Sitting in the Black Box Theatre — a place where images are created — no longer evokes disturbing images for most students who knew the graduate student found dead there last semester, associate professor Ruth Bowman said.
Jonathan Birdnow, 28, was working on his Ph.D. with the Department of Communication Studies, concentrating in performance studies.
An assistant professor discovered his body hanging in the Black Box Theatre in Room 137 Coates Hall on Dec. 6 at 5 p.m.
The coroner ruled his death an accident after a five-day investigation, but the circumstances surrounding it leave questions about his final moments.
As they learn to live with those questions, students and faculty had to find a way to make the theatre a safe place to teach and learn after this event, associate professor Ruth Bowman said.
“After it happened, a traumatic loss-response team was brought in for the faculty and students to watch for warning signs in students,” she said.
Officials were very concerned not to erase this event, to try to accept Birdnow’s death and to find a place to make the event part of their lives, Bowman said.
“The problem is not knowing the reasons,” she said. “We can only speculate.”
Before the holiday break ended, about 50 people who knew Birdnow gathered at the Black Box Theatre, brought an object that made them feel comfortable and sat around talking for 15 minutes, she said.