William H. Kelly III
Editor-in-Chief
Jackson State University students, staff and faculty were shocked on Sept. 20 to hear that a student had been found dead in the Campbell Suites Residence Hall.
According to published statements from JSU Public Relations Director, Olivia Goodheart, Benjamin Sabine, 23, a junior civil engineering major, was discovered in his apartment-style room after his suitemate, who had been out of town for the weekend, reported a smell. When he could not get Sabine to respond, the suitemate alerted a residence adviser, who did a welfare check and found Sabine.
The cause of death for Sabine is under investigation but no foul play is suspected.
The death of Sabine has affected JSU students and administration.
“Our hearts go out to the family, and we mourn this tragic and untimely death. Our students are always our first concern, and we have made counselors available to help them cope with this unfortunate loss,” said JSU President Carolyn W. Meyers in a statement released by the university.
SyeKemron Smith, a junior biology/pre-med major from Jackson, Miss., was a classmate to Sabine.
“Me and Ben were just classmates but he was always polite to me. We took class every Monday and Wednesday and he actually told me he was trying to get his life together. This has affected me because I don’t have anybody to make jokes with and collaborate on answers in chemistry,” said Smith.
Student Government Association President, Kendall Bunch, was devastated to hear of the death of a fellow Tiger.
“First, we are deeply saddened at the loss of a fellow Tiger, Benjamin Sabine. Our hearts and sincerest condolences go out to his family and friends. With this tragedy we are also concerned with the violence in the surrounding community. Because of this, we are working to get a more student friendly text alert system to insure our students receive accurate and timely information,” said Bunch.
Bunch also stated that he was meeting with university administrators on behalf of the student body and their safety concerns.
The Intervarsity Christian Fellowship organization held a prayer walk Sept. 20 at noon on the Gibbs-Green Pedestrian Walkway to remember Sabine and pray for the JSU community.
The Latasha Norman Center for Counseling is currently offering counseling in residence halls on campus for any student needing grief counseling.
“The Latasha Norman Center is collborating with the Applied Psychological Services Clinic, who work with our doctoral candidates for psychology over in the College of Liberal Arts. If there is an overflow of students who do need counseling from the event that occurred on early Tuesday morning, we have different locations on campus where we are housing our rotation of counselors; they will rotate every two hours,” said Frances White, director of the Latasha Norman Center. “We’re utilizing secure confidential locations within the residence halls to make ourselves available to the students.”
The Latasha Norman Center can be contacted at 601-979-0374.
