On Tuesday, Jan. 17, I was told that a friend of mine had committed suicide. At first I didn’t believe it—it was just a bad rumor. I called his roommate from last year, his former R.A., and many of my former floormates. The rumor was true.

I first met Rajo Anne last year. Raj had become an honorary member of my new floor, GTS-B4, despite the fact that he lived in the opposite tower. Raj was popular on both my floor and his own, and he had a very outgoing personality.

Over the next year, a lot of things changed. Many people on my floor did not return to school. Raj moved to the University Plaza with a couple of other friends from his floor.

Raj always seemed to have a little bit of trouble in his class work, but it was not through lack of trying. Over the summer I got a job working in the periodicals section of the library, and every day I saw Raj there studying. He would come up and talk to me, often telling me how he was doing in classes and how things were going. By the end of last semester, Raj had decided to change his major due to his continuing difficulties with it.

I never really got to know Raj as a really close friend; therefore, I didn’t know of any other problems he might have faced. The last time I saw him was during finals week last semester, and we both wished each other a great Christmas and I told him that I would see him after break. Raj died the weekend before he was to return. I will truly miss him.

Christopher Todd Durnil

senior

communications