everts said that more than 1,000 students, parents, faculty and staff have received in-person and online suicide prevention training this year through the university.
“Loss of a family member, a friend, a classmate or a community member you didn’t know is a personal journey, one that can be very difficult,” she said in a message shared with parents and alumni Friday. “There are some circumstances you will not know; please understand that the professionals who are in contact with affected families are diligently working to provide them with the answers they need.”
Three in the App State community, including the dropout, died within a two-week span in November.
Kristin Freeman, 23, who had dropped out and was attending community college, was found hanging by a scarf from a closet door in her off-campus bedroom.
Five days later, the body of Jeremy Sprinkle, 18, was found in a locked dormitory bathroom, dead of asphyxiation from a strap tied to a handrail. Sprinkle had a history of depression and had attempted suicide a year earlier, the medical examiner said.
Five days after that, Grayson Huffman, 22, was found dead in his apartment. On Friday, the medical examiner ruled that Huffman died of a drug overdose after a night of drinking with friends, who said he had seemed to be in an altered mental state. His body was found kneeling next to his bed; a razor and white powder were found on the glass of a framed picture nearby.
“At Appalachian, we will not choose to define these students by a number, or by a cause of death,” said Everts, who is in her first year leading the university. “We have learned about unique contributions each person brought to our community, and the legacies they leave are all as individual as they were. Each person should be remembered for the contributions they made in life.”
Finding solace together
On Thursday night, a campus meeting to discuss the year’s deaths attracted more than 200 people.
J.J. Brown, dean of students, told the gathering that alumni have been contacting him.
“They know from their experiences that life is full of challenges, and many of them faced significant challenges while a student as well. As alumni, they benefited from faculty and staff who mentored them through difficult times … At times they had to dig deep, and learn how to be resilient in navigating life’s road of potholes and barricades,” he said.
Carson Rich, the student government president, also spoke, saying it was important for members of the ASU community to face up to the situation and continue talking about it.
“I promise you, as strange as this may sound, something good is going to come from this,” Rich said. “We are being forged on an anvil of adversity for a purpose we may not understand for a good while, but I guarantee it was not for nothing.”
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