Students Upset by NYU Response to Roommate’s Mental Health Crisis
Coral Tower residents sought a dialogue with their residence hall directors to communicate their concerns. They were left in the dark instead.
(Mac Breazzano’s room now contains an empty bed. | Manasa Gudavalli via Washington Square News)
by Alex Tey
This story was originally published on New York University’s Washington Square News.
Content warning: This article contains descriptions of a mental health crisis.
Five residents of a Coral Tower suite said the building directors refused to listen to their concerns about their roommate after he had a mental health crisis.
The student’s roommates — Mac Breazzano, Nikhil Chirumamilla, Daylon Fernandez and two other sophomores — noticed that he was acting out of character starting late January. The student is referred to anonymously with his permission. He declined to be interviewed.
During the early morning of Feb. 7, he was found wandering the halls of Coral Tower carrying kitchen knives and cutlery. His roommates said they later found a large knife hidden in a kitchen cabinet. They said Campus Safety officers told them the student was in a state of psychosis. He did not return to the room until about two weeks later.
Following the incident, the roommates said they were concerned for him, but they were also concerned for their own safety. They repeatedly requested to speak with Coral Tower administration, but Residence Hall Director Bret Beaufeaux and Assistant Director Danielle Berkman told them that they could not discuss details of the student’s case.
After mental health crisis, housing directors failed to communicate
A few weeks into the spring 2022 semester, the student started to pace in the common area of the dorm room late at night and break into outbursts of yelling and cursing. His roommates worried that he was homesick or struggling academically.
After he was confronted in Coral Tower on Feb. 7, the student told Campus Safety officers that he believed his roommates were planning to kill him. That afternoon, the roommates received calls from NYU’s Counseling and Wellness Services in accordance with university policy.
“It just seemed like they were calling us because they had to,” Fernandez said.
Read the rest of the story at Washington Square News.