CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A summer boarder at the fraternity house of the MIT chapter of Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) was found dead in her room Monday night. Cambridge police said it appeared to be a suicide.
The body of the18-year-old Wellesley College student, who had a summer job in Boston, was discovered at about 11pm by a roommate. A call was placed to 911. The Cambridge Police and Fire Departments, MIT Campus Police and Massachusetts State Police responded.
MIT Senior Associate Dean Robert M. Randolph said, "We are doing all we can to help the young people in the house cope with this terrible event in their midst. Some are MIT students, some are summer boarders, but they all are stunned by the death of someone their own age. Our deans and counselors have been meeting with them to help them understand and handle this tragedy."
MIT fraternities routinely rent rooms to outsiders -- primarily students from other colleges who are spending the summer in the Boston area -- to help defray the cost of overhead during the summer vacation period. The ATO fraternity house, located on Memorial Drive, Cambridge, has about 25 summer boarders, including five others from Wellesley. Ten members of the chapter are also living there during the summer.
"We at ATO are truly saddened by the unexpected death of one of our summer boarders," said George Gluck, the fraternity's president. "Our hearts go out to her friends and family as well as to all others affected by this tragedy."
