Photo by Pat Christman
Scenes from a difficult year at MSU: A wreath adorned a fence near the site where student Kevin Szarzynski took his life.
MANKATO — No one needs to teach the folks in the Minnesota State University community about loss.
After three students died in a traffic crash, two took their own lives, one died from meningitis and another — a student-aged visitor who didn't attend MSU — died in a tragic fall from a campus-area balcony, they're quite used to shock. All too familiar with loss.
Such a year has a definite impact on campus. And as new students show up in droves this summer for orientation sessions, the university is busy reminding them there are places to go for help for both students and parents.
"We talk about that stuff anyway," says Joel Johnson, director of MSU's First Year Experience program. "We've been doing that for years."
Communication is a huge part of the message the university tries to send to not only students but also their parents. In fact, when students come for orientation, there is a separate program entirely for parents, and it is filled almost exclusively with information they can use to help their students succeed or, if need be, to get help.
Photo by John Cross
Scenes from a difficult year at MSU: Students last fall mourned threeengineering students who were killed in a car crash.
Parental involvement, actually, is far different than what it used to be. Ten or 15 years ago, the number of parents insisting on being completely in the know about everything going on in their children's lives during college was small. Today, many parents who were ultra-involved in their child's life since birth are simply continuing that role.
Johnson sees it as a good thing.
"I see the parent as playing a huge role in the student's success," he says. "Part of that is knowing how to let go when it's appropriate and how to advocate when it's appropriate."
Students are given information on counseling, student health services, contact information for the Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention. When they get here, then, they and their parents are in theory prepared to deal with any mental health or transition issue that may come up.
Ultimately, as was seen at MSU this year and at hundreds of colleges around the nation, some students — such as Eric Suurmeyer and Kevin Szarzynski who both committed suicide during the school year — become lost and never find their way out of the darkness. Suicide hit MSU twice during the past 12 months, and there may be other cases that weren't publicized.
In those cases, or in accidental deaths or illnesses such as with Katie Feriancek, the freshman who succumbed to meningitis, a circle of friends is left wondering what happened, and some may question their own mortality.
Tim Berg, MSU's campus chaplain, was intimately involved in the aftermath of the crash that killed Wes Loutsch, Jamie Schlachter and Chad Wilson. He was on standby in each of the other cases.
He said that, unlike 20 or 30 years ago, many young people come to college having never experienced the death of a loved one. Life expectancy has grown, medical advances keep people alive longer and, in general, people aren't as close with neighbors.
"Youth does not think a great deal about death, especially now," says Berg. "Most of them have never been to the funeral of a loved one."
Berg says that, for the most part, the campus community handles death in the same way the rest of society handles it. Close friends are devastated, and the rest fall somewhere along a continuum of connectedness, the very end being people who neither knew the victim nor any of his or her friends.
Like all colleges and universities, MSU has a plan in place for when they believe a student may be at risk.
Lynn Akey, interim assistant to the vice president for student affairs, said that, if a parent calls, they take action immediately. If a situation suggests imminent danger, university security is summoned and officers respond.
If the danger is not imminent, the key is to listen to the parent and decide what course of action to take. In most cases the solution involves, at least in part, directing the parent to resources, whether it be counseling referrals, sexual violence education or any of the other services offered on campus.
"We want to give parents as much information as possible and then they can partner with us," Akey said.
She has noticed an increase the number of contacts between parents and the university and said there are several reasons for it.
First, she says there are more students coming to college who have mental health issues. Second, like Johnson, Akey says parents these days are more engaged. And third, the university during all orientation sessions encourages parents to contact them.
As with Johnson's First Year Experience program, Akey says the student affairs division isn't making major changes based on what happened last year. But she says they may reinforce the availability of Yellow Ribbon, and they may consider adding staff training on recognizing suicidal behavior.
And Akey points out the fact that when you're dealing with a group of 14,000 people, it would be unreasonable to think none of them will die. Having processes in place to deal with the emotions that result from it is, and has proven to be, a smart way of going about it.
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