Three Years Later, Cornellians Celebrate Removal of Fences

Walking to campus Friday, a group of Cornellians stood at the suspension bridge. They paused to admire the view of the gorges something that, until today, they were only able to look at through bars after a string of suicides in 2010 led Cornell to fence off seven of its bridges.

On Friday, the University removed five of the fences, according to John Keefe, project manager. The remaining two those onthe west side of Stewart Cascadilla and the Suspension Bridge are expected to come down by May 24 and July 3 respectively, Keefe said.

The day, for many, marked a milestone in a three-year-saga that has provoked debates over how best to prevent suicides from happening in the City of Ithacas gorges. In 2012, Cornell agreed to replace the fences it had erected with mesh nets. The nets, which hang under the bridges and are equipped with heat-sensitive cameras that can detect when someone has fallen into them, are meant to restrict the bridges as a means of suicide while protecting the gorges aesthetics.

With construction on the nets complete, five of the fences those on the Trolley Bridge, Stone Arch Bridge, Thurston Avenue Bridge, Stewart Avenue Fall Creek Bridge and east side of Stewart Avenue Cascadilla Creek Bridge are gone.

It is certainly a move in [a] positive direction to once again have an unfiltered view of the gorges, but at the same time have a feeling of safety that the mesh systems will provide, Keefe said.

The Class of 2013 reflects on the fences

To John Mueller 13, the fences were a reminder of depression, suicide issues he said were on the forefront of his mind when he was a freshman at Cornell.

I lost my dad to suicide right before I came to school, Mueller said. Then, after the winter, the fences went up.

Having walked by the fenced bridges for most of his time at Cornell, Mueller said seeing the fences beginning to be torn down Friday marked a huge moment of release."

It was also a somber moment for seniors, who, while celebrating the end of exams, the arrival of Senior Week and their imminent graduation, paused to reflect on the suicides that occurred their freshman year.

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Three Years Later, Cornellians Celebrate Removal of Fences