Usually when someone is interested in a death that happened in a school, they’re able to find out what and how it happened with either the click of a mouse, watching a news report, or by looking at a news article. In this case, that was not possible.
On May 19, a Baruch College freshman Kevin Manirampa, was found dead on the fourth floor terrace in the 17 Lexington building around 3 pm. The Baruch online newspaper The Ticker stated that police reports show he jumped off the roof and then landed on the fourth floor terrace in the building. Many online newspapers reported Manirampa’s death to be a suicide.
Manirampa was 20 years old coming from Staten Island to Baruch College everyday. His death occurred during finals week.
But the oddity about Manirampa’s death is that the details someone is able to find are limited. Police and school officials refused to release any information on it. Baruch College Campus also did not return calls or emails to reporters wishing to investigate the death.
Online articles and broadcast on television only state basic facts that are already known. Even interviewing students and staff members at Baruch College did not help. A Baruch College student and her supervisor were in the Student Life Offices and when asked questions on the death, the college student appeared as though she was ready to tell what she knew until her supervisor quickly interrupted saying, “No we can’t talk to you about it.”
Walking around asking students on campus about the death was equally unsuccessful. Either the students didn’t know who he was and are only taking classes at Baruch for the summer, or they work in the offices around campus and aren’t allowed to talk about it.
But that also brings up another question. How come no one knew of Manirampa? There were no close friends who spoke of him or knew him personally. Or was it that his close friends didn’t want to discuss his death? When being interviewed by the press, students stated that they didn’t know him, but were shaken by his death. Some also said that it was probably the pressure of finals that got to him. Reports don’t even show where he was or what he was doing hours before his death.
Manirampa’s death was handled differently than other deaths that occurred at Baruch. For instance, a prior death related to hazing at Baruch received massive attention. Everyone knew what happened, how it happened and who the student was, whether or not they went to Baruch. It was all over the news and in the papers. So, why was it so different for this death?