a short history of nearly everything reddit

Chorak had been released roughly three hours before he died from the UCI Medical Center in Orange. The following day, UCI issued a statement that he wasn't affiliated with the university and no one knew why he was even there.īut, under the plainest understanding of the word affiliated, that statement was not true. Counseling was made available on the scene for anyone who needed it.Īfter some investigation–who was he, could he have been pushed, why was he even at the university–the Orange County coroner removed Chorak's body. Already primed for tragedy after a late-May shooting rampage at UC Santa Barbara, school administrators quickly closed off the area, drawing a far-reaching perimeter to keep students away from the tarp covering Chorak's body. UCI's campus police arrived moments later, declaring him dead at the scene. Students saw Chorak as he fell and immediately called 911. There was no final scream, no note left behind. It was warm and quiet as Chorak reached one of the higher tiers of the stairwell and leaped. It was the last week of classes for that school year, and students were either in lectures or taking tests.

From his vantage point, Chorak saw a courtyard next to Social Science Plaza emptier than usual. “We can help,” the signs read in a relaxed, sans-serif font, and feature the number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.Įverything about the scene, from the signs' typography and rounded edges to the stairwell's cream-white tone, seemed designed to calm anyone.

The 25-year-old climbed one of the plaza's exterior stairwells, a spiral of steps coiling its way up to the top mult iple warning signs are bolted to the stone walls at each landing. They stand in an uneven, irregular courtyard, with a fountain that's always turned off nowadays in an effort to save water. The footpath, normally lined with students selling $2 boba and spam musubi, was nearly abandoned that day as students prepared for their finals.Ĭhorak headed for Social Science Plaza, a collection of five-story buildings all Anteaters must pass through at some point in their academic career. He resembled a disheveled grad student checking in for an evening of studying, blending neatly with the thin crowds that walked on a near-lifeless Ring Road. No one gave Maxwell Chorak a second thought as he got off at one of the bus stops near UC Irvine and walked across campus on June 10, 2014.

A short history of nearly everything reddit