College student dies after falling from campus clock tower weeks before graduation
A senior at Fordham University died on Sunday after falling from a clock tower on campus. The 22-year-old and her friends reportedly climbed the tower’s stairs in the Bronx, N.Y. at roughly 3 a.m. Sunday morning, and was later rushed to the hospital after getting critically injured.
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“It is with great sadness that I report that Sydney Monfries, a senior at Fordham College at Rose Hill, died today after sustaining a fall inside the Keating Clock tower in the early hours of the morning,” university president Joseph McShane wrote in a letter to students, according to the New York Post. “There are no words sufficient to describe the loss of someone so young and full of promise — and mere weeks from graduation.”
Monfries was reportedly trying to get photos of the city from the top of the tower and sent a Snapchat video before her deadly fall. The police found her unconscious, with trauma to her head and body, the New York Times reports. First responders reportedly had to use a rescue basket to lift her out of the tower because it was so narrow.
Sydney Monfries, FCRH ‘19, has died after sustaining injuries from a fall from Keating Clock tower, according to a statement from Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university. Information on funeral arrangements will be forthcoming.
— The Fordham Ram (@thefordhamram) April 14, 2019
The clock tower is supposed to be off-limits for students, but the Times reports that other students heard rumors about people finding a way inside.
Just awful 🙏🏽 A senior at #Fordhamuniversity fell from the top of the clock tower at Keating Hall. The 22 yr old was with a group around 3 this morning . She was critically injured. Tonight at 6, an exclusive look inside the structure @ABC7NY @NYPDnews pic.twitter.com/yiTk7OEXFh
— Kemberly Richardson (@kemrichardson7) April 14, 2019
President McShane said the school would award Monfries’s bachelor’s degree posthumously. She was slated to graduate next month with a major in journalism.
Flowers and palms on the steps of #Keating Hall at #Fordham University, after 22-year-old senior Sydney Monfries fell to her death from Keating’s clock tower yesterday morning 💔 @PIX11News pic.twitter.com/fXKwZsKVB0
— Katie Corrado (@KatieCorradoTV) April 15, 2019
People began posting on her Facebook page on Sunday, mourning the loss and offering their condolences to her family, who flew in from Portland, Ore.
“RIP beautiful angel, so terribly sad,” one person commented.
A childhood friend told WABC-TV‘s Kemberly Richardson that Monfries “was a genuinely beautiful person inside and out. She truly was a bright light in this world taken way too soon.”
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