It looks like a UC Berkeley professor killed himself on Tuesday. Today, Sf Chron reported that Michael Ronan fell from the fifth story of lab building on campus.
Sad…tragic…and a little too close to home for me.
The Daily Cal has more on how just a few hours before the fall, he told his students in class that he felt depressed. The campus paper also reported he announced plans to take time-off from teaching and lab work.
The journalist in me wants to know why I can’t find a press release on Berkeley’s site. Shouldn’t the Chancellor explain this incident to the campus community? I know it’s a horrible thing to happen, but Cal needs to acknowledge shitty situations. Why did the Chron wait until today to pick up the story and bury it? Why didn’t the Oakland Trib pick up this story? Cal is on the same side of the bay as the Trib. Good grief, the San Jose Mercury outscooped these papers with posting an article on this incident yesterday. The Merc attibutes some of it’s info to a posting on the lab’s website – but I can’t find it.
As a Cal alum….this death seems like a big deal to me.
I’m surprised it took me this long to hear about the prof’s death. I may live in Kansas – but I’m not cut-off from my home state. I’m able to keep up with Bay Area news — thanks to my aggregators on newspapers, stations and blogs. Plus at work, I’m plugged into ABC’s video feeds. Heck, sometimes I run kickers from the Bay Area. A few nights ago, I watched a package on the protests at UC Santa Cruz when the UC Regents held their meeting. And a google search pops up one blog entry on this incident. Is this suicide not a big deal for people in the Bay Area?
Another part of me wants to know: What was so bad in his life that he had to go that way? Why didn’t anyone see signs? What about good-bye? That announcement during his lecture didn’t sound like a suicide note.
Shocked…at what happened and the lack of reaction from the university and the mainstream media.