Manhattan — What some are calling freak accidents combined with the more typical car crashes to create an unusually lethal last year at Kansas State University.
Fifteen students died in 2001. Although no official statistics are kept on student deaths, that's about twice the typical number, said Scott Jones, assistant dean of student life.
"Thank goodness this year is so exceptional," university President Jon Wefald said. "Hopefully it will never happen again."
Student body President Kyle Barker said it "all comes down to a bunch of freak accidents."
One student's body was found last month, and two more are missing and presumed dead after a boating accident at Tuttle Creek Lake. By all accounts, the young men were experienced sailors.
The president of the university's skydiving club died June 16 in a parachuting accident in Sedgwick County. He had parachuted more than 250 times.
Even some of the motor vehicle accidents, which Jones said cause most student deaths, were a little unusual last year. In July, Danette Gaitros, 22, died when she fell from the back of a moving utility vehicle while working on a maintenance crew at KSU.
And there was the apparent suicide one of two last year when a student jumped from the eighth floor of Haymaker Hall on April 8.
"It hurts every time, whether you know the person or not," Barker said. "I've seen the faces of students as we've gone through this year, and it's just one thing after another."
KSU, with an enrollment of about 20,000, often organizes memorial services on campus in honor of lost students. In the case of the student who jumped off the building, Jones' office chartered a bus to take students to the funeral in Colorado.
"It was just the right thing to do," Jones said.
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