Though the Cornell student suicide rate mirrors the average on campuses nationwide, 13 of the 21 Cornell student suicide victims since 1996 have been Asian or Asian-American. The victim count is sobering considering that only 14 percent of the total Cornell student body are self-identified Asian-Americans. A total of 15 percent of all Cornell students are from overseas, but the number of Asians among them is not known.
Asian-American/Asian students, especially males, are under unique pressures to meet high expectations of parents by succeeding in such traditional predetermined careers as medicine and engineering, said Dr. Henry Chung ’84, assistant vice president for student health at New York University (NYU) and executive director of the NYU Student Health Center, speaking to faculty and staff, and separately to students, on campus April 13. In addition, he noted, immigrant groups feel pressures due to sacrifices made by family members for their children’s benefit. Females also face career pressures of Western society while having to maintain traditional female roles.