Campus affected by former Bruin’s suicide

Several students at UCLA are mourning the loss of a former
student, Diana Chien, who died March 6 after jumping from the
rooftop of a building near New York University. She was 19.

Chien, who was a second-year economics student, transferred from
UCLA to NYU in fall 2003.

The death was declared a suicide by medical examiners and an
investigation into the details surrounding her death is ongoing by
New York police, according to The Associated Press.

Chien spent most of her college career at UCLA. While on campus,
she was an honors student and a member of the Chi Alpha Delta
sorority. Friends said she took part in many activities in her
free time, including sketching and drawing. Chien had also traveled
throughout much of the world.  

One of Chien’s best friends, Yale student Victoria Liu,
said “words cannot capture all the life and love that Chien
shared with her family and friends.”  

Other high school friends and UCLA students who knew her said
Chien touched their lives.

“Diana was a great person. Even those of us who were
touched by her only a little bit will remember the wonderful person
she was. I will always think of her with fond memories as the girl
I knew in high school: happy, friendly and always willing to offer
a smile,” said Allison Libby, a friend and second-year
psychology student at UCLA.  

Diana graduated from Monta Vista High School in Cupertino,
Calif. where she was a member of the track, gymnastics and
basketball teams.  

“She was a great basketball player on our high school
team; all the girls on the team called her
“˜DC’. They respected her, as everyone else did,
and they always had so much fun together, on the court and
off,” Libby said.  

Memorial services were held Sunday in her hometown in Northern
California.  

“A time like this teaches us to let go of the criticism,
to treasure what we have, to cherish the loved ones around. In
memory of our beloved daughter and sister,” read the
program’s front cover at Chien’s memorial service.

“Our whole town was and is in a state of shock and
sadness,” Libby said.

“It is a tragedy that she didn’t know just how many
people cared about her.”

Chien’s suicide is the subject of much controversy after
the New York Post depicted her fall in a full-page, front-page
photograph last Wednesday. The photograph featured Chien falling
backwards off of a building, draped in white clothing. It did not
show her face.

Chien’s friends said they did not want to comment on the
photograph.

Chien is survived by her mother, father, and brother.  

She is the fourth NYU student to die after falling off a
building this academic year. Earlier in the year, two students fell
to their deaths from a high floor of the NYU library. One of the
deaths was ruled a suicide, and the other was labeled drug-related
and ruled accidental. A third student fell to her death from a
nearby apartment building, but the cause has not yet been
determined.

Chien’s friends said they were saddened by the way Chien
died and hoped her death would prevent suicide in the future.

“Diana will be remembered for the amazing person she was,
and the way she died will be seen by many as a reminder to tell
those you love that you’re there for them,” Libby said.