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A wide impact from Rutgers' student's suicide

The body of a young man pulled from the dark waters off northern Manhattan was identified Thursday as Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, as grief and outrage over his death reverberated across the campus and beyond.

In support of safe places for gay students, a group joins in a "lie-in" near the student center at Rutgers University. The rally was in response to the suicide of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi.
In support of safe places for gay students, a group joins in a "lie-in" near the student center at Rutgers University. The rally was in response to the suicide of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi.Read moreERIN VANDERBEG / Associated Press

The body of a young man pulled from the dark waters off northern Manhattan was identified Thursday as Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, as grief and outrage over his death reverberated across the campus and beyond.

Clementi, 18, a freshman who lived on the Piscataway campus, jumped off the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River after two classmates secretly streamed live images of him having a sexual encounter with a man in his dorm room on Sept. 19, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

His death was ruled a suicide. Drowning and blunt-force trauma to the torso were the cause of death, a New York City Medical Examiner's spokeswoman said.

Clementi, of Ridgewood, N.J., was found Wednesday, a week after he is believed to have plunged from the bridge. On the evening of Sept. 22, he posted on his Facebook page: "Jumping off the gw bridge sorry."

His roommate, Dharun Ravi, and Rutgers student Molly Wei, both 18-year-old freshmen, are accused of capturing the unwitting Clementi via a Web camera. Prosecutors say Ravi, of Plainsboro, N.J., tried to webcast a second encounter on Sept. 21.

Ravi and Wei, of Princeton, have been charged with invasion of privacy. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison.

In a statement Thursday, Middlesex County prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan brought up the possibility of other charges, noting that his office would make "every effort to assess whether bias played a role in the incident."

Ravi and Wei also are being investigated for possibly violating Rutgers' code of conduct, which prohibits cyberbullying, harassment, and recording someone without consent in a setting of presumed privacy, according to school official Anne Newman.

Students found in violation of the policy may be expelled, Rutgers spokesman Greg Trevor said.

Condemnation of the students' acts came fast, and often fierce, on Thursday from individuals and groups who cited bias against gays, a rise in cyberbullying, and a callousness involving social media.

Garden State Equality, a gay and lesbian rights group, and the Bergen County, N.J., chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) said they would rally in Clementi's memory next Thursday to protest bullying and hate crimes.

"I could be that parent now, mourning my child," said PFLAG member Clarice Zieja, of Passaic County. Her lesbian daughter attended Rutgers Newark.

"Harassment is wrong any way you look at it, said her daughter Lauren, 34, who lives in North Jersey. "Not everybody can handle that kind of trauma. Unfortunately, they did this to the wrong person."

In a statement, Rutgers president Richard L. McCormick said he had spoken with Clementi's parents, who dorm residents said had been to the school to gather their son's belongings.

"We grieve for him and for his family and classmates as they deal with the tragic loss of a gifted young man who was a strong student and a highly accomplished musician," McCormick said. Friends have described Clementi as a gifted violinist.

Gov. Christie choked up when asked about Clementi's death at an unrelated media event on Thursday.

"As the father of a 17-year-old, I can't imagine what those parents are feeling today," he said.

New Jersey Assemblywomen Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D., Bergen) and Mary Pat Angelini (R., Monmouth) spoke of Clementi as they introduced antibullying legislation on Thursday.

And in Philadelphia, City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown called for teaching children tolerance and responsible use of technology.

At Rutgers, some students saw the Internet, so important to the fabric of their lives, as part of the problem.

"We all have this outer appearance that we're very liberal and accept people for who they are, but people show who they really are online," said senior Morgan McMahon of Morristown.

Jewli Lichwa, a social-work major, called Ravi and Wei's alleged act a form of bullying. "It's just a new way to do it," she said.

However, some who knew Ravi said he was not who he was being made out to be.

A resident of Davidson Hall - Clementi and Ravi's dorm - who didn't want to use his full name said he had seen them together. "There was no tension," he said.

In the Daily Targum, the student paper, dorm residents described Ravi as a funny person who wouldn't intentionally hurt anyone.

Derek Yan, 16, who attended West Windsor-Plainsboro High School with Ravi and Wei, said neither was homophobic.

"He had gay friends," Yan told the Associated Press of Ravi, a teammate on the high school Ultimate Frisbee team.

Yan said Ravi told him he liked Clementi. "He said he was lucky to have a good roommate," Yan said. "He said his roommate was cool."

Many colleges include prohibitions on bullying and violation of privacy in their campus codes of conduct.

At Ursinus College, first-year students have discussions about respect and privacy at orientation and hall meetings, spokeswoman Wendy Greenberg said.

At Temple University, director of residential life Kevin W. Williams said there was a six-week program to acclimate students to campus life, including appropriate behavior and tolerance of differences.

Some schools are better than others at making those messages part of the campus culture, said Jonathan Kassa, director Security on Campus Inc., a nationwide nonprofit school-safety group based in King of Prussia.

"You have to market the message," he said.

There needs to be a change in "bystander response," he said. People who observe hurtful behavior must object and even come forward to authorities, Kassa said.

Philip Rutter, an assistant professor of human sexuality at Widener University who studies suicide among gay youths, said three boys ages 14 to 15 had taken their lives in the United States in the last month after being bullied.

High schools do not adequately address issues about differing sexualities, even though children are coming out - in a limited way - at a younger age, Rutter said. When they go college, gay and lesbian teenagers feel they are free to express themselves, he said, only to encounter students unprepared to deal with them.

"It's almost like the perfect storm," he said.

Was Clementi trying to defuse the storm in his life?

As reported by Gawker.com, a message board for young gay men contained recent posts from one "cit2mo," who said he discovered his college roommate had spied on him via webcam and posted an intimate encounter online. The anonymous writer did not name his school but details of the scenario and the posts' time-stamps coincide with the timeline for Ravi's alleged infractions.

On Sept. 22, the writer - who seemed more irritated than panicked - said he had reported the incident to the resident adviser of his dorm and sought a room change. He was motivated after discovering his roommate had turned the webcam on again, he said.

"He seemed to take it seriously," the writer said of the adviser.

Citing confidentiality rules, a Rutgers spokesman refused to say Thursday whether Clementi had taken either of those steps.

The night of Sept. 22 was when police say Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge.

Where to Find Information

Information for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals, their parents, and friends, is available through these groups:

Lambda Legal: A national organization concerned with the civil rights of LGBT individuals. 212-809-8585. www.lambdalegal.org

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG): A national organization with local support groups. www.pflag.org. For information about area chapters, e-mail pflagcollingswood@yahoo or pflaggphila@yahoo.com.

The William Way Center: Provides services including education and peer counseling to the LGBT community in the region, including South Jersey. 1315 Spruce St., Philadelphia 19107. 215-732-2220. www.waygay.org

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