The death of a student doesn't get filed away as part of business proceedings at UNM.
It's something Dean of Students Randy Boeglin said is handled carefully and thoughtfully.
"It's a very important thing for us to do and do well," he said. "And the perspective we communicate is that we share the sense of loss, and it is not just a procedural thing."
Though UNM has never had to deal with anything like what happened at Virgina Tech or Northern Illinois, he said it has seen its share of deaths.
Boeglin said 19 students have died since July 2007. That is the largest he can recall in his 11 years at UNM.
He said the University handles every death differently.
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"If they are involved in a residence hall floor, sorority or fraternity, a member of an athletic team, we are going to see a visible impact on the campus community because these are highly visible groups," he said. "That is not to say that another student death is less heartfelt, it is just that we may not see it manifested through highly visible groups."
Harry Linneman, director of UNM's Counseling and Therapy Services, said it is important for students who have suffered a loss to learn about the grieving process.
"(We) help them understand what they are going to go through and what they are dealing with - the grief response of having lost someone that maybe they knew, but maybe they didn't know very well," he said. "People, of course, are shocked and in disbelief about someone dying, but then they move into a variety of different reactions, and we like to let them know we have services available to them."
Boeglin said that when a student dies, his office is notified, and the family is contacted.
"We then notify all of the Student Affairs directors, because these are the people that may know the student and those the student knew," he said.
He said notification is sent to a series of University offices, such as the bursar and financial aid, to begin the process of closing the student's records.
Boeglin said his office connects students with resources that can help them through the grieving process.
"There is a whole mourning process that surrounds the loss of someone we know," he said.
He said resources are available to students to help them deal with a loss, such as Agora Crisis Center, Counseling and Therapy Services and religious organizations.
Linneman said students need to know that services are available to help them through the grief process.
"We make ourselves available for anyone who wants to talk about their reaction to the death of a student," he said. "We've met with classes before or with other groups on campus or with individual students if they are willing to come in, but sometimes they are not interested in doing that."
