Student Leaps to His Death from 10th Floor at NYU

GREENWICH VILLAGE, New York - Andrew Williamson-Noble, 20, a troubled student leaped to his death around 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The victim jumped from the 10th floor of the main library at New York University. He was a junior majoring in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The university installed eight-foot plexiglass walls on the floors facing the atrium after two students killed themselves in 2003. Sophomore Irvin Camarillo said, "It's not an easy thing to do. You'd have to be tall to flop over it, unless you had a chair or something."

Students at the school said they recently finished midterms, which is very stressful. NYU is also a highly competitive school and many of the students are extremely driven.

NYU president John Sexton confirmed the suicide in an e-mail to the students. He wrote, "The impulse for self-harm, particularly among young men and women with so much talent and so much to live for, is incomprehensible to me." He urged the students who are struggling to cope with the tragedy to visit the counselors at the NYU's Wellness Center.

There have been at least six suicides at NYU since 2003. The school began posting security guards on the rooftops and restricting balcony access in two high-rise dorms two years ago.