When Jeremy Dorfman (CAS ‘06) took his own life late Saturday night, he left a campus not only in mourning but also in confusion. University administrators quickly released relevant facts and gathered support services for students and should be congratulated for their prompt response. However, they failed to communicate this information to the full campus community, particularly to first-year students, before important meetings occurred.
Approximately two hours after Dorfman was found, the administration organized a gathering in Village C Alumni Lounge to address student concerns and answer questions. Campus Ministry and representatives from Counseling and Psychiatric Services were in attendance, along with several top administrators including Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Todd Olson and Associate Dean of Students Jeanne Lord. Unfortunately, while students were aware of the commotion around Village C and University staff members were present, there was an insufficient effort to inform the campus community about the gathering. Administrators contacted the Resident Assistants on duty in each residence hall, but the RAs were not instructed to spread word of the gathering. Many floors of students where RAs were not present were left hypothesizing about the situation and unaware of available services. An active effort should have been made, through RAs or other representatives, to notify all available first-year students. Not only were they in the immediate vicinity of the incident, but also they were particularly likely to have been affected by the death of a fellow first-year.
Outside of Village C, students were not informed of the tragedy except by word of mouth until the University sent out a campus-wide email the next afternoon. Administrators should have been more prompt in disseminating information that was made public at the gathering the night before. Most students had no way of knowing about events such as the prayer service held after the gathering and the follow-up meeting on Sunday.
Georgetown’s policy for dealing with suicide involves notifying student departments and administrative offices such as the Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Services, the Office of Student Affairs, Residence Life and Campus Ministry and mobilizing a quick response from all groups. For a campus that had not been victim to a suicide in 18 years, the University implemented its policy in a remarkably efficient manner. However, there is no provision in the plan to notify close-by or principally affected students nearly as promptly or effectively.
The University-sponsored gathering held Saturday night provided a supportive environment for the students who attended. Unfortunately, the University’s effort was undermined by the lack of communication between the administration and students. Georgetown should revise its plan for dealing with student death so that the entire community can benefit immediately from the support and services the school offers.
