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A college student died in his dorm room. It took almost two months for anyone to notice.
www.sfgate.com ^ | Published 7:54 am PDT, Wednesday, September 25, 2019 | Teo Armus

Posted on 09/26/2019 7:51:25 AM PDT by Red Badger

he rank odor from the end of the hallway had become too strong to ignore.

For nearly two months, it was faint enough that nobody at the University of Canterbury realized that a young man was dead, and decomposing, in his own room. Students left campus for two weeks of vacation, and returned, and still no one noticed anything.

But on Monday, police finally made it to the Sonoda dorm at the suburban campus outside Christchurch, New Zealand, where authorities discovered the body of a first-year student, local media reported. The student's father, who could not reach the young man through his friends, had also contacted police.

The young man's body had gone untouched for so long that police had to call in a special team to examine fingerprints, DNA and dental records so they could confirm his identity, Detective Senior Sgt. Craig Johnson told reporters. Most details surrounding the incident, including the student's name and age, had not been made public as of early Wednesday, and the coroner is still investigating the cause of death.

Amid an outcry from university students that's gone all the way up to New Zealand's education minister this week, a university is grappling with a grim question: How could a dead student go undiscovered for so long?

For now, no one really seems to know.

"It is inconceivable to imagine how these circumstances could have occurred," Cheryl de la Rey, the university's vice chancellor, said in a statement to The Washington Post.

De la Rey said Wednesday that the university will commission an independent investigation to examine the oversight, despite what she called an "extensive" well-being program to support students.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Education; Health/Medicine; Society; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: education; newzealand; nz
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To: centurion316

Did he vote, too?....................


21 posted on 09/26/2019 8:05:33 AM PDT by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain...................)
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To: PGR88

We have grand kids on both sides of America in college.

My wife texts them once a day at least.

I text about once a week, and their uncle and his wife text them at least once a week.

Their answers are often a couple of 2-3 words of 2-3 letters.

When I was in college, my Mother joked that I called and came home when I need to do laundry and devour her meals.


22 posted on 09/26/2019 8:07:12 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (The line that separates satire and Democrats and Stupidity has vanished. (thanks to jonascord)!)
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To: Red Badger

That’s nothing. We’ve had scores of brain-dead students in our colleges for years and nobody seems to notice!


23 posted on 09/26/2019 8:07:41 AM PDT by golux
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To: HangnJudge

That’s so stinkist of you!


24 posted on 09/26/2019 8:08:01 AM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (Apoplectic is where we want them)
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To: Red Badger

Yes, that’s my understanding also, that it’s rare at the college level, that they would take attendance.

Also, if this guy was a “loner” type, nobody noticed his absence from class or any other activities at the college.


25 posted on 09/26/2019 8:08:03 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Dilbert San Diego

He was also a freshman, so no acquaintances or friends yet......


26 posted on 09/26/2019 8:09:04 AM PDT by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain...................)
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To: Red Badger

I guess we know who won the title for cutting the most classes this year.


27 posted on 09/26/2019 8:09:58 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Red Badger

Sad, but a result of the life he chose. I could not disappear for 1 day, even if I wanted to... too many people depend on me. There are a lot of people who have tuned out reality and gone deep into drugs, video games, porn, or whatever. So much wasted potential.


28 posted on 09/26/2019 8:10:03 AM PDT by jimmygrace
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To: HangnJudge
a woman’s dorm would not likely have tolerated it.

My daughter took me on a tour of an all-women's college she was thinking of applying to. The dorms were as messy and rank as any you'd find with men living in them.


29 posted on 09/26/2019 8:10:03 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer.)
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To: Red Badger

It’s a sad case but not unthinkable. These sorts of cases — undiscovered deaths — pop up regularly. According to the original article he was known to go “off the grid for several weeks at a time.” There was a bit of a smell, but that’s not unheard-of in college dorms. It was only after the two-week vacation that it became quite noticeable. And one of the commenters mentioned that he was a foreign student. If he was, say, Asian, the Kiwis may have assumed he was simply a quiet, serious student, perhaps a bit shy, and preferred to keep to himself. I wonder what the cause of death was?


30 posted on 09/26/2019 8:10:46 AM PDT by Blurb2350
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To: SunkenCiv

A posthumous award......................


31 posted on 09/26/2019 8:10:57 AM PDT by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain...................)
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To: billorites

I’m guessing a quarterly report from the grand pooh-bahs of school attendance informed them that their per student tax money would be reduced unless they got some of students back on a list which included you.


32 posted on 09/26/2019 8:10:58 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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To: PGR88

Family and whatever supposed friends never talked to him. Family wasn’t concerned he didn’t come home during break? He must have been a real loner with mental problems who decided to end it all.


33 posted on 09/26/2019 8:11:51 AM PDT by bgill
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To: Red Badger

They probably thought it was his dirty laundry.


34 posted on 09/26/2019 8:12:01 AM PDT by seawolf101 (Member LES DEPLORABLES)
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

The school would not care....as long as the check cleared.


35 posted on 09/26/2019 8:12:15 AM PDT by goodnesswins (Want to know your family genealogy? Run for political office.)
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To: Red Badger

Sort of like Barry Obama . . . but, unfortunately, he survived.


36 posted on 09/26/2019 8:12:29 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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To: PGR88

Ditto, i bug my kids *all grown adults* at least once or twice a week.


37 posted on 09/26/2019 8:12:54 AM PDT by Ikeon (You can't be nice to them, you can't shoot them, you cant fix them- stupid is just stupid)
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To: billorites

My grandma’s idiot doctor called two years after she died to schedule her for an appointment.


38 posted on 09/26/2019 8:13:28 AM PDT by bgill
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To: glorgau

We don’t really here anymore, either.


39 posted on 09/26/2019 8:15:14 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: Buckeye McFrog; HangnJudge

One of my first real jobs as a teenager was as a janitor at a restaurant.

The womens restroom was always worse than the mens.

So, one day I decided to clean it from top to bottom, literally.

I connected a water hose to our huge water heater outlet, 140°F, and went in and hosed it down with soap and hot water. There was a drain in the floor, so it was ok.

The women who worked there thanked me profusely, and I got a raise!..................


40 posted on 09/26/2019 8:15:17 AM PDT by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain...................)
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