(U-WIRE) NEW YORK — "Death always seems so out of place on a college campus..." read a mass e-mail sent out Sunday by New York University's Student Affairs Office following the third student death at NYU in the last month. Each death has been initially labeled a "suicide," though some university statements have since been retracted or altered to "under investigation."

Columbia University, meanwhile, has not experienced a student suicide in nearly two years; however, six Columbia U. students committed suicide between January 2000 and December 2001.

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds, according to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and the U.S. Surgeon General. And while studies have shown that the suicide rate for college students is only half that of their unenrolled college-aged peers, suicide is the second leading cause of death of college students, making it more than just a blip on a college's health radar.

Most of the conflicting publicity relating to NYU's student deaths has surrounded two apparent suicides inside the school's library.

A 20-year-old male junior died on Sept. 12 after a fall from a balcony inside Elmer Holmes Bobst Library. On Oct. 10 — less than a month later — an 18-year-old male freshman died after a fatal fall in the same library. Though a University e-mail designated the second death a suicide, rippling rumors suggest rambunctiousness led to an unintended fall.

Last Saturday night, a third NYU student was found dead. The 19-year-old female sophomore fell from the sixth-floor window of a building near campus. The New York Times said that the most recent death is under investigation; The New York Post called it a suicide.

Dr. Richard Eichler, director of Counseling and Psychological Services at Columbia, said that it is sometimes impossible to classify a death a suicide. Many suicides are not labeled as such and many other deaths are wrongly called suicides, he said. In addition, sometimes families do not want circumstances of a student's death released.

In response to the second library death, NYU is installing Plexiglas windows around the low metal railing of the inner balconies on each of the building's 12 floors.

As the university scrambles to suicide-proof its library, "Public Safety Officers" have been guarding the atrium on each floor above the third. The balconies were off-limits this week, restricted by temporary barriers. In the next few weeks, permanent barriers will be finished and the balconies will be reopened, according to an NYU spokesman.

Some students see the barriers as "overkill," or a sad reminder of the deaths, and some say NYU is constructing them in order to address public relations concerns. But Adam Nilsen disagrees.

Nilsen, a first year student of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at NYU, was on the ninth floor of the library and witnessed the second student death.

"The Plexiglas is absolutely necessary," he said.

Jenny Taitz, an NYU senior who has worked on suicide hotlines such as 1-800-SUICIDE, said that from her hotline experience counseling those with immediate thoughts of suicide, "It is important to make sure there are no lethal means," such as low balcony rails. "A situation could thwart someone from completing an impulse."

The proximity of the deaths has prompted some to suspect suicide contagion, or "copycat" attempts.

"The fact that the second suicide occurred on the same day of the week, at about the same time of day, and on the same floor of the library [as the first] makes me suspicious," said Sarah Riedel, an NYU junior, in an e-mail. After the first suicide, Riedel wrote a letter to NYU's student newspaper, The Washington Square News, urging tasteful coverage and journalistic integrity.

Nilsen added that while the coincidental facts are "striking," it doesn't mean that the two suicides are at all connected.

Eichler recognized that suicides happen in clusters, but pointed out that those at risk had warning signs before and were simply set off by the reports of other suicides.

"'Copycat' is what you say when someone buys the same shoes as someone else. When there's a tragedy you need to sympathize instead of label," Taitz said.

Columbia and NYU have different approaches to counseling services, but there are a number of underlying similarities.

Eichler said that like most major universities, the services offered at Columbia are meant to be short-term. While provisions can be made to obtain outside help afterward, students generally see Columbia counselors for a short period of time.

But, Eichler added, "We are not going to abandon a student in crisis."

Columbia students who have committed suicide generally did not previously seek treatment from CPS, he said.

NYU's counseling office has a policy to cap student visits, according to one student formerly enrolled in counseling services there. A student may meet with a counselor 20 times while at NYU, but only 12 times in a row, according to the student, who declined to give her name.

"I have a pretty low opinion of our counseling services," she said. The student added that, from her experience, off-campus psychology was more than a student budget allowed.

Like NYU, Columbia provides limited yet flexible counseling sessions — up to eight in a row, compared to 12 at NYU. Columbia counseling options also include Nightline, a peer-led hotline.

Taitz, the NYU student who has worked on suicide hotlines, knows about the hotline at Columbia and others at other schools. She is working to establish a comparable crisis hotline at NYU that would include suicide counseling. After the recent deaths, she wrote a letter to the The Washington Square News calling for the creation of such a hotline. She also sent letters to the Office of the President and the Office of Community Services.

"NYU would benefit from a peer-led hotline," she wrote, "especially in the wake of such tragedies — and more importantly to prevent future ones." Currently, the NYU counseling office refers students to a non-local, professional line.

Depression is common among college students, especially those that abuse drugs and alcohol. Some students think NYU may foster more isolation than other schools because of its unique layout and non-campus feel.

"If you aren't originally from New York City, coming to NYU requires a lot more adjustment than you might go through at a 'regular' university. The size of the student body, as well as the city population itself, can be intimidating," Riedel said.

"The rate here is well below what you'd expect," said Eichler, the director of CPS at Columbia, though that "doesn't mean it's any less tragic."

— Josie Swindler