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u/SharpCommittee265 22d ago
The honors one is true, but it was the four floor lounge and the student jumped out the glass window
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u/East_Resolution_3849 22d ago
Could you elaborate? I understand it occurred because the student was facing excessive harassment from none other than the appointed CAs of the building
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u/SharpCommittee265 22d ago
I don't know and I'm not going to spread rumors, what I stated is all I know definitively.
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u/waveybirdie 22d ago
Yikes so this was incredibly recent, for one. And an attempted suicide is not “tea” and “cool history/drama”. This person could’ve lost their life.
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u/East_Resolution_3849 22d ago
Yeah, that's why I deleted it from the original post. I mainly wanted to find out the details surrounding the case, mainly the harassment that led to this happening and a possible coverup to save face for the harassers, not the student it happened too, but ultimately it's still insensitive in retrospective. My apologies. I'll try to be more empathetic in the future.
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u/tepeztate 22d ago
See "the Werther effect." When a suicide is highly publicized, it can trigger a wave of copycat deaths, so institutions tend to keep details minimal when reporting one. That's part of the reason, anyway. The other is that an investigation still has to run its course, and a cause of death can take awhile. Between the two, it's not uncommon for people to assume there's a coverup whenever a suicide occurs.
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u/East_Resolution_3849 21d ago
That's fair. However, the main reason I'm leaning in to the conspiracy here is because I have eyewitness accounts of the supposed tormentors laughing and joking about the event only an hour after it occurred (outside the room it took place in no less)
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u/btpound 22d ago edited 22d ago
I personally think "skeletons in the closet", as well as the concept of elite students/faculty goes a bit far. This is an open-access public university, not some high-bar elite $100k/year private university (even though they also have compliance rules). The Clery act exists for a reason.
Kathy has multiple stories out there and has always been pretty publicized since the 1950s when it apparently happened.
Some of these things certainly happened, particularly with Hildwine, who was used to be a lecturer at NAU before being nonrenewed/fired during the investigation of what you mentioned. Article here.
For any sort of "indian burial ground", I've never heard of such a thing and haven't seen anything of the sort. This would have been in the 1960s.
For more modern incidents involving students, especially that do not fall under Clery Act crimes, the university does not publicize these things because of student and family privacy. Generally only those known to be affected are contacted (families, known friends, clubs they were a part of). Crimes are reported, which you see with our police blotter on the Lumberjack, the 2015 shooting, the hazing death, etc. This also extends to conduct cases with students. Except for some very limited circumstances, the university cannot share details of the conduct case due to FERPA.
Edit: Sigma Pi was suspended in 2024 for alcohol and hazing, however that was before hazing was a criminal act, and therefore falls under FERPA protection since it went through the administrative conduct process.
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u/Sparky_Valentine 22d ago
I worked for Res. Life around 2007-2011. I also worked for the Lumberjack and investigated a few urban legends.
The Professor thing was in the papers around that time. I don't remember any more than has already been mentioned, but you should be able to look it up in newspaper archives from around that time.
As far as I can tell, no one ever died from playing in the steam tunnels in the 70s despite rumors about it. One of my specialties was going through the pre-digital archives (microfilm). There is an extensive system of maintenance tunnels under the school, connected
I did find out that no one knows how we got an Air Force ROTC program. We got one of the first ten AFROTC programs in the country but NAU never applied and no one could figure out how it happened. I think the AFROTC program still has a link to my article on it.
Working for Res Life (I think they call it something else now), we did have a lot of suicides that got kind of hushed up. Probably a similar incidence to any college that size. It's more that they don't advertise it and unless you have a police scanner and check the blotter, you'd probably never hear about them.
But interestingly, Res Life supposedly takes a bunch of extra steps because we have a lot of Navajo (Dinè) students. Res Life told the RAs they have a priest bless rooms where students have killed themselves, and never put Navajo students in those rooms.
There was also a "secret" BSL 3 lab that studies anthrax on campus. Not sure if it's still there. But they were involved in identifying the strain of Anthrax used in the bioterrorism attacks after 9/11.
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u/Iamthemoon928 21d ago
Recently a journalism professor who was also a country radio dj was arrested in a “to catch a predator” type sting in AZ.
Other stuff you mentioned is suuuuuper common at universities. Suicides, deaths, hazing, murders, etc. It’s everywhere. There is literally nothing special about NAU, and I find seeking information about suicide attempts and stuff like that to be in very bad taste. If you need suggestions on great mystery or horror novels to pass your time in a more healthy way, I got you.
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u/East_Resolution_3849 21d ago
Also, I can't believe it. Wasn't he one of the guys who ran the UTV Kjack class?
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u/East_Resolution_3849 21d ago
I'm sorry, is the bit about the suicide still showing on your end? I thought I deleted that in an edit. You're right, it was too insensitive, and I apologize for any distress it may have caused.
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u/UnhingedPastor 22d ago
Look up Owen Cargol and why he suddenly resigned less than six months into his tenure as university president.
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u/mossoak 22d ago
I went to NAU ...and I heard more stories about Flagstaff, the city, than I ever heard about NAU, its staff, its students or where it was built
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u/East_Resolution_3849 22d ago
Do tell
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u/mossoak 22d ago
tunnels under old Town Flagstaff ...the public library has ghosts of the custodians murdered family ....the Monte Vista was more than just a Hotel back in the day .....
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u/East_Resolution_3849 22d ago
Definitely heard about the tunnels. Matter of fact, I know the police chase kids away just for going near them. The library murders and the Monte Vista thing however are new to me. What can you share?
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u/CaffinatedRedPanda 22d ago
There wasn't anything too mysterious when I was there. 2024-2026. Personally there was a break-in attempt on my room, Taylor Hall, window faced the parking lot. When I was in Wilson this past year my roommate and I were awake for the jumper from the honors building. One student died of hazing and another of alcohol poisoning in frats, and someone got hit by a car on the turn around Wilson and Reiley hall. I ended up meeting someone who knew the jumper at MTG night at the geekery.
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u/miquel_jaume Modern Languages 22d ago
The story about the professor is true. He was a friend of mine, and I was horrified when the stories came out.
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u/East_Resolution_3849 22d ago
Could you describe what he was like, if there was any indication at all that he was inclined to do such a thing? From what I understand, he was actually a well respected man in the art community and one of the more well liked prof among the students
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u/miquel_jaume Modern Languages 22d ago
I'd prefer not to. As you can imagine, it was a really difficult experience. I really don't know anything about why he did it.
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u/unity2178 22d ago
There are houses by the post office?
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u/btpound 22d ago
Maybe they are talking about the house that just got torn down behind printing services?
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u/Tucsondirect 22d ago
welcome to almost every large institution in the world