If you have been a student on a college campus, you probably heard the
persistent rumor that if your roommate commits suicide, you automatically get
straight A's for that semester.
But the policy is like the movies: pure fiction. No campus is known to have
such a rule, although some students treat the belief as if it were gospel.
College administrators on various campuses have tried to debunk the belief,
but, like other myths, it has displayed considerable staying power, especially
in the wake of actual deaths.
When a Marquette sophomore died in a rooming-house fire in 1989, the
Milwaukee Journal reported that a rumor had spread through the campus that a 4.0
G.P.A. would be awarded to the roommates. Marquette officials issued an emphatic
denial.
When Matthew Garofalo, a freshman at the University of Iowa, died from
alcohol poisoning after a fraternity party in 1995, students wondered whether
his roommate at the fraternity house would get a 4.0, says Phillip E. Jones,
Iowa's vice-president for student services. "There was a good deal of
substantive conversation about nonsensical issues: Does it apply since he died
in a fraternity house and wasn't in the residence halls? If his roommate were
away for the weekend, would it count?"
While the myth may seem absurd, it may be based on an element of truth, Mr.
Jones says. Colleges will do special things to help grieving students cope
psychologically and academically.
For example, according to Iowa's response policy for "psychological
emergencies," students who lived with the victim are encouraged to take
advantage of counseling services provided by the university. A committee that
hears academic appeals may allow a student to withdraw from classes without
penalty "if there are clear signs of trauma, such as sleeplessness or
missed classes, and if it's documented through psychological records or even a
compelling statement," Mr. Jones says.
Iowa has never faced a request for straight A's following a tragedy, he adds.
But Alfred University has.
When a student hanged himself in his on-campus suite last spring, the mother
of one of his five roommates called Alfred's president, dean, and provost to
demand that her son be given a 4.0, says W. Richard Ott, the provost. He says he
was caught off-guard but gently explained to her that the university had no
policy of giving good grades for grief.
Mr. Ott hadn't heard of the belief before the call. "It smacked of
someone trying to gain an advantage from the death of another person, and I
didn't like that."
Those among the roommates who were not emotionally prepared to take tests or
finish papers by the end of the semester were permitted to make up the missed
work during the summer. All of the roommates also got to move to different
rooms.
At some colleges, belief has it that a student gets the 4.0 if his or her
roommate dies for any reason, including accidental death, illness, or murder
(unless, of course, the surviving roommate turns out to be the killer). In
another version, two roommates must share the compensation for their grief;
instead of a 4.0, they'd each get a 3.5. Yet another variation gives the
surviving roommate first pick in the next housing lottery.
