Deaths Impact MIT, B.U. Campuses

Early Monday morning, two students at Boston-area colleges died in unrelated incidents-an MIT sophomore was found dead in her dorm room and a Boston University (B.U.) sophomore fell to his death while attempting a prank.

Julie M. Carpenter, a 20-year-old pre-med at MIT, was found at 2:30 a.m. on the floor of her Random Hall dorm room by her roommate. The results of an autopsy have not yet been released and the cause of death is still unknown. However, authorities said they found no evidence of suicide and have ruled out foul play.

Carpenter had been at a birthday party the night before.

Carpenter's first-year adviser said he does not believe that she took her own life.

"I don't believe it was suicide because she had planned ahead," said Shuguang Zhang, associate director at MIT's Center for Biomedical Engineering. "She just won an award to do research in my lab this summer and to be a mentor for a French student. She had also planned as far as the MCATs next year."

Carpenter, a chemical engineering major, had worked in Zhang's small, 10-person laboratory. Zhang said she had the ability to "light up the lab for everybody."

Less than two hours after Carpenter's body was discovered, across the Charles River, Boston paramedics pronounced the death of B.U. sophomore Benjamin Johnson.

Johnson, a student in the College of Arts and Sciences, fell more than 30 feet from a fire escape of B.U.'s College of Communications building.

B.U. officials said Johnson and a group of friends were attempting to pull a prank at the time of his death. The exact nature of the prank is still unknown, but the Anti-Defamation League released a statement yesterday charging the group with trying to plant a flag with a swastika on top of the building, according to the Daily Free Press, Boston University's student newspaper.

The newspaper reported that B.U. officials are currently investigating the issue.

"Shortly before 4 a.m., [Johnson and a friend] decided to climb the fire escape using a rope with a hook to get to the top of the roof," said Laura Mikols, a public relations associate at B.U. "There were two other students who acted as lookouts."

The climb went awry when Johnson lost his grip on the rope and fell to the ground below, causing severe head trauma.

His friends called the police, who came and performed CPR on Johnson until the Boston paramedics arrived.

B.U. will not disclose the names of Johnson's companions and are still looking into possible repercussions. B.U.'s Office of the Dean of Students, the Boston police and the District Attorney's Office are currently working together to come up with an adequate course of action.