A recently released USA Today analysis indicates that first year students face a higher chance of accidental death than upperclassmen.
According to the National Council for Education Statistics that the American Council on Higher Education used for the USA Today study, one-third of the students who died at four-year schools from 2000 to 2005 were freshmen, despite the fact that freshmen made up only 24 percent of the students at these schools.
While these data are disturbing, students at the College seem to feel relatively safe.
"That sucks that so many freshmen die, but I'm not too worried about dying myself," Jenna Newgard '09 said.
Hillary Wolcott '09 attributed some students' irresponsibility to their new lack of parental guidance. "I guess some freshmen get to campus and go a little overboard with their new independence," she said.
The failure of freshmen to become dramatically more conscious of their own mortality after hearing of the study might not be indicative of unfounded self-confidence.
The College has not had an alcohol-related student death since 1991, when a student drowned in the Connecticut River. The student had been drinking beforehand in the Choates.
Alex Abate '09 said the College's delayed rush might help curb drinking deaths.
"Unfortunately, many fatalities result from excessive drinking during pledge term," Abate said. "Dartmouth's delayed pledge term keeps freshman from these risks."
He added that an immunity law, like the one passed in Colorado, might further prevent student deaths by destroying "the existing fear of dialing 911." Abate also suggested that the Hanover Police also embrace the College's Good Samaritan policy.
"A friend of mine, a student at the University of Georgia, died because his fraternity brothers feared the negative repercussions of a visit to the hospital," Abate said.
Many students, however, lose their lives without the aid of alcohol. In just the past couple of years a student died from complications of injuries sustained in a skiing accident, and a recent graduate took his own life.
First Year Dean Gail Zimmerman illuminated some of the details that contribute to the injuries and deaths of so many college students nationally each year.
"We know that the average age of onset for mental health disorders is 18 to 25 years old. Stress and changes in eating and sleeping patterns can precipitate an onset," Zimmerman said. "So, it is not surprising that the first year of college -- ripe with those conditions -- would be a vulnerable time in students' lives."
She also lauded some of the First-Year Residential Experience and efforts of various departments that she feels make Dartmouth a safer place for students to live.
"My office works extensively with Health Resources, with the Sexual Assault Prevention Coordinator, and with Counseling to educate students about how to make choices that promote health and safety and about how to seek help for themselves or their peers when necessary," Zimmerman said.
