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March 28, 1996

LETTERS

The whole University is affected

(Editor's note: The following letter was signed by a total of eight persons in the School of Library and Information Science.)

To the editor:

The March 14 issue of the University Times reports Gary Moses — campus police assistant chief — as stating:

"The only people that this (John Solot's suicide) affects are the family." No! No! No! A student's death (whatever the cause) should and does affect the whole University.

R. Stephen Almagno

Professor

Information Ethics Department of Library Science School of Library and Information Science

Bruce Steele, University Times assistant editor, replies:

When I asked Assistant Chief Moses why campus police were releasing few details about the March 7 suicide of student John Solot, Moses replied that Solot's family had asked Pitt to keep public information about the death to a minimum. Moses said, "The only people that this affects are the family, really. If it's a crime of violence, then obviously it affects the whole University and you put as much information out there as you can."

Moses was not saying that Solot's death was irrelevant to the University community, only that a suicide does not threaten the safety of others on campus in the same, immediate way as does a violent crime.


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