GW is creating a commission to investigate how effectively the University has responded to five student deaths following the suicide of freshman Hasan Hussain Sunday.
Dean of Students Linda Donnels is organizing the panel in response to the deaths of four undergraduates and a law student in the past five months.
The commission will look at GW's procedures for dealing with student deaths and examine whether the University has allocated adequate resources toward counseling services and suicide prevention programs.
"We want to do the best we can do to deal with this," Donnels said.
The panel will be comprised of students, staff and faculty, said Donnels, who added that the selection process would begin "shortly." She was unsure how many people would sit on the panel.
"We would have findings ready for implementation by the next academic year," she said.
The creation of the commission would pose no extra cost to GW, Donnels said. She noted, however, that any changes in the University's "crisis response" policy may cause an increase in spending.
GW President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg said he supports the commission's creation.
"If you have something happen you say to yourself, 'Are we doing everything we can possibly do?'" said Trachtenberg, who added that in his recent memory, GW has not experienced the amount of loss it has seen this year.
"It's clearly bigger than us," he added.
As the University prepares to assess its response to student deaths, city officials ruled this week that Hussain's 80-foot fall from a Hall on Virgina Avenue balcony was intentional. Metropolitan Police are still trying to determine why the 19-year-old Jacksonville, Fla., native took his own life.
"We're just looking at all the physical evidence and conducting interviews," said Douglas Carlson, a detective in MPD's violent crimes unit and lead investigator in Hussain's death.
Carlson added that MPD had interviewed several students who witnessed Hussain's death, but declined to name them.
Dean of Students Linda Donnels is organizing the panel in response to the deaths of four undergraduates and a law student in the past five months.
The commission will look at GW's procedures for dealing with student deaths and examine whether the University has allocated adequate resources toward counseling services and suicide prevention programs.
"We want to do the best we can do to deal with this," Donnels said.
The panel will be comprised of students, staff and faculty, said Donnels, who added that the selection process would begin "shortly." She was unsure how many people would sit on the panel.
"We would have findings ready for implementation by the next academic year," she said.
The creation of the commission would pose no extra cost to GW, Donnels said. She noted, however, that any changes in the University's "crisis response" policy may cause an increase in spending.
GW President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg said he supports the commission's creation.
"If you have something happen you say to yourself, 'Are we doing everything we can possibly do?'" said Trachtenberg, who added that in his recent memory, GW has not experienced the amount of loss it has seen this year.
"It's clearly bigger than us," he added.
As the University prepares to assess its response to student deaths, city officials ruled this week that Hussain's 80-foot fall from a Hall on Virgina Avenue balcony was intentional. Metropolitan Police are still trying to determine why the 19-year-old Jacksonville, Fla., native took his own life.
"We're just looking at all the physical evidence and conducting interviews," said Douglas Carlson, a detective in MPD's violent crimes unit and lead investigator in Hussain's death.
Carlson added that MPD had interviewed several students who witnessed Hussain's death, but declined to name them.
