A UC Hastings student tried to jump from the 21st floor of the school’s McAllister Street building in San Francisco today, but a quick security response apparently changed her mind.
The attempt took place around noon, campus sources said. At 12:05, Academic Dean Shauna Marshall sent an e-mail to Hastings faculty, students and staff, saying that campus security and police responded promptly. “The student was escorted from the ledge of the tower, is now safe and receiving support from family, a close friend and health professionals,” Marshall wrote.
Dean Nell Newton declined to provide details over the telephone Tuesday afternoon, citing privacy considerations. “Everybody who’s here is extremely shaken up about it,” she said.
Second-year Teddy Chadwick said student IMs were abuzz with the news, but that few details were available. In January, a first-year male Hastings student committed suicide, Chadwick said. Before that, the school hadn’t seen a suicide attempt in 17 years, Newton said. [Correction: There was a suicide there in 1994, Newton says.]
The school offered free depression screening to students in mid-October, and this year started offering counseling appointments one day a week.
— Petra Pasternak
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