Brian Anderson, MIT Undergraduate Student Found Dead In His Dorm, Third Death This Year

Police are investigating the third student death at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this academic year.

The 21-year-old MIT student, Brian Anderson was found dead in his dorm room on Monday afternoon.

No immediate cause of death was given. However, MIT officials said Anderson's death did not appear to be a suicide like the other two undergrad deaths this year.

"Until the official investigation by the appropriate state and local authorities is complete, we will not fully know what led to this tragedy, but I encourage everyone to refrain from speculation," MIT Chancellor Eric Grimson wrote to students.

The Boston Herald reports Anderson was a member of the MIT wrestling team and the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, which was shut down last year after a spate of alcohol violations and low rush numbers.

The school newspaper reports Anderson's body was found just before noon Monday when police were called to do a "well being check."

"What I hope we will all do is take the time to strengthen the bonds of community," Grimson added in his email. "Reach out to your friends, your peers in class or student groups, or your neighbors in a dormitory or living group."

Previously, in October, the 18-year-old son of a Nobel Prize-winning MIT professor was found dead at the university. It was ultimately ruled a suicide. An MIT sophomore from Colombia also committed suicide in September.

Comments

[mike morales]

11:50 AM on 02/24/2012

So much pressure on these kids. We assume because they are smart and technically adults that they are well adjusted and doing just fine. Where are the residence advisers? In my freshman child's dorm the R.A. is invisible, collecting free rent for being alive. I'll bet a buck he/she does not know my kid's name, let alone how he is getting on.

[Emily Lydic]

01:26 PM on 03/06/2012

MIT doesn't have RAs. We have GRTs. They're graduate students very carefully selected and trained. They're mid-20s and living in dorm housing with us - they wouldn't be there if they didn't care about us. It's not just another dorm to them. They choose us, and we pick our GRTs from a few applicants.

This wasn't the GRTs' fault. How can they know someone is hurting rather than just locked in their room working hard? That's what people thought about the freshman who died earlier this year - and there was so much guilt the GRTs put on themselves afterward, even though all term they'd been having small events to get everyone together to talk and be social.

People here are so busy it's hard to know they're suicidal unless they reach out. That's why we're encouraged to reach out.

[Emily Lydic]

01:27 PM on 03/06/2012

And all that doesn't make any death any less of a tragedy.

[nicarol]

10:35 AM on 02/24/2012

I will assume anyone accepted to MIT is intelligent, and I am always saddened to hear of an intelligent person dying so young (there are so few of them out there). What might he have done with his future?

[irishkids1234]

09:58 AM on 02/24/2012

The pressures of this world, and the sense of hopelessness in some is disconserting. There is a bleakness these days, that I don't recollect anything similar in my college years. You should be enjoying who you are in your 20's with great anticipation for your future......they've seemed to taken that away. They? Politicans, Religious Institutions, Wall Street Bankers, the general self-centerness of the public.

[Howard53545]

06:44 AM on 02/24/2012

He is responsible for his own life period.

[Kevin Arthus]

08:43 AM on 02/24/2012

Not if he was murdered.

[Howard53545]

09:17 AM on 02/24/2012

Any charges filed? NO

[Howard53545]

06:14 AM on 03/02/2012

where is the evidence?

[barbara jay]

07:52 AM on 02/25/2012

"He is responsible for his own life period" - just like a friend of my sister's, who died at her college at the age of 20, right? She had a cerebral hemmorhage. It's also possible at this age to have a fatal asthma attack, even a stroke (a student I knew who had that survived, but with severe mobility problems on one side.) The fact is, we just don't know yet why this young man died.

[Howard53545]

06:09 AM on 03/02/2012

I work at a college, they know, its hush hush time.

[Earn Instead of Take]

04:03 AM on 02/24/2012

I was wait-listed at MIT, and looking back on it, I probably wouldn't have gone had I been accepted. I went to an event for high school seniors all around my metropolitan area who were interested in attending MIT, and while some seemed normal, there were a LOT of kids who came across as socially inept. You had your typical nerd ensembles - pocket protectors and all - and one guy was wearing all black with sunglasses... indoors. I got a great education, and while MIT is the cream of the cream, I'm not surprised that their students may crack given the atmosphere.

[PatrioticUSGlory]

04:46 AM on 02/24/2012

Math-oriented and engineer-types tend to suffer more internal turmoil than the general population. They tend to have zero-sum thinking, believing everything is solvable with the right formula. When reality sets in and proves this is not how the world works, they can explode outwardly or inwardly. Most physical abuse on children by fathers is perpetrated by fathers who are engineers or a similar occupation.

[Jeff Haley]

08:09 AM on 02/24/2012

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-narcissus-in-all-us/200908/the-occupation-the-highest-suicide-rate

I think there is more to suicide then being "Math oriented", but I can see where they would gravitate towards certain professions, but what about Doctors? Dentist had a high rate but they figured out it was the noises of their equipment they used daily.
Also with MIT students who are the most intellectually gifted, are the ones we picked on relentlessly through elementary and HS's. Maybe a lifetime of being abused may have contributions. Or it could just be a mental disorder undiagnosed.

[elizabethrose44]

09:30 AM on 02/24/2012

Dear Patriot:

I am in the process of finishing up a PhD in psychology and as it so happens, my area of interest is in how students STEM fields. I am especially interested in how students develop math/science phobias and as such, am particularly sensitive to the pressures that STEM students experience. It does not have to be that way....

However, out of the hundreds (seriously) of articles, and the many books, that I have read on this topic, not a single one has indicated any correlation between fathers who are engineers (or similar occupation) and physical abuse (or any other kind of abuse for that matter.) Any reports of such a phenomenon must be considered anecdotal.

Perhaps you will go to grad school and do a study that shows otherwise?

Sincerely,
ElizabethRose

[shirleyn48]

01:39 AM on 02/24/2012

TO ALL PARENT'S: Keep your kids at home while attending college! Their brains are not fully developed until they are 25 year old! Their reasoning and sense of danger are simply not developed enough to live on their own. Remember, in most states, children cannot legally drink alcohol until they are 21; why do you think that is???? And roommates are worthless; they NEVER report anything to the police until it's too late!

[RocketSurgery]

07:42 AM on 02/24/2012

Good grief. Cut the apron strings. The drinking age was raised to 21 because of a lobbying effort by MADD, and the reason 21 was chosen largely had to do with the age's historical significance than biological and social development. Reasoning and sense of danger are at least partially learned. Teach your children instead of isolating them.

[HomeGrower]

09:25 AM on 02/24/2012

Agree 100%. My youngest is going away to college next yr. At 19, she needs to learn about life outside of her neighborhood. She will make mistakes and some bad decisions but she will learn from them.

[Jane T Brodbar]

08:33 AM on 02/24/2012

I'm getting ready to have my only child, a daughter, graduate in the spring and head to school in the fall. While I do not disagree about the dangers that lie out there for college kids now, I don't support keeping your kids home all through college, generally speaking. There may be some families that (a) need the additional family support around, (b) can't afford to pay for housing, (c) choose work instead of college after HS, etc ~ many circumstances that could FORCE that arrangement, as it is, I think to require it is (generally) unhealthy. We have until 18 to teach them the best judgement possible given the fact their brains are still cooking ~ and we have to hope and constantly verify that they know to whom to go, IF they can't get to us and need help. ALL the states went to 21 for the drinking age because the Feds pledged to cut off all Fed Hwy Funding if the states didn't comply. Frankly - I think that 18 for beer and wine should have stayed. If my child, or any of her friends, can go and sign their life away to the military, then they should be able to have a cold beer or glass of wine with dinner. Otherwise, raise the age for military deployment to 21, as well. Follow the money ~ it's always about the money. The gov't really never does anything out of "the best interest of the people", anymore. :/

[shirleyn48]

03:50 PM on 02/24/2012

Everything I said is based in fact. You're making a mistake and taking a risk that isn't worth it. There will be drinking and drugs and your child should be at home every night so that you know she is safe. It's a risk I never took and I'm so glad.

[Tim Day]

01:37 AM on 02/24/2012

Anyone who follows me has often seen me post about Binkles and Clowns project to save this world...And I said where it had been worked on and that I too could be in danger....Now do you believe me

[PatrioticUSGlory]

04:47 AM on 02/24/2012

No. Sorry.

[BurtonDesque]

01:34 AM on 02/24/2012

Nice pic HuffPo. You send one of your unpaid staffers out to the Mass Ave crosswalk to take that one?

[Siebenstein]

11:23 PM on 02/23/2012

Let me guess; crushed by student loans !

[skyeagle]

08:44 PM on 02/23/2012

Maybe they were assembling i-Pads on the sly for Foxconn.

[shelby4087]

08:27 PM on 02/23/2012

Was it really appropriate for you to report the shut down of the poor man's fraternity and the reasons for it? This is bad journalism!

[CZlight]

08:56 PM on 02/23/2012

Why?

[shelby4087]

03:04 PM on 02/24/2012

LOL! but there is nothing that ties the frat's drinkng parties with this poor guy's death, which we don't even know was suicide.

[rsgreyfox1]

09:09 PM on 02/23/2012

No it's not.
Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. Journalism 101.

[King Nine]

07:47 PM on 02/23/2012

MIT; because CalTech isn't for everyone

[ronruthnik]

07:14 PM on 02/23/2012

Jeez. Tough School.

[Rachel Drayer]

07:03 PM on 02/23/2012

It has nothing to do with the school and everything to do with the personality type. Perfectionism is a serious disease. I went to Harvard and often socialized with a lot of students from MIT - self-criticism was a recurring theme, even more so than Harvard. Instead of blaming the school requirements, I think this should be a wake up call for increased mental health advocacy.

[CHUXKLES]

08:28 PM on 02/23/2012

Went to Harcard..and born in Hawaii, eh? Same old story... Just kidding...my parents were Dems and I was lucky to get into LIFE!

[Billy495292]

08:08 AM on 02/24/2012

You don't have to be a genius to suffer from perfectionism. My IQ is average or maybe a point or two above. I am currently out of work for depression and anxiety and one of my problems is that on a job I have to be perfect. I don't have that problem in any other part of my life but when I am on a paid job I have to be perfect and I have been unable to cope with not being perfect. It would drive me crazy to even see someone else at work make a mistake. And even though I know where it stems from it doesn't help.

[realpragmatist]

10:26 AM on 02/24/2012

Most successful people in the world (Engineers, Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers, Bankers) fall under average IQ (mostly 100-115) if they take an actual IQ test conducted professionally by a psychologist (tests like WAIS IV or SB V). I am not talking about self-administered on-line tests.
Average IQ is normal and good and just means that with hard work and good motivation you have the potential to succeed in any reasonable endeavor. I say this based on my own research and experienced with IQ testing in a local world-renowned clinical department of education and medical school.
So, please don't sell yourself short. But based on your current life situation, please see counseling/Psychologist/Doctors.

[sundevco]

06:59 PM on 02/23/2012

This is weird. I am so sorry for all involved.