An entrance to the Fordham University campus on East Fordham Road.
A Fordham university freshman was found dead yesterday around 11:30 a.m. in his third-floor Alumni South dormitory room.
According to published reports, Jacob Miller, 18, was found hanging by a belt. There is no indication of foul play.
“Jacob’s family and the Fordham family are shaken with grief,” said Joseph McShane, the university’s president, in a press release. “His sudden loss, especially at such a young age, is heartbreaking and shocking.”
Alumni South residents said a building meeting was held at 6 p.m., in which the dorm’s resident assistants and the university’s resident directors gathered to introduce the grief counselors who are available to counsel students.
Matt Guzman, 18, a freshman who lives in the basement of Alumni South, said he has friends on the third floor who were unable to enter their rooms because police had taped off the entire floor. Although Guzman didn’t know what Miller was studying, he said the third floor students were primarily science majors.
“I don’t think there’s one person in the building who wasn’t affected by it,” Guzman said. “Even if you don’t know someone, it just makes you think.”
One freshman who lives on the first floor of Alumni South, learned of Miller’s death after he left his dorm at noon and saw a large group of police cars outside.
“Two kids who knew him on my floor were definitely upset,” said Luke Poirier, 18. “They stayed in their rooms.”
An interfaith prayer service was held at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening in Our Lady’s Chapel in the University Church, and students said additional services were expected to be held on campus later at 9 p.m.