A tragic death

The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, N.Y.: On Sept. 22, Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University in New Jersey, climbed onto the deck of the George Washington Bridge and jumped to his death into the Hudson River. Days earlier, he had been secretly taped having a sexual encounter with a man that was broadcast online. Two Rutgers students, including Clementi’s roommate, have been charged with invading his privacy.

The case is most tragic. And it serves to reinforce efforts to teach tolerance at all levels, because it really can make a difference between life and death.

Tyler Clementi was just 18. He was a son, a friend, someone who loved and was loved. He was an extremely talented violinist whose life revolved around music, friends and mentors said. Like our own children, he had dreams for the future — dreams that were destroyed by a hate that generated a hurt that he could no longer endure.