Student dies on Barcelona trip
Crispin Scott ’13 was found dead in Spain, where he was studying on an exchange program affiliated with Portland State University.
By Madeline Zeiss, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Monday, January 9, 2012
Crispin Scott, a member of the Class of 2013, died while studying abroad in Barcelona on a program not affiliated with the College, Dean of the College Charlotte Johnson said in a statement to The Dartmouth.
“We learned of [Scott’s] death this morning and extend our sincere and most regrettable condolences to his family at this time,” Johnson said. “[Scott] will certainly be remembered. Efforts are focused to reach out to those who knew him, his family and certainly other students who were abroad with him in Barcelona.”
Johnson said that Scott was studying abroad on the Academy of Liberal and Beaux-Arts program run by Portland State University, which runs its 10-week Winter term from the beginning of January to the end of March, according to the program’s website.
“[Scott’s] death has devastated all of us involved with the program, and as a parent, I can only begin to imagine how his family must be feeling,” ALBA Director Charles Grant said in an email to The Dartmouth. “All we can do now is offer our deepest sympathy and condolences to them and his friends and fellow students.”
ALBA program staff are currently planning a memorial service in Barcelona in the upcoming week, Grant said.
The specific time and cause of Scott’s death are still unknown, though an investigation is currently ongoing, Johnson said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
“I do not have any information about the specific cause or time of death,” Johnson said. “Barcelona police are investigating as they do for all untimely deaths, and like everyone else, we are waiting for more information.”
Grant confirmed the ongoing investigation in Barcelona and said he knew “frustratingly little” information.
On Friday evening, Scott was at a “large gathering of ALBA students — 40 or more — at an upscale seafront hotel, which devolved into smaller groups,” Grant said.
Scott was with several friends, all of whom returned to their own apartments except Scott, according to Grant. Scott failed to return to his apartment and did not show up for an ALBA orientation session at noon on Saturday, at which time the police were notified, Grant said.
“I have no idea how they conducted the search, but [Scott’s] body was apparently found in an apartment — not one of ours — some way from the original hotel location later that day,” he said.
The police would only confirm that “there did not appear to have been any physical violence and he appeared to have died in his sleep,” Grant said.
While Portland State has run the program in Barcelona for 25 years, “there was always a subconscious fear that some terrible event like this might occur,” he said.
Grant said he hopes the lessons from Scott’s death will prevent similar tragedies in the future.
“My hope is that when the full facts of this case are revealed, we will use the lesson to reduce and hopefully eliminate these truly dangerous risks for all of our students,” Grant said. “I am and will always be convinced of the enormous benefits from studying abroad, but we must do more educating to make it safer for every single student.”
Scott, a Seattle native, was a member of Phi Delta Alpha fraternity and the Dartmouth men’s rugby team. Phi Delt served as a gathering place for students on Sunday from 3 to 8 p.m. Undergraduate deans, counselors and clergy were present to provide support, according to a campus-wide email sent by Johnson on Sunday afternoon. Many students gathered to console one another and commemorate Scott’s life at the event.
“We are all deeply saddened by the news,” Phi Delt President Michael Root ’12 said in a statement to The Dartmouth. “Crispin was a great brother and friend to us all and will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.”
Dartmouth is in contact with the ALBA progam and is sending a Dartmouth representative to Barcelona on Monday, Johnson said.
“We are primarily checking in with students and making sure those students are fine,” Johnson said. “We will be certainly extending support to parents and work with authorities with respect to what happened to [Scott].”
The College will offer grief counseling services on Monday afternoon to students on the ALBA program and the Dartmouth Language Study Abroad program in Barcelona, Johnson said. Dick’s House will offer extended hours for students on campus who want to seek counseling.
“We are mobilizing community directors, chaplains and dean staff to create support on a number of different levels in the community,” Johnson said.
Kevin Kennedy ’13, who met Scott at an event for accepted Dartmouth students in Seattle their senior year of high school, spoke of warm memories of his friendship with Scott, whom he said “constantly had a smile on his face.”
“There was constantly a joke to be laughed at when you were with Crispin — sometimes it was on him, sometimes it was on you, but the beauty of it was that it couldn’t have mattered less,” Kennedy said. “He, better than anyone else I have ever known, knew how to find comedy in a world where most people are too busy moving forward to sit back and laugh.”
Katie Schade ’13, who attended middle and high school with Scott at University Preparatory Academy in Seattle, said they met in their eighth grade earth sciences class.
Schade described attending her sophomore prom with Scott as “one of her fondest memories.”
“It was maybe not the best because we were so awkward, but it was the start of our friendship in the sense that it is today,” Schade said.
Attending Dartmouth with Scott “was a great adventure for us both,” she said. “We were friends since middle and high school, but going across the country to Dartmouth, we stuck together and were a network for each other.”
Scott was “one of the smartest people I’ve ever met and one of the smartest people in our entire high school,” Schade said.
“He was so genuinely humble about his intelligence and loved to help other people and didn’t make people feel bad about not being as intelligent as he,” Schade said. “In our Calculus 2 class in high school, there were five of us and every day the teacher would give Crispin something to do because he was so far ahead of everyone else.”
In addition to his intelligence, Schade also spoke highly of his easygoing and social personality.
“He wanted to make other people around him feel comfortable, and he always wanted to be the center of the party, and he always was,” Schade said.
Dear Dartmouth, A loud alarm bell just rang. Wake up. You have a problem deep in your culture and it has just claimed the life of one of your most gifted members. You’ve cultivated a reputation as a hard drinking school. You’ve maintained the infrastructure to support it. It’s time to come together as a community and shift that culture. That is the only way you can honor Crispin’s life. Make it count by using his death to fix the cancer in the heart of your culture that brought him to this end.
By Douglas E. on Jan 9 | 6:42 am
Why, exactly, is the College spending our tuition dollars to send a representative oversees to console students who are on leave? Although I certainly have sympathy for friends and family, this seems like a serious over-reaction. If it’s not a Dartmouth program, stay out of it!
By anonymous on Jan 9 | 9:18 am
Dartmouth is sending a representative because there is a group of students in Barcelona that have just arrived that are part of a study abroad through Dartmouth with a Dartmouth professor. They are not on leave.
By anonymous on Jan 9 | 10:24 am
Douglas E., clearly you aren’t a member of the Dartmouth community, both from your use of language like “your culture” and “you have a problem” instead of “our culture” and “we have a problem”, as well as from your foolish and ill-timed logical leaps. We may have a reputation as a drinking school (although we’re no different than nearly any other college), but there is as yet no word on the cause of death. Seizing on the death of a student to promote your temperence agenda is a pretty disgusting form of exploitation.
As for Anonymous’s question, the College is following a protocol for how to handle the death of a student. We are all part of the Dartmouth community. It’s not a Dartmouth program, but there is currently a Dartmouth LSA in Barcelona. The death of a fellow student while abroad in the same city is going to be traumatic for them. And while Crispin was with a non-Dartmouth program, he’s still one of ours, and the College has an ethical responsibility to help handle matters with the Spanish government.
By Anon ‘05 on Jan 9 | 10:53 am
The LSA in Barcelona has a faculty member with it. What purpose does an additional representative serve? Did the College send someone to London when a student died during an FSP there? Do we fan counselors out around the country when other students on leave die? Of course not. Mama Dartmouth needs to get a grip—the College does not have an “ethical responsibility” to help the Spanish government, Portland State does (as well as next of kin). We’re putting our nose where it doesn’t belong, out of a false sense of “community.”
By anonymous on Jan 9 | 11:15 am
I hate to be the one to break it to you, anonymous, but being an adult does not translate to knowing or being qualified to handle everything. Yes. The LSA has a faculty member with it. Who is wholly qualified to teach Spanish and wholly unqualified to handle a student death. The College is sending someone who has been trained in how to respond to this situation.
By Anon ‘05 on Jan 9 | 12:34 pm
It’s terribly sad and my heart goes out to the family, friends and classmates of Crispin. It is particularly devastating to those classmates in Barcelona and I commend Dartmouth for sending out a representative to check on their students. Dartmouth is a community and is trying to watch out for their own, especially as an investigation is going on. People should not be bashing Dartmouth, they should be sending their condolences to the family. Get your priorities straight.
By Dartmouth parent on Jan 9 | 2:13 pm
What exactly is “grief counseling” ? Has anyone ever had it? Did it help at all?
By Anon Dart and Tuck on Jan 9 | 2:17 pm
Our deepest sympathy to Crispin’s family and friends. Our hearts and prayers are with you. Dartmouth also has a reputation for being a very close community.
For the ‘13’s in DC this term, Mass is being said for Crispin on Jan. 29, noon, at St. Joseph’s on Capitol Hill, 313 Second Street, NE, 20002.
By Anonymous on Jan 9 | 2:28 pm
Is this really worth all the complaining? People – how about a little compassion.
By Anonymous on Jan 9 | 3:07 pm
Occasionally the college does things to show the care and concern it has for the students. There may be no responsibility for Dartmouth to send people to Spain but I think it is an honest act done out concern. I’m no fan of the administration but small things like this that give a sense of community are what attracted me and many others to the school.
By ‘13 on Jan 9 | 3:08 pm
My family and I send our condolences to the family and friends of Crispin Scott who was clearly a wonderful person and will be missed by so many people. It does not really matter what the circumstances are, the fact is that he is here no more and this is a huge loss to the Dartmouth community. We are sincerely sorry and pray for understanding and eventual peace for all involved.
Three days ago as I was driving my son to the airport to head off on his FSP in Barcelona, I was filling his ears with all kinds of great advice. He finally turned to me and said, “Mom, I will be careful, but you do not have to worry, Dartmouth takes great care of us.” The College does not need to send an emissary over there, these young men and women can “deal.” However, I very much appreciate that Dartmouth realizes it is a good idea. The students in their new, unfamiliar environment will feel consoled to have someone assisting them to process this strange and disturbing news and also to give them some basic survival skills for living in Spain. Thank you Dartmouth for recognizing a psychological and spiritual need felt by our young students abroad and rising to the call. Mom.
By Mom on Jan 9 | 3:20 pm
Holy shit— you know you have a “culture problem” when your alums come on a website to accuse the college of “overreacting” to a student’s death! What is it with so many alumni always trying to be so “involved” in such a negative way?
Calm down and show a little sympathy, jerks. Someone died!
By ‘11 on Jan 9 | 3:59 pm
Our family sends Crispin Scott’s family, friends and classmates our condolences.
As a parent of a student on this Barcelona study abroad program, thank you Dartmouth for stepping up!!
By another Mom on Jan 9 | 5:30 pm
My prayers and sympathy go out to Crispin’s immediate family and those members of our Dartmouth family most deeply saddened by the premature loss of this promising young man.
By ‘80 on Jan 9 | 6:04 pm
A member of the Dartmouth community has just died overseas while on a study abroad and people are complaining about how the college spends money? Do you think the person being dispatched wants to take a vacation out there? It’s shocking to even read this exchange.
By ‘90 on Jan 9 | 6:20 pm
Our sincerest sympathy to Crispin’s family. You are all included in our prayers.
We dont know what cause his death at this point, irresponsible people STOP making accusations. Be respectful of the family. What is wrong with you people? No decency left?
Kudos to Dartmouth College for sending a representative to help out the other students. Money well spent, Dr. Kim!
By Mom on Jan 9 | 8:00 pm
Crispin’s parents are my friends and neighbors. We on Mercer Island are heartbroken at their loss. Please keep them in your prayers and treat them with appropriate kindness and respect. Don’t jump to conclusions about the cause of death or disparage this fine young man whose loss is a tragedy to all who knew him.
By Friend of the Scotts on Jan 9 | 8:21 pm
The Scott family have been in my thoughts and prayers all day. My heart is heavy as I think of their loss. My daughter is on the Dartmouth trip in Barcelona and I can not even begin to think about what they are going thru.
By 14 Mom on Jan 9 | 8:43 pm
My thoughts go out to friends and family.
Of course Dartmouth should send a representative. It’s the professional and logical thing to do in that this young man was enrolled in a program that Dartmouth has a relationship with. It makes perfect sense.
Hopefully authorities can discover what transpired. May his family find peace.
By EDS on Jan 9 | 8:54 pm