Two months ago:

May 18, 2009
TO: Caltech Community
FROM: Jean-Lou Chameau

It is with great sadness that I share the news of the death of one of our students. Brian Go, a junior studying computer science, appears to have taken his own life over the weekend. Brian was president of Page House and was a double major in computer science and applied and computational mathematics…

One month ago:

June 11, 2009
TO: The Caltech Community
FROM: Jean-Lou Chameau

It is with tremendous sorrow that I again must report the death of one of our students. Jackson Wang, a senior in Marks House, was found in his room Wednesday evening. The coroner is currently investigating the cause of death…

This week:

July 23, 2009
TO: Caltech Community
FROM: Jean-Lou Chameau

With a heavy heart I must once again relay to you the tragic news of the death of a Caltech student. Long Phan, a graduate student in chemistry, was found in his apartment Wednesday afternoon. The coroner has not yet issued a determination of the cause of death, and, out of respect for the wishes of the family, I will not address what appear to be the circumstances of Long’s death…

It is not a good period at Caltech. Since my last post, two other suicides took place: an undergrad and a graduate student in chemistry. An isolated death became a suicide cluster — even without remembering my squared chis, 3 deaths in 3 months are surely correlated. The discussion among the graduate students varies from the morbid details of the circumstances of the deaths, to the reminescences about the deaths of a decade ago, to the religious/phylosophical speculations about the admissibible justifications of suicides.

Is suicide admissible in some cases? I believe so, for example in the case of terminal illnesses, or for life-impairing conditions such as complete paralysis. Socrates’ poison hemlock death, to make his point, comes to mind as another defensible suicide. We also can understand why Alan Turing took his life by a poisoned apple, not able to bear the consequence of the chemical castration, the punishment for his homosexuality. However, it is hard to believe the deaths of these students were the result of a careful phylosophical deliberation.