Sabrina Romano
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April 8, 2015
Introduction:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is part of the upper echelon of American
higher education. For high school students with outstanding achievement and an interest in math
or science, MIT seems like the perfect school. A degree from MIT promises the start of a
successful and high-paying career right after graduation. Is all of this too good to be true? As of
recently, earning an MIT degree translates into four years of sometimes unmanageable stress.
The administration and students have speculated that the rigorous course load and stress that
comes along with that can be pushing some students to suicide. During the first week of March,
freshman Matthew Nehring and freshman Christina Tournant, who was on voluntary leave from
the university for a medical condition, committed suicide. Suicides appear to be happening more
frequently at MIT than at other elite universities.
MIT Background:
MIT is a prestigious four-year university located roughly one-mile outside of Boston. It is
a selective university; the admissions staff only accepting eight percent the applicants. For the
fall of 2014, 18,356 students applied to MIT but only a mere 1,447 were accepted. From the pool
of accepted students, 1,043 enrolled in the institution. MIT’s appeal is its rigorous math and
science education. According to College Board, 35 percent of MIT students study engineering,
22 percent study computer and information sciences, and ten percent study mathematics.
Although white students make up the majority, representing 37 percent of the freshmen class,
students of other ethnicities attend the university; twenty five percent of MIT students are Asian,
16 percent are Hispanic/Latino, and six percent are black or African American. Regarding the
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school’s gender make up, 54 percent of students are male and 46 percent are female.
(“Massachusetts Institute of Technology”).
In part, it is this selectiveness that created the pressure-cooker environment that exists at
MIT. Lydia K., an MIT student and admissions blogger, wrote a post called “Meltdown” where
she detailed the mentality at MIT: “I don’t think many people understand what we mean when
we say that MIT is hard. It’s not just the workload. There’s this feeling that no matter how hard
you work, you can always be better, and as long as you can be better, you’re not good enough."
It is this stressful and sometimes mentally degrading environment that possibly caused MIT’s
high suicide rate among students.
The News Event:
So far, during the 2014-15 school year, four MIT students have committed suicide. On
March 1, 2015, the Boston Globe reported that MIT freshman Matthew L. Nehring committed
suicide earlier that day (Blessing). The same week, on March 5, MIT freshman Christina
Tournant committed suicide at Tampa International Airport while on voluntary school leave for
experiencing worsening symptoms from postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, ("Christina
Tourant, freshman of Maseeh Hall, dies in Florida."). Earlier in the year, two other students
committed suicide. In September, 26- year-old Austin Travis, a chemistry graduate student, and
sophomore Phoebe Wang, studying mechanical engineering, died of apparent suicide (Blessing).
MIT is all too familiar with suicides. In 2001, The Boston Globe compiled statistics on
how the suicide rate at MIT compared to other colleges and the national average. It found that
between 1964 and 2000, MIT had a rate of 20.6 suicides per 100,000 undergraduate students.
This number is larger than the other colleges that participated in the study. Harvard University,
roughly an equally elite school, had a rate of 7.4 suicides per 100,000 students. The University of
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Michigan, a public institution enrolling over 35,000 students a year reported having a suicide rate
of 2.5 per 100,000 students. The amount of suicides at MIT is also larger than the national
average which stood at 12 suicides per 100,000 people (“MIT Suicides”).
It is the two recent suicides that have recently caused reactions from MIT administration,
faculty, and students. One of the main people involved in this news event is the president of
MIT, L. Rafael Reif. He became president of MIT in 2012 after serving as provost for 7 years.
He has been involved with the MIT community since 1980 when he started as a faculty member
("About President L. Rafael Reif"). One of the first news articles in The Boston Globe about
Nehring’s suicide included part of an email from Reif, which partly read, “In this moment of
tragedy, we extend heartfelt sympathies to Matthew’s family and friends.” The president’s email
to the school also included information about Nehring’s memorial service (Blessing).
The other main person involved in the issue and talking to reporters is Cynthia Barnhart,
the chancellor of MIT. According to MIT’s organization chart, “The Chancellor has oversight
responsibility for graduate and undergraduate education at MIT, student life, student services,
and other areas that impact student experience.” Barnhart has the responsibility to implement
policies to insure students aren’t stressed to the point of having suicidal thoughts. Roughly two
weeks after the suicides, Barnhart asked the faculty to lessen the student’s homework load.
(Krantz and Rocheleau).Electrical engineering professor George Verghese took the
administration’s suggestion a step further; Verghese made homework optional, cancelled class
and invited students to attend the Harvard Art Museum with him during class time (Svokos).
“‘We're surrounded here by all these museums, and there's no reason I had to have that next
lecture.’ He explained that when he was a student, visiting museums was a great comfort. About
a dozen students went to the Harvard Art Museums, and others have come to his office to talk,”
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(Svokos). Professor Peter Fisher sent an email to the physics department encouraging students
saying, “Getting help from Mental Health will also make a big difference. There is no shame in
this -- in fact, it is a sign of courage and strength” (Svokos).
Unlike the administration and faculty, the students reacted informally. They reacted by
sharing their stories on social media. On Twitter, there is a new hashtag called
“#PeopleBeforePSets.” This hashtag helped encourage students to put their health before their
academic responsibilities. Victoria Li, a student at MIT, tweeted, “There are hardships, but there
are also friendships. Keep your doors and hearts open. #peoplebeforepsets.” The idea was that
other stressed MIT students would be able to read the tweets and be reminded that MIT is only a
fraction of their life. Tami Forrester tweeted, “#peoplebeforepsets we are all so much more
important than a letter grade.” Twitter provided a platform for students to share their feelings and
to raise awareness about mental health issues on campus.
How the News Covered the Issue:
Besides analyzing the reactions of the administration, staff, and students in the news
articles, one can analyze how news publications reported on the events. The Boston Globe
primarily covered the news event. The Boston Herald, despite having covered past suicides at
MIT, did not cover the two most recent suicides. Based on a Google search, The New York Times
also did not cover Nehring’s or Tourant’s suicides and the school’s reaction. Because The Boston
Globe is a newspaper with its primary readership residing in and around Boston, the news of the
suicides did not reach people living outside of that geographic area. The high-rate of suicides at
MIT has not become national news since the two suicides in March because only a small part of
the population is aware of what happened.
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Further, one can analyze the articles’ wording. Although news publications have the job
to give readers a thorough report, the articles go against the constructive method of talking about
suicide. According to After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Schools, “Talking in graphic detail about the
method can create images that are upsetting and can increase the risk of imitative behavior by
vulnerable youth,” (24). News articles often detail how a person committed suicide, whether it be
jumping off a bridge or purposely overdosing on a drug. The Tech detailed Tournant’s death in
an article: “The Tampa Bay Times reported that minutes before Tournant was found dead last
Thursday night, apparently having jumped off a parking garage at Tampa International Airport, she
had sent a text message to her mother: “I love you, mom.” Secondly, news articles try to provide a
reason as to why the person committed suicide. It is harmful to define a reason for the suicide
because it can lead to blaming other people for the person’s suicide (“American Foundation for
Suicide Prevention and Suicide Prevention Resource Center” 24). After a Suicide: A Toolkit for
Schools explained that one event does not cause someone to commit suicide, rather it is caused
by depression and other mental disorders (24). Sometimes, news articles can come off as
insensitive by giving many details to the readers.
Interpersonal Communication Topics:
The high suicide rate at MIT can be partly blamed on its organizational culture. MIT’s
culture has been embedded in the university since its inception as an elite institution. MIT has a
culture of achievement and success. The culture revolves around a rigorous academic schedule.
The professors have the responsibility of challenging their students enough to hold up MIT’s
prestigious reputation. Professors are known for assigning an unreasonable amount of
coursework. The students, used to succeeding throughout their high school career, try to avoid
failure at all costs.
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MIT’s organizational culture has given way to certain norms. Kathy Hao, a MIT alum,
detailed the cultural norms that she dealt with and embodied at her time at the institution. She
explained that students are used to having assignments due between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m., hours that
are often used for sleeping. This deadline sends the message that a student’s health is less
important than a student’s course load. Sometimes professors joke about staying up all night to
complete problem sets (Hao). Hao wrote that while studying at MIT, her and her fellow students
helped propagate the culture to new students. Upperclassmen advise freshman with the saying,
“grades, friends, sleep: pick two” and teach them that the choice is actually obvious: work
hard, play hard, sleep later; then [upperclassmen] go through extreme measure to hold events
from morning to night in the middle of [their] own hell weeks just to prove that point,” (Hao).
These organizational norms prioritize schoolwork over health.
Past Suicides:
Although the past suicides are not directly related to the March news event, they illustrate
that student suicides can have great ramifications for the university. Some families of student
suicide victims have filed lawsuits. Shin et al. v MIT et al. is one of the more well-known cases
pertaining to an MIT student’s suicide. The family sued after the daughter, Elizabeth Shin,
committed suicide by burning herself in her MIT dorm room. The New York Times reported:
“Two years after Elizabeth's death on April 14, 2000, filed a $27 million wrongful death
suit against M.I.T. in a Massachusetts superior court. The Shins claim that M.I.T., overly
concerned with protecting Elizabeth's confidentiality, failed to inform them of their
daughter's precipitous deterioration in the month before her death. This, they say, robbed
them of a chance to oversee her care or perhaps even to save her life. M.I.T., the Shins
claim, made matters worse by failing to act in their place, ''in loco parentis to the
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deceased.'' The school did not provide adequate, coordinated mental health care for their
daughter, they claim, nor a proper emergency response to the fire,” (Sontag).
The family of Han Duy Nguyen, a doctoral student who committed suicide in 2009, filed a
lawsuit claiming wrongful death in 2011. This suit is still advancing towards a trial (Srivastava).
Although filing a law suit is not popular, it does happen and is bringing MIT unnecessary and
negative attention.
Conclusion
Based on the unfortunate suicides in March and the fact that MIT has a higher suicide
rate than other universities and the national average, there are clearly miscommunications
happening between the administration and faculty and the students. In March, Chancellor
Barnhart urged professors to assign less course work. At Psychological Outreach for
Universities, we believe that Chancellor Barnhart’s solution is not a viable permanent solution. It
is plausible that professors will resume assigning their students a large course load in a few
months. In the next sections, we examine scholarly literature regarding mental health and
universities and then create and implement a plan at MIT which will decrease the school’s high
suicide rate.
Works Cited
"About President L. Rafael Reif." Massachusetts Institute of Technology, n.d. Web. 29 Mar.
2015. <http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/01/third-mit-student-commitssuicide-this-school-year/TxljHhCHGQIROChsA5JoqI/story.html>.
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Suicide Prevention Resource Center. 2011.
After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Schools. Newton, MA: Education Development Center,
Inc.
Blessing, Kiera. "MIT student suicide is third of school year." The Boston Globe 1 Mar. 2015.
Web. 29 Mar. 2015. <http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/01/third-mit-studentcommits-suicide-this-school-year/TxljHhCHGQIROChsA5JoqI/story.html>.
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"Christina Tourant, freshman of Maseeh Hall, dies in Florida." The Tech 8 Mar. 2015. Web. 29
Mar. 2015. <http://tech.mit.edu/V135/N6/tournant.html>.
"Cynthia Barnhart." Organization Chart. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, n.d. Web. 5
Apr. 2015. <http://orgchart.mit.edu/chancellor>.
Forrester, Tami (tamiforrester). ““#peoplebeforepsets we are all so much more important than a
letter grade.” 7 Mar. 2015. Tweet.
Hao, Karen. "Precipice: Transforming MIT Culture in the Battle Against Depression and
Suicide." Medium, n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2015. <https://medium.com/@karenhao/precipicee1067d1eeb8c>.
K, Lydia. "Meltdown." MIT Admissions. MIT Admissions, 29 Oct. 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
<http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/meltdown>.
Krantz, Laura, and Matt Rocheleau. "MIT eases workload, offers support after recent
suicides." The Boston Globe 17 Mar. 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/16/mit-students-open-aboutstress/dS61oA5tiKqjvVsJ5VZRAL/story.html>.
Li, Victoria (vvicli). “There are hardships, but there are also friendships. Keep your doors and
hearts open. #peoplebeforepsets.” 9 Mar. 2015. Tweet.
"Massachusetts Institute of Technology." Big Future. The College Board, n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
<https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/massachusetts-institute-oftechnology>.
MIT Suicides. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
<http://web.mit.edu/~sdavies/www/mit-suicides/>.
Sontag, Deborah. "Who Was Responsible for Elizabeth Shin?" New York Times Magazine 28
Apr. 2002. Web. 3 Apr. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/28/magazine/whowas-responsible-for-elizabeth-shin.html>.
Srivastava, Sanjana. "MIT being sued for 2009 suicide." The Tech 3 Feb. 2015. Web. 2 Apr.
2015. <http://tech.mit.edu/V135/N1/lawsuit.html>.
Svokos, Alexandra. "MIT Students' Death Prompt Soul-Searching And Lighter Workloads." Huff
Post 19 Mar. 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/19/mit-elite-schoolssuicides_n_6895474.html>.