Dive Brief:
- A University of Chicago student has been found dead in his dorm room, eight days after he had last used his key card to enter the building.
- Toxicology results will be needed before a cause of death can be determined; the school said there was no evidence of foul play.
- Complaints of a foul odor led to the body and students are asking how someone could have been missing for so long unnoticed.
Dive Insight:
The university sent messages to faculty and students about the death, but said little about the circumstances other than that the death was under investigation. Perhaps the most disturbing detail is how long Nicholas Barnes had been gone without anyone noticing. It may be a sign that there is more colleges can do to make sure similar incidents don't go unnoticed, if they can't be prevented at all. But until Barnes' cause of death is revealed, it's hard to say what the university might have been able to do, if anything.
