Cambridge University opens inquiry into student deaths feared to be suicides
In a statement Tuesday, Vice Chancellor Stephen Toope said he was “deeply saddened” by the deaths. “At this distressing time, our community’s thoughts remain with the families and friends of the students who have died.”
He said that the safety of students is “of fundamental importance” and that the university is working to “review these tragic events” and put in place plans to support mental health and well-being.
Founded in 1209, Cambridge has more than 20,000 students and is a global academic institution. It boasts more than 121 Nobel Prize laureates and 47 heads of state among its alumni and affiliates.
In a separate statement a day earlier, Cambridge said it had set up a “rapid Incident Response Group,” in coordination with public health officials and local suicide prevention groups, to review the deaths. The group’s work is separate from the coroner’s investigation.
For the first four deaths, the group found that “no common cause or clear linkages were evident,” the university said. It is still reviewing the fifth death.
“We are shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic deaths,” Graham Virgo, senior pro-vice-chancellor for education, said in a statement Monday. “All of these students were valued members of our community,” he added, noting that the school is “in contact with the parents of those students who have died to support them at this extremely difficult time.”
However, the university’s student union, an elected body that represents students, issued a statement in response to the deaths casting blame on some of the university’s policies.
“It’s wrong to speculate on the circumstances surrounding each student’s death, but we should not shy away from the fact that there is a student mental health crisis at Cambridge,” it said.
It called the number of deaths “troubling” and said it felt obliged to take a public stand “against the series of failures that we have witnessed in the University and across the colleges.”
The deaths took place at different colleges within the university, which is made up of 31 colleges.
The student union called a university-wide suicide prevention strategy “shamefully unambitious” and “diluted beyond recognition,” labeling it a “dereliction of duty.” It called on school leaders to “urgently review” suicide safety strategies and to commit to a preventive approach.
The university did not comment on the explicit accusations but pointed The Washington Post to Toope’s statement on the work being done to support student well-being.
Cambridge said it was investing about $6 million a year in an action plan to support mental health, including a new student support division, student well-being advisers, shorter wait times for mental health help, and training in suicide awareness for front-line staff.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our students,” it said in Monday’s statement. “Sadly, across universities here in the UK, and internationally, we are seeing growing numbers of young people using counseling services and reporting struggles with their mental health.”
Despite the concern over the recent deaths, public health experts have emphasized that overall, suicide rates for college students in the U.K. have been trending downward in recent years. The most recent data from Britain’s Office for National Statistics found that the suicide rate for higher education students in the school year ending 2020 was three deaths per 100,000 students — the “lowest rate observed over the last four years.”
However, the coronavirus pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis are recent factors that public health experts say have led to an increase in mental health issues among students.
Steve West, president of Universities UK, a membership body that represents 140 universities across the country, said there had been a rise in mental health issues reported across student populations in Britain.
“Universities should be safe and mentally healthy places to live, work and study,” he said in an email to The Post. “Every life lost through suicide is a tragedy.”
“Whilst there is no evidence that overall numbers of student deaths by suicide are increasing, risk factors such as self-harm, depression, debt, disengagement and loneliness mean that universities need to be vigilant to spot the signs and respond quickly.”
A spokesperson for the National Union of Students, a confederation of nearly 600 student unions representing 7 million students, told The Post that its members were “shocked and saddened to hear of cases of student suicide,” which showed that “universities are not separate from wider society.”
“Our research has shown that students are overwhelmingly burdened by anxieties, often rooted in poverty and academic pressure — and now sadly exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis,” the spokesperson said.
Globally, pressures have been exacerbated by the pandemic as students have weathered shifting academic schedules, online learning, mask protocols and restrictions on socializing.
Data from a 2021 Healthy Minds Network study showed that 34 percent of American college respondents had anxiety disorder and 41 percent had depression — rates that have risen in recent years. More broadly, nearly 73 percent in the American College Health Association’s fall 2021 National College Health Assessment reported moderate or serious psychological distress.
“There’s no doubt that young people are under considerable pressure out there at the moment,” said Ged Flynn, chief executive of Papyrus, a British charity that works to prevent youth suicide.
There was some “good news,” he added, with national data trends showing that overall suicide rates had stayed the same or dropped in recent years. However, he added, this was not the case for 11- to 19-year-olds, an age group presenting the “biggest worry.”
Flynn said academic institutions should do more to reach this age cohort and “make it clear they’re not on their own.” He added, “We firmly believe that many suicides can be prevented, and we want there to be positive outcomes.”
If you or someone you know needs help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org. You can also text a crisis counselor by messaging the Crisis Text Line at 741741