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Student death: How App State communicates after tragic events
from April 19, 2019
Moss Brennan | @MosBren | News Editor
Editor’s note: This article explains App State’s protocol for releasing information about student deaths. However, the article discusses mental health and suicide, which may trigger some readers. If you or someone you know is struggling, reach out to the Counseling Center at 828- 262-3180 or call the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273- 8255.
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The 2019 spring semester has not been without the loss of life on App State’s campus. Three students have died.
In the 2014-15 academic year, App State sent out campus-wide emails if a student died. That year, nine students died. In 2013-14, seven. The year before that, eight.
“We just did what we had done before,” Chief Communications
Officer Megan Hayes said. “And what that year taught us is that we can’t afford to do that.”
Hayes said App State communications after a student death are intentional and the university needs to understand the implications of those communications.
During the 2014-15 academic year, App State started to review the policy for when a student dies. That summer, App State created the Student Death Protocol.
The old way isn’t always best
The Dean of Students office received similar calls after campuswide notifications of a student’s death were sent to students. Rasmussen said students walked into the office crying even if they didn’t have a relationship with the student; they still felt the impact.
The decision to stop sending campus-wide notifications was based on student safety and how App State wanted to remember its students.Another intentional decision Hayes said they made is not stating the cause of death.
“We made a choice to define students by what they contributed in their lives, and that’s how we’re going to talk about the students,” Hayes said. “That was a really important choice for us to make, and we all felt very, very strongly about that when we were developing that protocol.”
Hayes said the only person who can determine the cause of an unattended death in North Carolina is the medical examiner.
Hayes said that if anybody is in potential danger on campus, they will be alerted immediately.
“Sometimes it might have typos in it because that’s how fast they’re getting it out,” Hayes said. “They care about letting people know immediately.”
When a student dies, the way App State communicates is intentional for safety reasons.
“If a person gets a message about someone that they didn’t know, that can tap into some of that person’s own fears or concerns or own background and life experiences,” Director of the Counseling Center Christopher Hogan said.
Those communications, and media coverage, can lead to an unintentional effect called suicide contagion.
“Suicide contagion, in a nutshell, is when we have a highprofile death by suicide and it’s reported in the media in a glorifying way or a dramatic kind of sensationalized way,” Coordinator for Student Mental Wellness Elisabeth Cavallaro said. “It can then lead to more suicides in that community.”
Coordinator for Student Mental Wellness Elisabeth Cavallaro and Coordinator for Student Social Wellness Kyra Patel pose at the Wellness and Prevention Services table during a fundraiser. Cavallaro helped create the Student Death Protocol after the 2014-15 academic year.
Moss Brennan
Cavallaro was part of the team that created the Student Death Protocol. She stressed that suicide contagion affects people with suicidal ideation.
“The memorializing death can be very scary and create a safety risk for those that are actively engaging in suicidal ideation or at risk for suicide themselves,” Rasmussen said. “Any type of death, the memorialization broadcasted can lead to a completion. And that’s the scariest part. That’s what we mean by safety.”
Instead of sending out a campus-wide notification, the university now sends a notification to people who Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs J.J. Brown calls the “ripple effect.” Those connections could include siblings, roommates, clubs and organizations the student was involved in, and students in their majors.
“That’s a phrase that Megan (Hayes), and other folks, have heard me say for a long time. So what I mean by ripple effect is, what are those connections?
“We pull in the department chair of which they were majoring in because a lot of times, there’s connections, as well and again thinking about the department where that student may know individuals and the faculty in that department.”
The student’s connections are compiled in a Student Postvention Response Team meeting, convened by the Dean of Students Office.
The Student Death Protocol
The 16-page protocol outlines who to contact when a student dies and what to do in the postvention meeting.
When a student dies on campus, App State Police secures the location and begins the investigation. It also notifies the Counseling and Psychological Services Center or the on-call counselor.
“We get notified usually as soon as possible just because...we are often involved in a response,” Hogan said.
Hogan said staff from the Counseling Center go to the residence hall if the death happened there, and are present when students are informed.
App State Police also notifies the university chief of police, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Dean of Students on-call staff person.
The Dean of Students then contacts eight primary contacts “as soon as possible” and nine secondary contacts “as soon as practical” across campus. The Student Postvention Response Team convenes as soon as possible after the Dean of Students Office is notified.
“As soon as we can in a reasonable amount of time, that’s where we discuss—as a team—the response,” Cavallaro said.
During the postvention meeting, Hayes said she thinks of how she can support those who provide direct services to families.
“I go into those meetings thinking, ‘How can I help them do what has got to be the hardest thing in the world to have to do?’” Hayes said.
A Dean of Students Office staff member typically notifies and works with the family.
Brown, former Dean of Students, worked with families whose child died while they were an App State student.
Brown said helping parents process their loss is rewarding.
“I’ve worked with J.J. (Brown) for a long time, and I just have an incredible amount of respect for the people who provide these direct services to families,” Hayes said. “It’s not a job I could do. It’s a job that I want to support.”
For Brown, thinking about his children gave him the passion to help and work with the families.
“I think about if I were the one receiving that phone call and what is that like and what does that mean,” Brown said. “I think that’s what drives our compassion and our attempt to be compassionate and caring for wherever they are.”
Once the postvention team maps out connection points, notifications, which detail oncampus resources are sent to those groups. If it is an oncampus death, the Counseling Center, Dean of Students Office and University Housing meet with residents of the residence hall.
Once those meetings take place, a care team sets up a grieving room in the Plemmons Student Union.
“There is a grieving room that’s available for students where they can go if they don’t want to meet with a counselor in the Counseling Center,” Cavallaro said.
The grieving room is a space for faculty, staff, students and members of the deceased’s family to gather and grieve.
The room is also staffed with at least one counselor from the Counseling Center.
“It’s a space to have counselors available that’s outside of the Counseling Center,” Hogan said. “For some students, it might be that they just need a little bit of space.”
Hogan said counselors don’t necessarily engage with those in the room, but they can share information about the grieving process and resources.
The grieving room is closed to all media.
After a student death, the dean of students places a memorial book outside its office.
“Any students, staff, faculty can sign it,” Dean of Students Jonathon Hyde said. “It’s intentional that it’s out in front of our office because if somebody seems really impacted, they can come right in and get support and meet with one of our case managers.”
The dean of students office offers the book is then offered as a gift to the parents of the student.
The university invites family members of a student who has died to the annual Student Memorial Program. The student’s name, if the parents wish, and a statement from the parents are read at the memorial.
The Student Memorial Plaque is located on the first floor of the B.B. Dougherty Administration Building. The plaque lists the names of App State students who have died.
Efrain Arias-Medina Jr.
“It becomes a pretty powerful weekend too, for those families that, unfortunately have been coming for many years, get to meet a newer family and make a connection that is very powerful and very hard to imagine,” Rasmussen said.
On the first floor of the B.B. Dougherty Administration Building, a memorial plaque lists the names of students who have died. Parents must give permission for their child’s name to be included.
“People, I think, walk by it and don’t notice it, but gosh, that day it really becomes the center of the administration building, and it’s very visually powerful,” Hyde said.
The memorial program is typically in September or early October, but the memorial plaque remains in the building all year.
While no response to a death is the same, the protocol allows for consistency when the campus needs it.
“I think that is one of the most important things. So, no matter the circumstance, we respond by doing the same things every time, no matter what,” Brown said.
“I think that is one of the most important things. So, no
Cavallaro said a consistent protocol also helps keep people out of “panic mode.”
“When people are in crisis mode, their brain is going to be working a little bit differently,” Cavallaro said. “So, that’s why you want to have that plan in place when you are able to think rationally.”
Often, the relationship between the student’s family and the university goes beyond the notification.
“There’s the short-term component and then we often stay connected for a very long time depending on what their needs are,” Rasmussen said.
The Dean of Students Office supports the family if they return to Boone.
“We want to make sure that they know they’re always welcome on campus, and if they ever need us for anything, we’re here,” Rasmussen said.
