(U-WIRE) NEW YORK — Police are investigating the death of an New York University student who fell from a University Place apartment building Saturday night.

Michelle Gluckman, a 19-year-old in the General Studies Program, fell at about 10 p.m. from a sixth-story window to the enclosed courtyard on the second floor of a non-NYU apartment building at 1 University Place, police said. She was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital, where she lay in critical condition until she died seven hours later.

The details surrounding the death remain unclear, but the police said Gluckman likely jumped and was not pushed. "There's no criminality involved," said Sgt. John Grimpel, a police spokesman.

Gluckman's death is the second at NYU in nine days and the third this semester. A College of Arts and Science freshman jumped to his death from the 10th floor of Bobst Library on Oct. 10, and a CAS junior leapt from the same floor of the library Sept. 12.

Gluckman's parents declined to comment on their daughter or her death, a spokesman for the family said.

"This is their agony and tragedy, and they would like to keep it that way," the spokesman said.

The medical examiner's office has not determined the cause of death and will be conducting an autopsy Monday, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner.

According to police sources, the death appears to have been a suicide.

Gluckman, who lived at Third Avenue North residence hall, was visiting friends at the apartment Saturday night when she fell.

A couple living in an apartment two doors away was at home that night when they heard commotion coming from the nearby apartment.

"We heard a lot of screaming," said the husband, who declined to give his name. "We were watching the Yankee game ... so we were sort of occupied. I saw what appeared to be something hanging out of the window."

He said he assumed the girls were "horseplaying" and "didn't think more of it" until he opened his door in curiosity and saw a girl coming toward him, saying, "She fell. We tried to stop her." His wife then followed the girls, whom he described as being "in a state of shock," into the apartment where she spoke with a 911 operator, he said.

Vice President for Student Affairs Marc Wais addressed the death in a university-wide email Sunday.

"We are all deeply saddened by this loss," Wais wrote. "Death always seems so out-of-place on a college campus, and it comes at a time when we are already dealing with recent tragedies."

Many students were jolted by the third student death in five weeks. Steinhardt School of Education freshman Rebecca Birmingham, who knew Stephen Bohler, the CAS freshman who jumped to his death at Bobst on Oct. 10, said she could not believe a third student had died.

"I just thought, 'Oh God, not again,'" Birmingham said. "I don't even know what the school can do about this. Something has to change. This obviously isn't a normal thing to happen."

Additional reporting by Xana O'Neill and Nils I. Palsson, deputy news editors

New York U. student dies after 5-story fall

— Kate Meyer