One of our students yesterday was found dead in his room at the City Hall dormitory. The name of the male student has not been released. Fox News, however, caused a sensation by running an article tying the suicide to the arrival of President Obama on campus for his speech on debt reform. Fox later removed the article entitled GWU Suicide Tragically Coincides with Obama Speech from its website after objections from the school and public.
We remain in many respects a small university and these tragedies are felt deeply. For this family, there are no words that can truly offer solace in such a circumstance.
There was, of course, no connection between the acts. We saw yesterday how Forbes magazine sought to attack the chosen location for the speech in a specious article. The desire to make collateral attacks or associations appears irresistible.
The original article stated:
GWU officials tell Fox that police were notified about the incident around 2pm, which happens to be at the same time that President Obama was speaking. A source tells Fox that the incident may have occurred earlier, noting that police went knocking on the student’s door at 1:30pm. As of this writing, Fox has not been able to obtain reaction from the White House.
Fox later stated (after pulling the piece) that “We were contacted by the university and decided it would be best to take down the story, although nothing was factually inaccurate.”
Politico reports that “A Facebook group with almost 1,300 members and the name “HOLD CHERNENKOFF AND FOX NEWS ACCOUNTABLE” appeared shortly after the Fox News item ran, encouraging members to call the network and voice their displeasure with what the group called a ‘RIDICULOUS article.'”
Source: National Journal
This was on the FOX blog
Hello Everyone. I am the father of this child. He was not even 21 years old. He was a very bright student and a great son, brother to his younger sibling. Please send your prayers and please please stop this political circus. He was a strong supporter of president Obama . He loves this country and the president. Please understand that he was a good kid and all i ask is your prayers. Thank you to all. Love DAD. Cassim Ginwala Cassim@gtcal.com
I posted this on the Fox blog — comment # 14.
My ex boyfriend studied patent law at George Washington University and he loved it. He was an MIT grad. I went out to eat with some of his classmates and they all seemed really positive about the school. The campus is pretty too. GW Law is currently ranked 20th in the 2012 Law School Rankings of U.S. News & World Report. US News ranked GW Law 3rd in intellectual property law, and 5th in international law in its 2012 rankings. The law school’s Government Procurement Law program is widely considered to be the preeminent program of its kind, and GW Law’s part-time J.D. program is ranked 3rd best in the country. According to Brian Leiter’s recent law school rankings (an alternative to the U.S. News survey), GW ranks 12th in the nation for Supreme Court Clerkship Placement (2000–2008), 19th for student numerical quality, and 18th for law faculties with the most “scholarly impact” as measured by citations during roughly the past five years. In 2007, the National Law Journal ranked GW Law among the top 20 law schools that place the highest percentage of graduates in top American law firms. Additionally, Vault ranked GW Law No. 20 in its 2008 Top 25 Law Schools Survey, which emphasized the employability and preparedness of graduates of U.S. law schools based on a survey of lawyers and legal recruiters from the nation’s largest firms.
Posted By: Kay Sieverding | April 16, 2011 at 12:29 AM
I definitely think that suicide talk is contagious. I went to the funeral of a suicide last month and saw how it really through people for a loop.
Got an email today about another person who committed suicide after foreclosure.
I really appreciate people who are nice to me when I am depressed and am making a vow to try to reach out to help others — pay it forward so to speak.
This is every parents worst nightmare. My deepest condolences to the family.
tomdarch,
“I’m sure Senator Kyl is rushing to the Senate floor to say that “90% of what President Obama does is kill college students.” #NotIntendedAsAFactualStatement”
Lmao – you’re having fun with that, aren’t you??
Fox News hasn’t apologized has it?