A junior at the University of Pennsylvania threw herself in front of a train this week — making her the 10th student at the Ivy League college to commit suicide in just three years.
Ao Kong, a 21-year-old University of Pennsylvania student, killed herself Monday. Her death was the 10th suicide at the school in three years.
Students at UPenn are demanding help with the mental health crises on their “over-stressed” campus after 21-year-old Ao (Olivia) Kong, a junior studying finance in the Wharton School, killed herself early Monday.
Kong was struck by the SEPTA train’s Market-Frankford line during Monday’s morning rush hour and died instantly.
The promising student grew up in Philadelphia and was a member of the business fraternity, Phi Gamma Nu, and the Alpha Omega co-ed service fraternity.
She was also a Mayor’s Scholar and studied abroad last semester at the University of Melbourne in Australia, CBS Philadelphiareported.
“She was a bright, well-liked and successful member of our junior class. We have been in contact with her family and have conveyed our deepest sympathies to them at this very sad and tragic time,” President Amy Gutmann and Provost Vincent Price said in a statement following her death provided to CBS Philadelphia.
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There have been 10 suicides on University of Pennsylvania's campus since 2013.
Concerned members of the elite school have asked administrators to address the mental health epidemic at their campus after Kong’s tragic suicide.
“We want to break the silence and we want to lift the stigma of mental health,” student Sophie Phillips told the Philadelphia Inquirerafter a vigil held in honor of Kong on campus.
Phillips published a Change.org petitionwith a list of demands of the university out of “concern over the state of mental health and over-stressed student culture.”
The list includes more resources for mental health services, mental health awareness training for faculty, the ability to take a leave of absence due to mental illness, and establishing a crisis response team.
The petition had been signed by over 1,000 of the 5,000 signatures requested.
Other students were outraged at how the university handled Kong’s suicide, as well as those of the nine other students who killed themselves since 2013.