NYU student dies after fall

(U-WIRE) NEW YORK – Police are investigating the death of a New York University student who fell from an apartment building last week.
Michelle Gluckman, 19, is the third NYU student to die in five weeks.
Gluckman fell from a sixth-story window onto an enclosed courtyard on the second floor of the building, police said.

The details surrounding his death remain unclear, but police said Gluckman likely jumped and was not pushed.

Gluckman’s death is the second at NYU in nine days and the third this semester. On Oct. 10, a freshman jumped to his death from the 10th floor of Bobst Library. On Sept. 12, a junior leapt from the same floor of the library.

Entertainment executives, universities explore mandatory downloading fees

(U-WIRE) COLLEGE PARK, Md. – If the recording and film industries get their way, university students across the country will soon be paying for downloading music, even if they don’t use the Internet.

A group of film and music industry executives and national higher education leaders has been quietly crafting a pilot program that would make universities add a mandatory file-sharing fee to students’ room and board payments.

The program, the brainchild of the recently formed independent Joint Committee of the Higher Education and Entertainment Communities, is still in its infancy.

The committee, which includes Pennsylvania State University and the University of Rochester, pairs universities with an online music service interested in developing file sharing technology that could be used on a college campus.

Antidepressent use on the rise at Stanford

(U-WIRE) PALO ALTO, Calif. – In the last 10 years, Stanford University has seen a dramatic rise in the number of students seeking psychological counseling and using drugs such as Zoloft, Prozac and Wellbutrin.

Counseling and Psychological Services counsels 10 percent of the student body each year. In addition, the Bridge, a confidential peer counseling service with a 24-hour hotline and nighttime drop-in hours, receives an average of one or two calls a day.

Alejandro Martinez, director of Counseling and Psychological Services, attributed the increase to greater willingness to accept psychological assistance from others.

-compiled by Marcus Mrowka, U-WIRE Washington Bureau Chief